Car Hire - separate insurance

dwill1503

Right, I have found companies that will hire a car without credit card no problem, we just leave a cash deposit. The issue now is that a friend has suggested we use a special company for the insurance as it is much cheaper. Will this be ok given we are leaving a cash deposit- has anyone hired a car and had different insurance?

benjus

Within the EU you'll normally find that insurance is included in the hire price - but with a very high excess (the part that you would have to pay if a claim is made). The second insurance policy taken out with a separate company is not actually insuring the vehicle, it's insuring the excess on the main policy (if there is an incident you would have to pay up, then claim this back from your separate insurance). An alternative to this is "Super CDW" (or a similar name) where you pay extra to the car hire firm to get an insurance policy with no excess (this is normally much more expensive).

If the car hire company is happy to take a cash deposit and does not require you to buy their Super CDW, then the separate insurance policy should be fine.

If it's outside the EU the situation may be a bit different as some car hire companies in some countries will hire the car out with no insurance at all.

dwill1503

Am slowly getting there with my car hire query.

Just wondered now has anyone used icarinsurancehire.com to buy insurance and then hired car using a debit card? Even if we have to leave a deposit we are happy with that.

eDicky

dwill1503 wrote: »

Just wondered now has anyone used icarinsurancehire.com to buy insurance and then hired car using a debit card? Even if we have to leave a deposit we are happy with that.

A separate insurance policy, not specifically icarinsurancehire - yes.

Hired using a debit card - yes. You need sufficient available balance and/or credit facility in the account for the hire company to reserve what they require, can be up to £1000+.

You still don't say where you're hiring.

dwill1503

Thank you. We are going to Malaga

InsideInsurance

dwill1503 wrote: »

Am slowly getting there with my car hire query.

Just wondered now has anyone used icarinsurancehire.com to buy insurance and then hired car using a debit card? Even if we have to leave a deposit we are happy with that.

The only issue with separate insurance is that the hire car company will want a pre-auth for the full excess plus potentially a few hundred over for fines/ fuel/ late return etc. Ultimately not a problem as it drops off and the money becomes useable again in the future but some find it inconvenient.

Similarly you have to pay the excess first and then reclaim it and it can take a couple of months for various reasons so you need to be able to fund this being aware the excess could be over £1,000

eDicky

There is another issue that all these people who ask about separate CDW excess insurance should be made aware of. The extra insurance, 'super-CDW' or whatever they may call it, sold by the car rental companies themselves when you pick up the car forms a substantial part of their income, particularly the cheaper ones in destinations like Spain, who attract customers with low prices and rely on the added extras to be in profit. So if the customer has their own separate insurance and refuses to be cajoled into buying it at the car rental desk, the company is making much less on the rental, perhaps even a loss. Then, the staff handling the returned car later are much more likely to examine it and 'find' some minor damage. The CDW excess amount pre-authorised on the hirer's card can then be retained by the company, and the hirer has the time-consuming hassle of having to claim it back from their separate policy.

The important point is that if you decline the rental firm's own extra insurance, when picking up the car you have to examine it carefully with a staff member and make absolutely sure that every bit of damage, down to the smallest scratch, is recorded and signed for on the check-out form or whatever method they use. That includes the roof, antenna, wheels, interior and seats, etc. Otherwise on return they will be able to find something that was actually already existing damage, and not hesitate to blame you for it. This can even happen sometimes with the big-name rental companies, not just the cowboys. Staff do not usually bother to check for minor damage on cars returned by hirers who bought the rental firm's own extra insurance, and no money is actually spent on repairs of course, so cars often have many unrecorded minor scrapes and blemishes.

So beware! Reserve the lengthy and complicated insurance claims for when you actually damage a car yourself - hopefully never.

zagfles

eDicky wrote: »

There is another issue that all these people who ask about separate CDW excess insurance should be made aware of. The extra insurance, 'super-CDW' or whatever they may call it, sold by the car rental companies themselves when you pick up the car forms a substantial part of their income, particularly the cheaper ones in destinations like Spain, who attract customers with low prices and rely on the added extras to be in profit. So if the customer has their own separate insurance and refuses to be cajoled into buying it at the car rental desk, the company is making much less on the rental, perhaps even a loss. Then, the staff handling the returned car later are much more likely to examine it and 'find' some minor damage. The CDW excess amount pre-authorised on the hirer's card can then be retained by the company, and the hirer has the time-consuming hassle of having to claim it back from their separate policy.

The important point is that if you decline the rental firm's own extra insurance, when picking up the car you have to examine it carefully with a staff member and make absolutely sure that every bit of damage, down to the smallest scratch, is recorded and signed for on the check-out form or whatever method they use. That includes the roof, antenna, wheels, interior and seats, etc. Otherwise on return they will be able to find something that was actually already existing damage, and not hesitate to blame you for it. This can even happen sometimes with the big-name rental companies, not just the cowboys. Staff do not usually bother to check for minor damage on cars returned by hirers who bought the rental firm's own extra insurance, and no money is actually spent on repairs of course, so cars often have many unrecorded minor scrapes and blemishes.

So beware! Reserve the lengthy and complicated insurance claims for when you actually damage a car yourself - hopefully never.

While I'm sure this happens, I've hired cars loads of times and nearly always had a separate excess policy, and never had a problem.

Of course one person's experience doesn't tell you much - but look at the rates charged by the excess insurers and look at the average excess, and bear in mind that the excess insurers will be making a profit.

Car hire companys' "Super CDW" policies are often around 20% or so of the excess. I've hired maybe 30 times, so I would have paid the excess 6 times over if I'd taken the car hire company's Super CDW policy! As it is I've never even had to claim on my excess policy.

eDicky

zagfles wrote: »

Of course one person's experience doesn't tell you much - but look at the rates charged by the excess insurers and look at the average excess, and bear in mind that the excess insurers will be making a profit.

That's a good point. It doesn't happen all the time of course, and I am not advising purchase of hire firms' expensive super-CDW (I never do), just to be aware of the different situation.

When you buy the extra insurance from the car hire company, there is nothing to pay if any damage occurs, so they do not usually bother to check for minor damage when you return the car.

When you have a separate excess policy and a pre-authorised amount blocked on your card to cover the excess in case of damage, there WILL usually be a check for damage on return. So, better to make sure that ALL existing damage is recorded before you drive away.