Car Hire Excess/CDW

R.Gallagher

My son has just hired a 7.5tonne lorry. He got stuck up a street which he now knows is often in the local papers because large vehicles get stuck. Trying to manoeuvre he scrapped (minor) 4 vehicles. He reported this to the vehicle hire company, but has now discovered that "excess" charge is per vehicle. Is this normal?

He booked his hire on the phone and the excess policy - or ways of reducing it - was not explained/offered to him.

This is all on his documentation:

INSURANCE

Unless requested otherwise all our vehicles supplied will be fully insured for the named drivers on the booking. Exclusions to the policy will be Overhead height damage, tyre damage and windscreen damage. We must obtain a copy of the drivers licence both parts before the vehicle can be delivered. Any points or convictions can affect the insurance entitlement so it is imperative that they should be declared upon booking. Failure to declare any points or convictions could make the insurance invalid.

COLLISION DAMAGE WAIVER INSURANCE

All supplied vehicles will be subject to an excess in the event of accident or damage to the vehicle. Standard Excess is £1000 for Cars, Vans and Buses. Standard Excess is £2000 on all 7.5 Tonne vehicle and above. In the event of your vehicle being involved in an accident or damage has been caused otherwise then you must contact Nationwide Hire immediately by phone and also in writing. You have the option to purchase a Collision Damage Waiver which would reduce the above excess charge to £500 in the event of accident of damage on all vehicles. Please note that goods in transit are not covered by the insurance supplied. Exclusions to collision damage waiver are any overhead height damage to any of our vehicles, tyre damage or punctures, glass damage costs, or driving without due care and attention, negligence and dangerous driving in any of our vehicles. All costs incurred by us will be passed onto the customer and charged directly to the credit or debit card that was used when the booking was placed.

paddyandstumpy

He had 4 crashes, not one.

Each scrape was a separate incident, therefore an excess is charged per car.