damage refund insurance

wood1e2

Is damage refund insurance ,that 'CarHire' (never heard of them, but they are about £80 Cheaper) are offering me, @ £50 instead of taking up to £2500 off my credit card, is this the same as 'excess insurance' and therefore should I get from a third party save having the car hire company use my credit card as basically a free loan?

Many thanks in advance.

Jesus...just checked BUdget and they want a credit card with £5000 spare on it, if I don't take out their insurance!!! Not sure the insurance is worth it, as I don't have a card with that spending power on it!!

Getting really confused now, they all seem to want a free loan off my credit card?!?!?!?

Does the Third Party Excess Insurance stop this?

Caz3121

wood1e2 wrote: »

Does the Third Party Excess Insurance stop this?

no it does not...these are 2 separate things

how it works

Car rental firm want to sell you the car hire and the insurance
If you purchase the insurance from them you will pay £x for it and there is no large hold put on your card.
If you do not purchase insurance from them then they will require a card to hold £y for the duration of the rental whether you take a policy elsewhere or not
buying an excess policy elsewhere does not stop the car rental firm requiring a hold on your card (the only way to stop that is to buy insurance from them) it will mean that, if you have it, any amount that may get taking from you in the even of an accident can be reclaimed from the excess company

wood1e2

oh I see...

So I can either

1) Pay up large premium to cover the excess and not have a large sum taken from my credit card... OR

2) Buy a cost effective insurance from a third party, to cover the excess, and have my credit card spanked by the care hire people.

They have you over a barrel really? So might as well, pay the huge premium and save my credit card from being financially mugged?

Can't it be illegal for such excessive excess? £2500? The car hire companies must have incompetent insurance negotiators if that is what their insurance company really charges them!!

Alan_Bowen

No, the car hire companies decide the excess they want to carry, and pass on to you. If it was a low excess, you wouldn't be likely to buy the excess insurance from which they make so much money, with a large excess, you are much more likely to do so. Not every car hire company has such a large excess but since you are driving off with £15,000 of car, they want to know you can pay the excess if the car doesn't come back in the same state as you took it.

wood1e2

Hi

Well Budget have confirmed that if I take out their excess insurance they won't take a penny from my credit card. So to me even though they rip you off with the insurance, as is the excess in the first place.

I would rather pay their over priced insurance than have my credit card finance them to the tune of £5000!!!

EssexExile

wood1e2 wrote: »

I would rather pay their over priced insurance than have my credit card finance them to the tune of £5000!!!

Personally that's what I do for an easy life but it's not very money saving, I'd go with a company I'd heard of too, for the same reason. You do realise that when you bring the car back in one piece you get your £5000 back?

wood1e2

Yes of course I realise that....but do you know how much more money they make on my £5000 even if they just dumped it on 'overnight' multiplied by the number of £5000 !!

So Budget seem to include CDW in the price, although there is no doubt an additional insuance once I get to the checkout! or desk to pick the car up.

eDicky

wood1e2 wrote: »

Yes of course I realise that....but do you know how much more money they make on my £5000 even if they just dumped it on 'overnight' multiplied by the number of £5000 !!

So Budget seem to include CDW in the price, although there is no doubt an additional insuance once I get to the checkout! or desk to pick the car up.

All firms usually include CDW in their price, but there is always an excess, for which they want to sell you the additional cover which brings the excess to zero.

I have never heard of an excess as high as £5000 - usually it's €500 - 1200 on the continent. Are you hiring a Ferrari..?

They only put a 'pre-authorisation' on your card, to block that amount for them to take if necessary.

wood1e2

Budget is EUR5000 and that is on a 2 door very very small car!!

THey include CDW in the price....so what I have to take another insurance for even more excess??!?!?

What the F**K is the additional excess? They must have strange insurance on thier cars that they insurance company charges them two lots of excess.

Budget say if I take out their CDW which is stated as enclosed in the price, I don't need to give them EUR5000

So they going to try and sell me even more insurance?

eDicky

wood1e2 wrote: »

Budget say if I take out their CDW which is stated as enclosed in the price, I don't need to give them EUR5000

So they going to try and sell me even more insurance?

CDW is Collision Damage Waiver, not an excess itself. What they will try to sell you is extra cover to bring the excess on that CDW down to zero. Then they will not need to block more than a minimal amount on your card, for fuel etc.

If you decline that excess cover from Budget, that will need to block an amount on your card equivalent to the excess, in case you prang the car. But that will not be £5000.

That huge amount would be needed only if you refuse to pay for the CDW, but that's rather pointless and nobody does it. As you say, it's included in the hire price - that's normal.

At least, that's what I now understand from what you wrote, assuming you are hiring somewhere in Europe - you don't say. Have you read the MSE article on car hire and insurance?

wood1e2

Hi,

Yes I have read that article but that is confusing to me, as it appears to say there is only CDW and that is what you get third party insurance for...not the add on excess insurance that they hit you with at the counter on car pick up.

CDW - where it doesn't cover the excess but you have to have it, or it is in the price
Insurance for rip off excess !

So basically I get CDW and that is covered in price, so not going to refuse that. As refusing this is the 'EUR5000 spank' on my Credit Card.

Then I have a choice.

1) Get Car hire insurance for the excess - and no spank on my card
2) Get private insurance for the excess - and no spank on my card.
3) Ignore and don't get anything - and no cost...but a nightmare if I dink the car!

But with point 3 I end up paying something like EUR1300 (or something similar) for any accident scratch or damage.

Slowly getting my head around it!

So I suppose if I get the third party insurance I just rock up to the counter with documents for third party insurance and that is it?

Or is there other charges?

Obviously I'll need driving license, new government code to allow car hire company to see my license and paper work for excess insurance...?

One final question, do I need to take my own insurance paperwork.

many thanks to everyone who has helped this slightly 'car hire !!!!!! bloke'