Car Hire stand alone insurance policies

Andypandyboy

Car Hire stand alone insurance policies We were in Portugal recently and prior to going I had purchased an MSE reccomended car hire policy to avoid being ripped off by the rental agency.

When we arrived to collect the car we were put under real pressure form the comapny to take out their full insurance which cost over 200 euro. We told them we had our own policy but they insisted it was not good enough (without seeing it!) and that in Portugal you needed cover for vandalism. We did waiver and almost gave in, all around us people were doing just that, the reps were using real scaremongerng tactics to make people buy. We were happy for them to ringfence 1100 euros on our cc, but still they persisted.

In the end we stood firm, but for the whole of the holiday I was a bit uneasy. It seems to have turned out fine, no problems on our return (not had the cc statement yet so reserving full judgement till then!) but was I right to assume the Questor policy (annual) did give us the cover we needed?

As an aside, the car hire place had never heard of the DVLA scheme with the code and only wanted the old style driving license. They would not release cars with just the code. So don't chuck your paper counterparts out.

Copied from the motoring section where it seemed to be in the wrong area.

eDicky

Well done! And pity the poor people around you who gave in to the bullying, and those who are probably doing so at this moment.


You would need to check the small print of your policy to see if it covered 'vandalism', but probably damage is damage, however caused.


Was there any inspection of the car before and after?

Andypandyboy

eDicky wrote: »

Well done! And pity the poor people around you who gave in to the bullying, and those who are probably doing so at this moment.


You would need to check the small print of your policy to see if it covered 'vandalism', but probably damage is damage, however caused.


Was there any inspection of the car before and after?

Yes, the car was inspected before and all faults/scratches noted and signed for. When we returned it they did the same and we were just waiting for them to come up with something, but, to our surprise, they did a cursory glance and signed off all the papers, and voided the 1100 euro deposit which had been blocked on our card. They were really busy though and under pressure to get people through to ensure they caught flights. We had gone there very early expecting to have to fight our corner instead we ended up being at the airport and in the bar within an hour!

Hopefully, that will be the end of it, but will only know for sure when the next CC bill rolls in.

It was a real bargain at E240 for 15 days for a new Fiesta. It seems clear that they then rely on the insurance to bump the price up to over E460 and use scare tactics to try to achieve that.

It was quite intimidating to have to stand our ground though when everyone else was caving in.

AlexMac

Pressure by the desk staff is common because they in turn are put under pressure to sell their overpriced Excess Cover. (as I said yesterday on a similar thread at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/68937659#Comment_68937659 _

I always use the reliable UK-base rental broker referred to in that post, and I take out annual cover with insurance4carhire as its cheaper - especially if you rent a few times a year- but when a mate booked with another company at Malaga a couple of years ago we had real hassle.

due to said pressure, the check out/sales staff were taking forever as they hard-sold (or tried to) their cover to everyone in the queue; with agressive threats that if we didn't take their excess cover but relied on our own, it would take forever when we returned the car, as we'd have to then wait while they checked it, whereas with their cover add-on we could simply chuck the keys at them.... We stood our ground.

And when we returned, not only was there no delay- but the same staff, released of the obligation to hard-sell, were coutreous and charming; as I'm sure they would have been without an incentive to sell!

So if anyone out there hasn't yet booked their holdiay hire car- do google your company of choice before booking as they even vary from airport to airport

Andypandyboy

I think that a lot of people facing the pressure we faced would have bought the extra insurance there, despite having bought a policy beforehand, effectively paying twice. I think that you need to be prepared for this if you do buy such a policy.

zagfles

Car hire companies make a fortune from excess waivers so it's not surprising they give them the hard sell. Like banks used to do with PPI etc. Massive profit margins = high pressure to sell.

The best way I find to deal with any hard sell is to just say no and repeat firmly if necessary, without getting into any reasons, as that gives them a chance to use well practiced arguments to make you doubt your reasoning. You don't need to tell them you have an excess policy.

It also doesn't waste their time, if they're not going to get a sale they'll be less p***ed off if they haven't wasted 10 mins trying to convince you only for you to say no.

eDicky

zagfles wrote: »

Car hire companies make a fortune from excess waivers so it's not surprising they give them the hard sell. Like banks used to do with PPI etc. Massive profit margins = high pressure to sell.

The best way I find to deal with any hard sell is to just say no and repeat firmly if necessary, without getting into any reasons, as that gives them a chance to use well practiced arguments to make you doubt your reasoning. You don't need to tell them you have an excess policy.

It also doesn't waste their time, if they're not going to get a sale they'll be less p***ed off if they haven't wasted 10 mins trying to convince you only for you to say no.

Exactly, my tactic also, just smile and say "No thank you... no thank you," - no need to mention anything else, they realise quite quickly that I know where it's at and there's no time wasted.