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Car hire - refundable excess worth it or not?
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I have been using anyairportcarhire.com recently.. they offer an excess reduction insurance for £4 including windows and tyres bargin!0
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A couple of years back i booked a hire car via an online broker. I honestly cant recall who it was. It might have been holiday autos or similar. I was provided with a voucher for Europcar. On arrival in Cyprus,went to Europcar stand and was asked to pay refuelling deposit i.e they allegedly fill the car and you bring it back empty. I declined but they insisted i had to pay. The car wasnt that brilliant either. In Europcars T & Cs there is no mention of refuelling charges. I complained to Europcar in the UK. They didnt reply for a long time and when they did,they wrote a short,dismissive letter with a money off voucher for my next UK rental off their standard rates. As their standard rates are iniquitous and a total rip off i would never use their crummy voucher and their treatment of the matter only serves to highlight the total disrespect and disregard which they must have for their customers. In my eyes,they are a totally rubbish company and i would never use them again.
I quote from the T&Cs of their website as follows;
http://www.europcar.co.uk/EBE/module/render/terms-and-conditions/general-rental-terms
The Vehicle will be provided to you with a full fuel tank. You must only refuel the Vehicle with the correct type of fuel. Costs of fuel and for the refuelling service will be at your expense if the Vehicle is not returned with a full tank.Feudal Britain needs land reform. 70% of the land is "owned" by 1 % of the population and at least 50% is unregistered (inherited by landed gentry). Thats why your slave box costs so much..0 -
hi was wondering if someone knows what i can do. I rented a car for 3 days from avis and i paid it week before i picked the car up when i took it back it was all fine a week later avis took an extra £65 out of my account which put me in minus with my bank. I rang avis up and they have investigated it and said it was all there fault. They said they would pay the £65 back into my bank. But that still leaves me with the bank charges for going into minus. could i recieve some form of compensation like a free car hire for a week for the inconvenience.0
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Can i just say, as an Ex Branch Manager for Hertz (boooo, hiss!!), my staff were on very poor basic wages, but were able to take home nearly twice their salary in bonuses for selling CDW, upgrades, PI, full tanks of fuel, child seats etc.....
Which is why you are always being hammered with them when you're hiring!!!
But back to what i was about to suggest, before you purchase any extra CDW, either from a broker (Holiday Auto's) or any other 3rd party, check with your credit card company first.
You could be suprised as they will usually offer it as free service if you have like an Amex Gold Card or similar (obviously dependant in your annual spend) but if it's not free, you may be able to get it for an anual fee.
But no matter which 3rd party you use, you will still get charged upto the full excess if anything goes wrong, and it will upto you to claim it back from them.
Another great tip, (even more so if you've pre-booked through a 3rd party like Holiday Auto's) phone the renting branch in advance and make sure that:
A: They have your reservation!!
Sounds obvious, but you don't know how many times i've had customers arrive with no reservations on the system!!! Even though their rental voucher clearly states when, what time, how long etc... Even more anoying when it's for a specialist car, estate, people carrier, automatic etc...
B: Any Special Requirements are met...
Again, obvious, but the last thing you want is to arrive at the aiport finding out they have no babay seats left!!!
C: What happens if there's any delays....
If you're on a late flight into the airport, and it's delayed, what happens next. Different companies have different policies.
I know it sounds obvious, but just by simply ringing a couple of days before you are due to collect your car, it can make a massive difference from having a nightmare time to hopefully exceeding your expectations
If i can be of any help, just shout....0 -
try Cheap Airport Car Hire and suggest
rentacar-online.co.uk0 -
Advice from Tipoa Car Hire Mrs TIP on car Hire Zero Excess insurance:-
at youtube
regards
Satine0 -
I think I must be the only person in the world,who chooses not to have a credit card!!
But it means I cannot hire a car.
Does anyone know of a way round this??
I am English but live in Southern Italy,although I have a UK bank Account,with a debit card.
