We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Car hire - refundable excess worth it or not?
Options
Comments
-
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...
That might not work...
When i used to work at the airport, as soon as i swiped a card, it would confirm the details on screen what type of card, name etc, but it would also tell me it was a pre-paid card, which is just the same as using cash/debit card - meaning you weren't allowed to purchase the additional insurance to waiver the excess and we had to take the FULL excess as a deposit up front and hold it until it was checked for any additional damage on return.0 -
You all have mentioned few of the things in car hiring which can be taken into consideration..0
-
Has anyone used Economy Car Hire. I am looking at a 10 day hire for £46 including additional driver and no excess insurance. They charge £2 per day extra for the glass, tyres etc.. This is also one with the full tank policy..not sure how much they will charge at the airport for a full tank on a renault clio. Is this a good deal? Anyone with any other hints or tips? Many thanks in advance.0
-
It is worth the excess in my opinion as you could get charged over £500 in the event of an accident - so it is very high and worth protecting for what is a few pound really.
Source of info: http://www.spainmadesimple.com/insurance/car/
Also - Auto Europe are a comparison search engine giving you the lowest price by comparing all the main car hire companies.
Heard bad things about Goldcar just so you are aware.0 -
Be careful when using Del Paso Car hire at Malaga Airport. They charge a per day rate plus the cost of a full tank of fuel. You have to return the car empty of fuel, how you do this is beyond me, otherwise there is no refund.0
-
My family and me always rent a car from Naniko. It's quite new company, so they have new cars, cheerful staff and prices are really low.0
-
try to search in site, may you can get a good info0
-
Booked a car for use in Australia via rentalcars.com. Was informed that damage waiver was included in the rental costs so not to take out additional cover when collecting the car.
Unfortunately I hit a kangaroo (which was the reason I was keen to have a damage waiver!) and damaged the front bumper of the car. The excess was eye watering (nearly £2000) which I was forced to pay on my credit card and then claim back from rentalcars.com.
It is now 7 weeks since I made this payment and I am still awaiting my refund. Every time I contact rentalcars.com I am informed that there is some reason why my refund cannot be processed. The usual excuse is that they are waiting for some information from Thrifty, who supplied the car. rentalcars.com have been singing this particular tune for the last 4 weeks now and I am still no further forward in my claim. I am about to refer this to the insurance ombudsman.
My advice - choose another hire car internet company and take out your own damage waiver insurance as rentalcars.com have been a joke throughout.
Hope this post helps someone from suffering a similar fate as £2000 is a lot of money to anyone. It certainly has caused my family a lot of distress.0 -
How's the kangaroo?Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.0
-
Thank you AndyJL for your advice,
I've just paid to hire a car thro' rental cars for our trip to Oz at Easter. We're been hassled by rental cars.com to take their waiver insurance, but I elected to get a separate policy at a third of the price recommended by the MSE.
We were quite shocked however when the rental car.com guy said about £2500 will be taken off our credit card as a deposit because we are taking out separate waiver insurance.
Is this standard in Oz?0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 350.9K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.5K Spending & Discounts
- 243.9K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.9K Life & Family
- 257.2K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards