Beware icarhireinsurance.com

I purchased a car hire excess policy from icarhireinsurance for a recent trip. The car hire company alleged damage to a tyre and charged me £250. The sent me an invoice that was itemized as repairs £130,loss of use £50,administration £30 and VAT £40. I submitted the claim to icarhireinsurance.com which they settled but minus the £50 loss of use which they say is consequential. There is nothing on their website or policy documents stating this,when I phoned to query why this part of the excess charge was not being paid I was told its impossible to list all exclusions. I presume all car hire companies charge for loss of use as part of their excess fees so you would think a company selling a excess insurance policy would make you aware even in the small print you're not fully covered and in the event of any claim you are going to end up out of pocket. I am posting here as I searched for reviews for icarhireinsurance which were mostly positive but most never claimed. So if you are considering a policy from icarhireinsurance think again. Do not get ripped off.
Thanks for listening.
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  • rs65
    rs65 Posts: 5,682
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    deceived wrote: »
    which they settled but minus the £50 loss of use which they say is consequential. There is nothing on their website or policy documents stating this,when I phoned to query why this part of the excess charge was not being paid I was told its impossible to list all exclusions.
    If they want to rely on an exclusion it has to be in the policy.

    One of the exclusions on my policy is:-

    Any costs that the Rental Company charges You for any period that the Rental Vehicle cannot be rented.
  • deceived
    deceived Posts: 8 Forumite
    Yes rs65 you are spot on, I found it. I missed it through the red mist, surprised they could not quote that when I phoned them. On the up side I learned another lesson and hopefully other people might see that this policy does not cover all of the excess you will be charged by car hire companies in the event of damage.
  • Jlo31
    Jlo31 Posts: 130
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    I've used these types of policies before to but never claimed.

    That's useful to know.

    Cheers

    James
  • Jlo31
    Jlo31 Posts: 130
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    I've noticed that insurance4carhire do cover for loss of use of vehicle so it's certainly something I'll look out for when I use one of these policies.
  • deceived
    deceived Posts: 8 Forumite
    Thanks for the that information Jlo31
  • I have looked at that policy Jlo31 and a couple of others and the loss of use covered is for the time during your rental not loss of use charged by the rental company while they repair their car.
  • Jlo31
    Jlo31 Posts: 130
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    Cheers for that.

    In the terms it states 'WHAT IS COVERED
    We will reimburse You up to the Policy Limit stated below for the amount of Excess, repair costs or associated charges You have to pay under the terms of the Rental Agreement if Your Rental Vehicle is involved in an inci- dent which results in:
    a) Damage to the Rental Vehicle including Damage to the windows, tyres and wheels, headlights, the undercar- riage and the roof
    b) loss of use of the Rental Vehicle
    c) towing costs resulting from the Damage to, or mechanical breakdown of, the Rental Vehicle;
    provided that You are held responsible as declared in the Rental Agreement for the Excess.
    '

    I took it that the loss of use of the rental vehicle covered you for the charges that the rental company would charge you while it was being repaired..but I may be mistaken. It does also state 'We will reimburse You up to the Policy Limit stated below for the amount of Excess, repair costs or associated charges You have to pay under the terms of the Rental Agreement if Your Rental Vehicle is involved in an inci- dent which results in:' so I thought the 'associated charges' would also cover this.

    Cheers

    James
  • marlot
    marlot Posts: 4,925
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    deceived wrote: »
    ...minus the £50 loss of use which they say is consequential. There is nothing on their website or policy documents stating this,when I phoned to query why this part of the excess charge was not being paid I was told its impossible to list all exclusions...
    I've be looking to see if I could take that decision to an ombudsman.
  • Marlot my policy documents do actually list loss of use by the car hire company as not being covered, due to temper I missed it and the monkey I spoke to when I phoned obviously missed it too because he quoted nearly everything else on the policy except that.
  • Jlo31 do not get sucked into the trap,the loss of use is if you cannot use the vehicle during the period you have hired it for.If the vehicle is damaged in any way the car hire company will charge you for loss of use(loss of earnings) and from what I can see none of the excess insurance polices cover this. From the limited investigation I have done and much to my annoyance icarhireinsurance seem to be the ones that do list it ,albeit last ,everybody else seems to skim over it but then you find a clause about consequential charges and I would bet money it is hidden in there. I do not think there is any safe way around paying the hire company their own insurance without being out of pocket in the event of a claim.
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