Insurance excess protection

squirrelchops

Hi all

I am looking to hire a car when in Greece later this year. I note that all are showing an excess of from 450 euros to over 1000euros in case of accident or damage.

I have also seen a couple offer insurance against this and have seen online that you can buy excess protection insurance.

I have never previously thought about this when I have rented a car.........does it literally come down to making the decision of the likelihood there will be an accident/damage and hence whether this is a worthwhile cover so as to save paying excess?

Any advice and if people do get this cover is appreciated.

rustyboy21

The rental co offer this when you go and pick the car up in Greece, however it does work out more expensive than these so called excess insurances you buy over here.


The thing is, if you get one here, when you pick the car up in Greece, they will not take it as covered, so will assign, say 1000 euros on your credit card to cover any excess. They will also go over the car with a very fine toothed comb, checking for any blemishes, even if you haven't made any, they could be from a driver like me, who buys their insurance and just throws the keys in a box at the end, without checking it over. You will also have to pay the excess out of that money set aside off your card and then claim it back from the UK company.


If you can live with the large amount being taken on your card and don't mind waiting around for them to check the car over at the end, get one, if not, either go without, or buy theirs.


Couldn't put it any plainer than that.

zagfles

I've used insurance4carhire loads of times, never claimed but they seem to have a good reputation. They also provide better cover than most car hire companies excess waivers, which as well as being a rip-off usually exclude stuff like windscreens, tyres, roof, underside, loss of keys etc.

There are some car hire companies who'll try it on claiming there are scratches which weren't there before etc, but never happened to me, and even if you get the excess waiver they could still claim you didn't fill it, there's a chip on the windscreen, scratch on the roof, damaged tyre etc. If they're dishonest they'll find something they can charge you for! But with a decent excess policy you'll get it back before the CC needs paying.

zolablue25

zagfles wrote: »

I've used insurance4carhire loads of times, never claimed but they seem to have a good reputation. They also provide better cover than most car hire companies excess waivers, which as well as being a rip-off usually exclude stuff like windscreens, tyres, roof, underside, loss of keys etc.

There are some car hire companies who'll try it on claiming there are scratches which weren't there before etc, but never happened to me, and even if you get the excess waiver they could still claim you didn't fill it, there's a chip on the windscreen, scratch on the roof, damaged tyre etc. If they're dishonest they'll find something they can charge you for! But with a decent excess policy you'll get it back before the CC needs paying.

I am looking at getting independent cover for my next car hire and I have looked at the insurance4carhire website but one thing in their FAQs has me a bit concerned. Under the section on how to make a claim it says what documentation to send and includes a "police report". Now, if someone has scratched my hire car in a car park and then disappeared I don't imagine for a moment that I will waste any more of my holiday going to a police station and trying to make myself understood to file a report. Would this then make my claim void? In which case I might as well go without insurance in the first place.

zagfles

zolablue25 wrote: »

I am looking at getting independent cover for my next car hire and I have looked at the insurance4carhire website but one thing in their FAQs has me a bit concerned. Under the section on how to make a claim it says what documentation to send and includes a "police report". Now, if someone has scratched my hire car in a car park and then disappeared I don't imagine for a moment that I will waste any more of my holiday going to a police station and trying to make myself understood to file a report. Would this then make my claim void? In which case I might as well go without insurance in the first place.

In the claims sections it states http://www.insurance4carhire.com/claims.aspx

If the incident by law requires the attendance of the Police, we require a copy of the Police Report

zolablue25

Thanks for that info Zagfles, the FAQ didn't make that as clear as in the link you sent.