I need to hire a car when I come and visit my family next month....0 -
In recent years, several overseas brokers, no doubt recognizing that North American buyers want "zero deductible" insurance, have begun to advertise "no excess" or "fully refundable excess." They promise that if your your rental car is damaged or stolen, and have to pay a deductible/excess fee to the rental car supplier, the broker will refund your out-of-pocket.0
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Exactly the same experience as everyone at Gold Car rental.:mad:
Stay away, you will Pay more its not cheaper at all.
I researched that the reason there is a Market for this Excess Insurance product at all is because the credit card firms will not pay all of the excess like the major cards used to do.
The main contention is the charge for days of lost car rental when the rental car goes in for repair after a crash. The Credit card firms want proof from the rental car firms that none of their cars were available during that time so they lost revenue as a result.
As expected the rental firms will not supply the information so the credit card firms will not pay it so guess who still has to pay?, we all do of course. We think we are covered but we are not, there is always an exclusion.... MPs expenses... etc.
This experience I compare to the ingenuity of Ryanair, a Member of Parliament and a timeshare sales person shafting every last penny from you up a back alley in a very foggy Liverpool with your pants down to stop you running away.
We all know we are going to get screwed with a lot of Car Rental firms same as we do with some Airlines and anything else to do with an enjoyable holiday abroad, its just a question of the Method. I booked through Villa rentals dot com who use car trawler.
This company makes losses every time a client refuses their costly Excess insurance as prices are very low here, that’s why they make it difficult for you to refuse it so have other methods of making up the loss of their profit.
What I don’t like about the Gold standard Method (GSM) is that they are more expensive than all the main reputable car Rental companies if you succumb to the shock that is their high pressure scaremongering about car damage excess losses and sales tactics.
I thought I had got a bargain until I arrived at GSM Pisa.
I never take out any rental companies insurance as its just a rip off when there is cover for $50 a year from any insurance compare sites. Its worth considering for a few days but not for a week or more.
There are several exclusions by credit card firms but Loss is also covered by some types of major Credit cards if that’s how you pay.
$120 euros was their price This was for a cheap Citroen C3 Diesel in August 20th 2012, plus $120 euros for the insurance.
In Euros their additions.
Screw one Charged $18 for a booking fee
Screw two compulsory Charged $110 for an $80 tank of diesel in a Citroen C3, no refund if not used.
Screw three Charged $120 for 1 weeks excess cover (I held on tight refused to take it)
Screw four A sure fire $60 charge if 1 hour late in dropping off
Screw five A $1600 hold on my Mastercard (few on a holiday can afford this unplanned expense). Holiday autos / Sixt only hold $250 by exact comparison,they used Sixt car rental.
Scam Six If I extend the rental, I have to return to pisa and go through the whole scam again, cant rebook online or by phone, this involves a second $1600 charge on the new rental.
Scam seven Up to 15 days wait (in their terms) for $1600 deposits to be returned to my credit card
Scam seven If you extend your rental you also pay another full tank of fuel, even if you just paid to fill her up yourself.
I had a car from Holiday Autos the week before for $175 but without having all these extras to pay. travelsupermarket.com have other much better companies than Gold.
This firm sell high priced insurance excess and high price non refundable compulsory fuel. Their business is not making money from renting out Cars as this is just a front for the real scam....
Its is all listed in the small print as few smart Alecs will tell us but, few bother to check the fine print so its really our own fault right?
Few Cough.:eek:
davidcamm@hotmail.com0 -
I think I must be the only person in the world,who chooses not to have a credit card!!
But it means I cannot hire a car.
Does anyone know of a way round this??
I am English but live in Southern Italy,although I have a UK bank Account,with a debit card.
I need to hire a car when I come and visit my family next month....
Try A free pre paid credit card, they accept anyone...
I would reccommend this for everyone, then after the holiday destroy the card and get a new one, then there are no surprise charges months down the line for fines and damages, flat tyres etc...0
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