Save money on car hire excess charges ....

mpprh · Post by **mpprh** » Mon 15 Dec 2008 18:59

This might be useful :

I recently helped some visitors who had had their rental car stolen. They "thought" that their credit card covered the excess insurance so they declined the daily cover from Hertz.

Much of the paperwork involved the hotel keys, passports, flight vouchers, etc that were in the boot. However, they were hit by a Euro 1000 charge for the collision damage excess. It transpired they had used a different card to book the car hire and they had no excess cover. These days the excess can be in the €1000 - €1500 range - so not a small amount.

I looked into this, and found an interesting option. Insurance4carhire.com (the trading name of Towergate Underwriting Group Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority) offers a niche range of policies that offer better cover at a much lower cost than the car rental company daily rates.

The policies they offer are :

Annual Excess policy covers the rental car driver - not the individual rental car :
Covers Excess on damage to the rental vehicle including the undercarriage, Excess on theft, and damage to windows and tyres.
Covers unlimited excess cover for drivers aged 21 -74, but excludes rentals over 31 consecutive days, and rentals near to home address.
There are specific options for Europe, Worldwide, extensions for rentals of 60 consecutive days, US cover, etc. Annual European cover is £49.
They also have policies for those aged 75 - 85 at £65 for European cover (£75 worldwide).

Daily Excess Policy covers the rental car driver - not the individual rental car :
Covers Excess on damage to the rental vehicle including the undercarriage, Excess on theft, and damage to roof, windows and tyres.
Covers unlimited excess cover for drivers aged 21 -74, but excludes rentals over 62 consecutive days. The cover is worldwide and is currently £3.99 per day compared with £10+ charged by rental companies.

Worth a look ?

Peter

Kathy · Post by **Kathy** » Mon 15 Dec 2008 19:05

Peter I have had this cover for a few years. Well worth every penny. In the first year I did have to claim for two damaged tyres, the claim was settled immediately as soon as they received my paperwork.
We always decline car excess and the prices from insurance4car hire is recouped in 1or 2 car hires.

mpprh · Post by **mpprh** » Mon 15 Dec 2008 19:21

I always had a policy through my employers.

When I became self employed, I realized :
1) it was expensive (£11 represented 45 days excess cover to pay the £500 excess)
2) it was more than that because each part day was charged as a full day and I was normally flying in one afternoon, working the following 2 days, then returning on the morning of the 4th day.
3) I'd never had a claim in 20 years
so I decided not to take it.

Since then, I've now rented for about 150 days over the years since and am in pocket.

I've been lucky - If I'd known about this policy earlier, I would have taken it !

Peter

John & Elaine · Post by **John & Elaine** » Mon 15 Dec 2008 20:01

We have been insured with this company for the last two years and have made one claim. Also settled quickly and without fuss. Excellent service and value!

J&E

Bill O'Rikki · Post by **Bill O'Rikki** » Fri 19 Dec 2008 17:07

Having had recommendations I have used these people a couple of times for car hire excess insurance:

www.worldwideinsure.com

Prices seemed competitive but have never had to claim so cannot comment on service.

Santiago · Post by **Santiago** » Fri 19 Dec 2008 19:10

Thanks for that info. Looks a good deal. I always take the no-excess insurance and it costs about £12 a day, making the weekly hire quite expensive.

While we're on the subject, is there a cheap and good annual travel insurance company that covers people resident in France?

Kathy · Post by **Kathy** » Fri 19 Dec 2008 19:22

Just to add that this year we got £5 off our renewal for insurance4 car hire policy for being returning customers.

FORUM