Excess Payment for hire cars - my take

uva_caresi

It's a scam whether you buy it in the UK or from the rental company. But the latter gives you peace of mind.

I bought third party excess product from a well advertised specialist UK company in this area, this was about £20 cheaper than the Italian car hire company's own excess product. Never again. I will always take the hire car firm's excess insurance in future.

Long and short; on returning the vehicle the rental company tried to identify more damage to the vehicle, luckily I had photographed the vehicle on pick up and I also had the pick up despatcher (reluctantly) counter sign my copy of the rental agreement showing all the extra damage not noted on the paperwork issued by the lady at the rentals desk.

I sniffed a rat when the guy said, no 'need to photograph the car, we don't care about any damage less than 50mm'.

Had I not stood my ground and created my own evidence to support my case, I would have had a E1300 excess charge put on my credit card. On getting home I read the UK issued excess insurance small print.

Get this, had I made a claim, I had to provide the following:

3 quotes for repair of any damage, before repair is instructed
An invoice to prove that the work had been done

Now how on earth am I, back in the UK going to manage this. Impossible. So my UK issued excess insurance was worthless.

The rental company rent the cars for a season. They may choose to have them repaired at the end of the season before selling at auction. Or not and bag the money. You have absolutely no control over whether the take them to have repairs done. None whatsoever.

So my advice. Always buy the rental company's excess insurance, even if it is more expensive. When you get to the airport, you can throw the keys at them and walk away. Peace of mind is worth much more than £20 or £30.

richardw

Who was your excess insurer?

zagfles

It not usually £20 or £30 difference. It's usually well over £100 difference per week, sometimes much more. Also most excess insurers have far better coverage than the typical car hire company "excess waiver" or Super CDW" - which often excludes half the car, eg tyres, roof, underside, glass, keys etc.

And I've not heard of any excess insurers want 3 quotes etc - who was this? Most excess insurers have a good reputation when it comes to claims.