Car Hire Excess Insurance - Car Rental Excess Insurance
Protect yourself against paying the excess if you have a scrape in your hire car abroad with car rental excess insurance. Car rental insurance covers your rental car excess payment - which could cost up hundreds of pounds - when you take out a hire car.Selecting the "get a quote" button will direct you to Insurance 4 Car Hire.
Posts Tagged ‘rental hire car insurance’
Getting an insurance for car hire quote
If you’re looking for an insurance for car hire quote, then you are probably only too well aware that the typical insurance that comes with your car rental perhaps provides only some of the cover that you may wish to have when driving a rental car.
What you may find is that you could still be liable for some of the repair costs if you were to damage the rental car during the period of your hire.
That is because car hire insurance tends to carry an excess. So, if you damage the car this could mean you having to fork out up to £1600 as your contribution to repair costs.
The car hire company will typically offer additional insurance cover known as excess insurance when you pick up your rental car.
This may also cover you against having to pay for damage to other parts of the car, which are typically not covered by the basic collision damage waiver cover.
This could be an additional cost that may bump up the price of your hire quite considerably. Understandably, you may be keen to spend as little as possible on this additional insurance.
Buying car excess insurance from the car hire company is certainly an option and nobody can claim that it is anything other than convenient.
You do have options though and using one of the independent online car hire insurance specialists may be the answer.
Getting an insurance for car hire quote may be the first step on the road to you getting the cover you need and at a price that makes sense.
Top 5 rental hire car insurance saving tips
It’s possible that you’ve just won the lottery and no longer have to worry about saving money like the rest of us mere mortals. If you haven’t and would still be interested in some tips for saving money on rental hire car insurance, then here are our top 5.
1. Don’t assume that the rental company’s insurance is the best or cheapest around.
It is unlikely to be so. In general, the prices of rental hire car insurance may be mroe attractively-priced on the Internet through the specialist providers of hire car excess insurance.
The cover may also be more attractive, too, with privately purchased policies. That’s because the rental company’s basic insurance will probably exclude from cover damage to several areas of the rented vehicle and most likely it will also contain excess. The excess is an amount of money (usually 500-1500 pounds) that the rental company will demand you pay towards the costs of any claims even if you have their insurance.
In general, the policies provided by the Internet specialists will not contain such restrictions and limitations, though of course this does depend on the individual provider.
2. Don’t presume that you must take the insurance offered or provided by the rental company.
You are under no obligation to take insurance from the rental company that may in fact be far more expensive that that obtainable elsewhere. If the car rental comes with little or no insurance included then you are free to use your own policies.
If the insurance is pre-included in the rental price, you can still ask for a ‘hire-only’ rate and use your own insurance again. This may not be possible in a limited number of special cases such as car rentals that are part of a fly-drive holiday or perhaps some one-off ‘special offer’ deals from the rental company.
3. If buying additional top-up insurance, it may pay to shop around.
If you have decided to take the rental company’s basic insurance, you may be uneasy about the gaps and limitations outlined above. They could potentially cost you a lot of money following an accident.
The rental company’s solution will be to recommend you consider paying more to remove the excess and possibly cover the usually excluded areas of the rental vehicle. They may call this additional payment ‘top-up insurance’ or ‘SUPER CDW’.
This sort of additional cover can also be purchased over the Internet from the rental hire car insurance specialist providers. Once again it may be far more attractively-priced than that offered by the rental companies. If you do have an accident you may still have to pay the excess to your rental company but you could then claim this back from your own private insurance policy.
4. If renting regularly, consider annual rental hire car insurance.
Paying for insurance on a rental-by-rental basis may be expensive if you hire more than once per annum. The specialist providers also sell annual policies that will cover any vehicle rented by you during the lifetime of the one policy (some specialist vehicles may be excluded). The cost savings could be attractive.
5. Don’t have accidents!
Not quite as much a joke as it may seem. If you have an accident then whatever the rental hire car insurance position, you could end up in serious personal, legal and financial trouble – and that assumes that no serious injuries have been involved. Remember you’re probably in an unfamiliar vehicle and if overseas, possibly driving in very different road conditions. Use prudence and take it easy!
Top 5 rental hire car insurance saving tips
It’s possible that you’ve just won the lottery and no longer have to worry about saving money like the rest of us mere mortals. If you haven’t and would still be interested in some tips for saving money on rental hire car insurance, then here are our top 5.
1. Don’t assume that the rental company’s insurance is the best or cheapest around.
It is unlikely to be so. In general, the prices of rental hire car insurance are far cheaper on the Internet through the specialist providers of hire car insurance. They can often in fact be several times cheaper.
The cover may also be superior with privately purchased policies. That’s because the rental company’s basic insurance will probably exclude from cover damage to several areas of the rented vehicle and most likely it will also contain excess. The excess is an amount of money (usually 500-1500 pounds) that the rental company will demand you pay towards the costs of any claims even if you have their insurance.
In general, the policies provided by the Internet specialists will not contain such restrictions and limitations, but do double check to ensure you get the most appropriate cover for you. .
2. Don’t presume that you must take the insurance offered or provided by the rental company.
You are under no obligation to take insurance from the rental company that may in fact be far more expensive that that obtainable elsewhere. If the car rental comes with little or no insurance included then in most cases you are free to use your own policies.
If the insurance is pre-included in the rental price, you can still ask for a ‘hire-only’ rate and use your own insurance again. This may not be possible in a limited number of special cases such as car rentals that are part of a fly-drive holiday or perhaps some one-off ‘special offer’ deals from the rental company.
3. If buying additional top-up insurance, it may pay to shop around.
If you have decided to take the rental company’s basic insurance, you may be uneasy about the gaps and limitations outlined above. They could cost you a lot of money following an accident.
The rental company’s solution will be to recommend you consider paying more to remove the excess and possibly cover the usually excluded areas of the rental vehicle. They may call this additional payment ‘top-up insurance’ or ‘SUPER CDW’.
This sort of additional cover can also be purchased over the Internet from the rental hire car insurance specialist providers. Once again it may work out more attractively-priced than that offered by the rental companies. If you do have an accident you may still have to pay the excess to your rental company but you could then claim this back from your own private insurance policy.
4. If renting regularly, consider annual rental hire car insurance.
Paying for insurance on a rental-by-rental basis may be expensive if you hire more than once per annum. The specialist providers also sell annual policies that will cover any vehicle rented by you during the lifetime of the one policy (some specialist vehicles may be excluded). The cost savings could be attractive.
5. Don’t have accidents!
Not quite as much a joke as it may seem. If you have an accident then whatever the rental hire car insurance position, you could end up in serious personal, legal and financial trouble – and that assumes that no serious injuries have been involved. Remember you’re probably in an unfamiliar vehicle and if overseas, possibly driving in very different road conditions. Use prudence and take it easy!