Car Hire Excess Insurance - any good?

WombleSW20_2

Hi

I'm considering taking out this cover out before I go on holiday as the excess waiver offered by the hire company alway seems rediculously expensive. Can anyone recommend a company here? Any good experiences? Easy to claim?

There's a few companies on the web offering cover but not sure how good they are.

Thx.

WombleSW20

foggytown

WombleSW20 wrote: »

Hi

I'm considering taking out this cover out before I go on holiday as the excess waiver offered by the hire company alway seems rediculously expensive. Can anyone recommend a company here? Any good experiences? Easy to claim?

There's a few companies on the web offering cover but not sure how good they are.

Thx.

WombleSW20

You might mention where you're going. UK? US?

mattymoo

You also need to bear in mind that excess cover only kicks in when the loss exceeds the excess in the first place. Typical hire car excesses are around £500 iirc.

So, if you returned your car to the hire company and they spot £1,000 of damage, they will claim £500 off you and you get this back from your insurer.
If you return the car and the damage comes to £499, you have to pay this and will recover nothing from the excess insurer.

Andy_L

mattymoo wrote: »

You also need to bear in mind that excess cover only kicks in when the loss exceeds the excess in the first place. Typical hire car excesses are around £500 iirc.

So, if you returned your car to the hire company and they spot £1,000 of damage, they will claim £500 off you and you get this back from your insurer.
If you return the car and the damage comes to £499, you have to pay this and will recover nothing from the excess insurer.

This is not true, at least in the case of http://www.insurance4carhire.com/ ,as they have reimbursed me for claims of less than the excess

mattymoo

AndyL - I can't find a policy wording on their site but did see this.

Covers Excess on damage to the rental vehicle including the undercarriage, Excess on theft, and damage to windows and tyres

Were your claims for window or tyre damage?
They seem to cover these in full whereas damage and theft only appear to cover the excess. In that situation I would have thought it worked like I suggested.

The site is rather vague so I could be wrong.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Matty, Policy & Terms of Business are a combined document HERE. All looks ok at first reading...

WombleSW20_2

Hi all

We're planning to go to Italy if that helps. I've been quoted around £30 for 2 weeks cover on one site I tried with an maxmimum excess of £3k.

glider3560

We were looking at this for hiring a van in the UK.

The insurer wants £7.99 for one day, whereas the hire company wants £25 simply to reduce the excess to £250.

Can't find any unusual conditions, so may give this a try.

Andy_L

mattymoo wrote: »

AndyL - I can't find a policy wording on their site but did see this.



Were your claims for window or tyre damage?
They seem to cover these in full whereas damage and theft only appear to cover the excess. In that situation I would have thought it worked like I suggested.

The site is rather vague so I could be wrong.

It was bodywork damage, about £200. It was ~2 years ago so its possible they've changed their T&Cs but I doubt it

Andy_L

glider3560 wrote: »

We were looking at this for hiring a van in the UK.

The insurer wants £7.99 for one day, whereas the hire company wants £25 simply to reduce the excess to £250.

Can't find any unusual conditions, so may give this a try.

They won't cover you for a vehicle hired within 150km of your home address, so its only really good for holidays

glider3560

Andy_L wrote: »

They won't cover you for a vehicle hired within 150km of your home address, so its only really good for holidays

That exclusion doesn't seem to be present on the van policies (after all, who would rent a van on holiday?!)
http://www.insuremyvanhire.com/index.asp?refID=100