Do I need Excess Insurance for Car Hire in California?

easyken

Hi all,

I'm travelling to California next month and have hired a car with Alamo via Easycar. Already with the booking I've got the following:

"Insurance ( - Collision Damage Waiver - Theft Protection - 3rd Party Liability - Supplementary Liability Insurance - Uninsured Motorist Protection )"

Do I need to supplement this with Excess Insurance, or should I be fully covered?

Probably a daft question I know, but thought I'd ask before splashing out. :money:

Thanks in advance,
EK

worried_jim

What insurance should I buy?
We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: don’t buy the excess insurance offered to you at the hire desk.

Collision damage waiver (CDW) insurance will almost always be included in your booking. With this cover, if you damage the car, you’ll still have to pay an excess — normally between £450 and £1,800 for a compact car. The hire desk’s extra policies could reduce this excess liability to zero, but they are usually be expensive — up to £22 a day in our survey — and will rarely cover the things you’re most likely to damage, such as tyres, the windscreen or the underside of the car.

You’re much better off buying a policy to cover potential excess charges from a specialist insurer before you travel.We found prices ranging from £14.70 to £36.91 for an August week in Spain — which comes out at a more reasonable £2.10-£5.27 a day. The £16.80 policy from https://www.worldwideinsure.com offered more comprehensive coverage than some of the pricier deals.

If you’re taking three or more trips this year, you’ll get better value from an annual policy. https://www.Icarhireinsurance.com offers a year’s protection for £39.99 in Europe; https://www.insurance4carhire.com annual worldwide policy is £46.99.


http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/travel/Your_Travel/Tips_and_Advice/article1553046.ece

InsideInsurance

You need to check the terms you've agreed to. Unfortunately there is no consistency in the hire/insurance market of what these things mean. For some companies CDW reduces your excess to nil, in others it leaves you with a significant excess and you need to buy Super CDW to get it down to nil.

In the USA where the base insurance tends to be less its more common that CDW leaves a significant excess but check before potentially double covering yourself

Mendry

Hi,
Sorry to post in an old thread, but was wondering what the outcome of this was, as I have just done exactly the same booking (california, easycar, alamo) and have the same doubt. It even states excess "£0"?

Regards

easyken

We bought the excess insurance in advance in the end, as looking at the smallprint, there would have been a large excess despite the CDW. As worriedjim mentions above, don't buy it at-the-desk, get it in advance.

StuieUK34

When booking a car for hire in the US, its best to book through a UK broker or a UK agent (like Alamo.co.uk or hertz.co.uk , etc etc)

You will note that your car hire includes the insurance we need in Laymens terms..
IE: £0.00 Excess
IE: If you bump or someone bumps you, or someone bumps you and drives off (as I found out), you fill in the paperwork and when you return the car, that's it, job done, nothing to pay, etc etc...
There is no excess.

Whats not covered is the extra cover, which is for losing keys, wrecking the wheels, smashing the windscreen, etc...
So try not to drive into a cow or Deer, then get out of the car and throw your keys away in anger!

callum9999

StuieUK34 wrote: »

When booking a car for hire in the US, its best to book through a UK broker or a UK agent (like Alamo.co.uk or hertz.co.uk , etc etc)

You will note that your car hire includes the insurance we need in Laymens terms..
IE: £0.00 Excess
IE: If you bump or someone bumps you, or someone bumps you and drives off (as I found out), you fill in the paperwork and when you return the car, that's it, job done, nothing to pay, etc etc...
There is no excess.

Whats not covered is the extra cover, which is for losing keys, wrecking the wheels, smashing the windscreen, etc...
So try not to drive into a cow or Deer, then get out of the car and throw your keys away in anger!

It's best to check both. For me it was cheaper to book via Hertz US and buy a separate excess policy than it was to buy from Hertz UK.

StuieUK34

That might be true, and great if u don't mind losing a few thousand off your credit card while u wait/if for the Excess cover to pay out....

oh, and if driving on a US rental without LIS, make sure u don't hit anyone... you will be crying.
UK brokers include LIS and full CDW (no excess). Theres a reason why were protected, goes back some years as to why, cant remember what prompted it.

callum9999

StuieUK34 wrote: »

That might be true, and great if u don't mind losing a few thousand off your credit card while u wait/if for the Excess cover to pay out....

oh, and if driving on a US rental without LIS, make sure u don't hit anyone... you will be crying.
UK brokers include LIS and full CDW (no excess). Theres a reason why were protected, goes back some years as to why, cant remember what prompted it.

I have numerous credit cards so no, I wouldn't mind that.

And I should have been more specific - I declined all the optional insurance and took out a separate fully-comprehensive with excess cover policy. It included everything I could see that I would need (and believe the advertising blurb specifically said to decline all insurance as you'd be covered under all scenarios with the normal driving under the influence etc. exclusions).

I don't doubt your way is better in many cases (and is certainly much less hassle!), but it's worth checking all your options - maybe I just got a particularly good deal at the time.

Mendry

When booking I did use easycar as a broker, which is uk based and listed a full CDW with £0 excess. Despite this, Alamo, after written communication, is informing me that I will need to leave a hold on my credit card for the full amount of the rental + 20% in case of any "incidentals". Do they mean a lost key fob or a broken windscreen? If so, would an insurance such as the one provided by "iCarhireinsurance" return such expenses after they occurred?

Thanks in advance for any advice.