Was I conned last year re car hire?

guineapig

Last year I had a read through the MSE website about car hire in the USA. I hired a car abroad for the first time ever last year. I took out a car hire insurance excess reimbursement policy with BetterSafe that states that it includes worldwide collision damage waiver. I presented this when hiring a car with Enterprise in Florida and said that I did not want to take out any extra Enterprise insurance.

We are planning another trip to Florida and are planning to hire a car from a different Enterprise branch and have a similar Bettersafe policy. However, looking at last years Enterprise rental agreement I see that we where charged 259 dollars for DW which I suspect was damage waiver.

I have written to Enterprise to complain. But I have some questions that I would be grateful if someone here could answer as you do not have the vested interest that Enterprise do:

1. Was my purchase of the 259 dollar Enterprise DW unnecessary and avoidable?
2. When you hire a car from a company in the USA what part of this involves the standard insurance that we pay in the UK for our car insurance (ie 3rd party,fire and theft/fully comp) - is it included in the rental price? Or is this what the Bettersafe car hire excess reimbursement insurance covers?

I expect to anyone who knows the answers these will appear dumb questions. But I am having difficulty getting my head round these issues. Thank you in advance for any help offered to this car hire newbie.

richardw

You have to read all the small print.

Caz3121

did you buy an excess policy or "CDW, SLI and excess" if excess only then you still need CDW either your own policy or the one from the car rental firm

guineapig

Caz3121 wrote: »

did you buy an excess policy or "CDW, SLI and excess" if excess only then you still need CDW either your own policy or the one from the car rental firm

Cut and pasted:

"CAR HIRE EXCESS REIMBURSEMENT INSURANCE
Including
Collision Damage Waiver & Supplemental Liability Insurance"

Thank you

NiftyDigits

guineapig wrote: »

Cut and pasted:

"CAR HIRE EXCESS REIMBURSEMENT INSURANCE
Including
Collision Damage Waiver & Supplemental Liability Insurance"

Thank you

If you book as a UK resident, the minimum State cover is automatically included. Of course you pay for it. If you book as a US resident, it's not automatically included.