damage refund insurance

NiftyDigits

wood1e2 wrote: »

Don't worry about it.

I was just commenting on the high level of access and that Carhire companies are just making money out of it. As i can't believe they actually get charged such high access by their insurance companies.

Still banging on? You didn't read what was written? Just buy their Super CDW and then there is no excess. You can't have it both ways. Some companies may include all, but the hire may be more expensive or cars less new...

wood1e2

I have read what i need to do, and I have understood what I need to do!!

Whilst people post helpful answers I will respond our of common decency, even though my initial questions have been answered.

The reason for 'banging on' is nothing to do with the process of hiring a car, it is to do with what I believe are rip off costs or 'additions'

You obviously don't believe that, so good luck to you!!

pompeyrich

wood1e2 wrote: »

I have read what i need to do, and I have understood what I need to do!!

Whilst people post helpful answers I will respond our of common decency, even though my initial questions have been answered.

The reason for 'banging on' is nothing to do with the process of hiring a car, it is to do with what I believe are rip off costs or 'additions'

You obviously don't believe that, so good luck to you!!

Now you've got your head round the insurance, have you looked at the fuel policies? There's another way the hire firms make some dosh, full to full is usually the best option, if available, you take the car full, well fullish, of fuel and return it full, so you only pay for what you use.

Some firms use full-empty where they sell you a tank of fuel, at an inflated price, they give you no credit for any remaining fuel, so you either give them a few litres, to re-sell, or run out on the way back to the depot!!

Want a sat-nav, they'll rent you one for a daily fee, hire it for 2 weeks and you could have bought you're own for less, same with child seats.

Airport fees, enhanced breakdown cover, tyre and glass insurance, out of hours fees, even charges if the clutch goes while your the renter.

wood1e2

I know I have been investigating!!

The car seats will soon be illegal as they only provide booster seats for 4 year olds upwards.

Budget wanted EUR250 for their 'enhanced' insurance, I got third party for £20!

My wife doesn't like going on boats, we would have been better going by sea! Taking our own car!

Such is life.

codger

EssexExile wrote: »

That's the way it's always worked for me in States, pay the all inclusive price & don't worry about anything.

I didn't know car hire was so difficult & complicated until I joined this site, but I've only been doing it 40 years.

To be fair: overseas car hire has become much more complicated, and therefore much more difficult to understand, over the years. The factors are many and various, everything from the nature of the company and its provenance, the conditional clauses in its offers -- of which the more there are, the less the upfront figure is -- the rise of car hire brokers and car hire aggregator websites, the intended country of hire, the intended airport of hire etc etc etc.

We've been hiring in various countries worldwide for 40 years, too, and what has most often been our rule of thumb is that the bigger the brand, the safer the deal -- safer, which means exactly that: not necessarily better and, very definitely, not cheaper.

In our experience, Spain continues to pose the biggest problem because Spain itself enshrines corrupt practice: entire local authorities have been found to be in the pocket of criminal interests, so it's no wonder that car hire has proved so fertile a hunting ground for the unscrupulous.

But generalisations are dangerous. Malaga airport, for instance, is one we'd red flag, Alicante, slightly less so, Madrid, not at all. But that's our experience. Doesn't mean it'll be anyone else's.

Back in the day -- the day being the pre-2008 crash -- the Spanish car hire marketplace wasn't significantly different from anywhere else. The crash though left many companies over-extended as Spanish banks called in loans, the timely replacement of hire fleets went out the window, overheads mounted and profits dwindled.

Pre-2008, I don't recollect any talk of 'under car damage'; post-2008, it suddenly became a moneymaker in the sense that as CDW didn't cover it, then only massively inflated top-up insurance (from the hire company) would.

The problem is that too many go on a broker's website, see the headline figure for the rental, think oh wowee, that's a bargain, and promptly put their trust in a company they've never heard of in a country they may not previously have visited.

They don't bother to do Google searches, or make the effort to raise car hire queries in the innumerable destination forums that exist on TripAdvisor. They simply turn up at the airport and find themselves having to pay far more than they'd ever anticipated for additional insurance or tankful of fuel "including administration fee" etc etc.

I'm always sympathetic to anyone who falls victim because -- as with most things in life -- it's usually those who can least afford it who're victimized the most. But I do wish their instinct for self-preservation had been just a bit stronger, and that even if they understood not a single word of any other language, they at least had a vague idea of what caveat emptor actually means.

EssexExile

Oh for the good old days! You'd book a car as part of the package holiday in Majorca, on the third day the receptionist would throw you a set of keys as you passed & somewhere on the road outside you'd find a tatty Seat with several bits missing. After driving it around the dirt tracks for a few days you'd throw the keys back & carry on with the rest of your holiday.

NiftyDigits

codger wrote: »

To be fair: overseas car hire has become much more complicated, and therefore much more difficult to understand, over the years. The factors are many and various, everything from the nature of the company and its provenance, the conditional clauses in its offers -- of which the more there are, the less the upfront figure is -- the rise of car hire brokers and car hire aggregator websites, the intended country of hire, the intended airport of hire etc etc etc.

We've been hiring in various countries worldwide for 40 years, too, and what has most often been our rule of thumb is that the bigger the brand, the safer the deal -- safer, which means exactly that: not necessarily better and, very definitely, not cheaper.

In our experience, Spain continues to pose the biggest problem because Spain itself enshrines corrupt practice: entire local authorities have been found to be in the pocket of criminal interests, so it's no wonder that car hire has proved so fertile a hunting ground for the unscrupulous.

But generalisations are dangerous. Malaga airport, for instance, is one we'd red flag, Alicante, slightly less so, Madrid, not at all. But that's our experience. Doesn't mean it'll be anyone else's.

<snip>.

I disagree on Malaga, though I agree about what you state about the brand name in that case.
The problem with Malaga is some of the rental companies. Someone like wood1e2 would most certainly describe their business model as a rip off and would would not be disinclined to agree.
But that doesn't not cover all.
For instance, I have happily done business with Hertz in Malaga on many occasions.
I would never do business with Goldcar given the choice. wood1e2's head would spin in having to deal with them. Especially in comparison with the simplicity of Budget.

So ripoff? No. Without the advent of the Internet, it was the norm to charge as high a price as you could get. So business models have changed. Some are definitely less scrupulous than others. and it's up to the consumer to educate themselves. Towards that purpose, we have this forum and many helpful people..

As soon as I read 'rip off', I am almost always sure that it will not be so.
The mere fact that wood1e2 has been able to cover himself with relatively inexpensive car hire excess insurance illustrate how competitive our market.

Try buying travel insurance in Germany and our friend will really squeal 'rip off!"

Caveat Emptor doesn't mean rip off.