holiday car hire confusion

pamelavhill

All the car hire prices in Crete seem to be very expensive, despite going through all the money saving tips and quidco etc. The following information is shown on the Economy car rental website and wondered if anyone can advise if this is ALL the insurance I would need? In previous years I've taken out a separate policy to cover tires etc. This website offer mini car category for two weeks in July (airport pick up) for £236 with the following written on insurance:

"All prices from EconomyCarRentals include CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) with NO Excess.
Some car hire companies might offer extra insurances upon delivery of the car, like PAI (personal accident insurance) and FDW (Full Damage Waiver).
Check your travel insurance as you don’t need to buy the PAI if you have such insurance.
The FDW is not necessary to buy as EconomyCarRentals will refund any excess paid.
For your convenience you can of course chose to buy an extra insurance locally to avoid any excess payments to the car hire company at your destination."
Would I need anything else?:cool:

ponymad_3

Think you are prob on the wrong thread here, but I use Economy Car Hire sometimes and you are fully insured with them, mind I have never touch wood had to claim. you will stilll need to give a CC for excess tho to the rental company they subcontract to.... then if there is a problem you claim back via Economy the actual excess. I also have a separate pollicy as I drive frequently abroad. Mine is thro Questor who are a major provider... we pay about £40 for the year.

gazwood

Make sure you walk round the vehicle at pickup, list EVERY scratch, knock, chip, alloy wheel scrape, missing button, seat stain etc etc, get an agreed signature, do the same on drop off. Once they've got your credit card details you're at their mercy and you WILL have signed to agree to this somewhere in the small print so your card company won't help. My mate got a £250 card charge 3 months later for wheel damage he knew he hadn't done, nice little earner for the hire companies supplying substandard damaged vehicles to gullible johnny foreigner, also applicable here as well. :eek:

Joozymup

Check that your own travel insurance covers you adequately for any personal liabilities, decent travel insurance usually does. Collision damage waiver (CDW) you'll definitely need from your car hire company however locally car hire companies very often add extra insurance and ask you to initial it, so check the paperwork very carefully before you sign as you may well be doubling up with your own travel insurance. You can refuse anything extra that they may have added.
Also as already mentioned, always a good idea to check for any dents, scratches etc and insist they are recorded on your paperwork. Usually there is a line drawing of your car on the agreement document and you can mark on it any defects. Just make sure you get a signature acknowledging it.
Hope you have a lovely holiday, Crete is a lovely place. Have fun!

P.S. Remember you do have travel insurance if things go wrong. Also, might be an idea to phone your credit card company to check what insurance they might offer should you pay for the car hire using your credit card.

headpin

Although you will probably be covered for the normal risks under the CDW it will still have exclusions.

Typical exclusions will be tyres and wheels, winDscreens and glass, loss of keys, wrong fuel use, damage to the undeside of the vehicle. etc. There will normally be shown an excess value for which you will be responsible if any of these items suffer loss or damage. Indeed in some circumstances you will be held responsible for the full cost of remedy. You can buy separate insurance for these items. It will also probably be offered by the consolidator (in this case Economy Car Rental) as well as the actual rental company in Crete. Beware though that it is likley to be significantly more expensive buying this way thena through a specialist insurer. For 14 days I would not expect to pay any more than £30. And if you hire abroad more than a couple of times a year an annual polict often works out cheaper.

On zero excess CDW, you will need to check who is offering the zero rate. If it is the actual rental company in Crete then I would not get too fussed over every little scratch and scuff. My experience is that in this case they are not particularly fussy. If it's the consolidator be a touch more wary of the condition of the rental vehicle at pick up. IMy experience is that often it's the large multi national renters such as Avis, Hertz, National, etc who are often more likley to charge your CC at a later date for damage they say you are reseponsible for. Although I am also aware of the smaller local companies doing this as well.

plumfin

Hi, we work with Economy. The hire company will have an excess or maximum liability on the rental agreement. We will hold the renter liable for that, and provide the relevant paperwork if you want to claim from another party. Typically, in the UK, the only credit cards that offer CDW are North American, and still only cover the damage element to the car, not the third party which is the most expensive part of the insurance. I would be surprised if your card covers you, but would be interested to know if they do, if that is ok.

The hire company may try to sell you different CDW packages, but if you are confident that Economy will reimburse, then you should be ok. We don't personally offer PAI or PEI (personal accident or effects insurnace), but CDW will only cover damage to your vehicle. if you don't take it, if anyone except you, either in the car or outside is hurt while driving (God forbid), only they would claim off the driver (you and therefore your insurance company). My understanding is that PAI would offer the same cover to the driver as well. I would agree that you should check your home insurance to see if you have some form of public liability to cover this. Hope I have helped.

liam8282

I hired a holiday car last year when we were in Spain.

This was the first time I had ever hired a car or driven abroad, so I was very apprehensive at first.

This guide is very useful:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire

I ended up using Easycar (I think), and I took out an extra insurance policy to cover the excess with a separate company.

headpin

plumfin wrote: »

Hi, we work with Economy. The hire company will have an excess or maximum liability on the rental agreement. We will hold the renter liable for that, and provide the relevant paperwork if you want to claim from another party. ........

I'm somewhat confused. Are you saying you work FOR or WITH Economy? Confused even more as the OP says that the quote received states:

"All prices from EconomyCarRentals include CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) with NO Excess. "

So what exactly in this particular instant are Economy holding the renter responsible for?

I'm sorry, but I found most of your post confusing, contradictory and not too helpful in response to the OP queries!!!

daveyjp

We have used Economy Car hire, had cause to report damage from a local hitting the car in a car park - no excess paid by me. Car was returned and I heard nothing else.

ponymad_3

HI Pamelavhill.... I would urge you to look at other info on site such as TA where you can add your question re car hire into the Crete and Crete town specific forum. However as I stated in my original reply my understanding is that all is covered through Economy... I have now used them several times and found them to be very professional.. As I have also used a few times they tell me the car hire company I will be dealing with in resort. They offer me more than 1 option usually, so I do my research on the TA forum / or ask a question and go with the advice. Worked for me.
Your original Q did relate solely to the excess and I believe you are fully protected, but might need to claim back here in the UK and this is the same if you take out a standalone excess protection which I also have as we do sometimes use other than Economy and also my second driver is sometimes outside their age criteria. Today my renewal reminder came and it is £44 for the yr..

BTW Have you definitely decided that you need a car for the full time. I was in Crete myself last yr in May and we used our car very little, ours came with a villa package but glad we had nt paid as we really did nt need it.

Mr_Smith_3

When I hire a car, I always get a policy to cover the excess. Mine is only £39.99 with iCarHireInsurance