Easycar Car Club Excess insurance

EyesWideShut

Hi money savers!

MSE has been invaluable in helping me find both cheap car hire in the UK and abroad, saving on excess insurance etc.

We are booking a fairly last minute trip between Christmas and NYEs and carhire is obviously extortionate.

We are therefore considering using Easycar car club. A quick scan of their T&Cs and there are some hefty excess charges, and some unusual quirks like if you have to replace a tire you as thedriver would have to pay half the cost (and the owner the other half).

Questions:

1) If anyone has used easycar car club before - I would be very grateful for feedback, especially from anyone that had an accident/breakdown

2) I have a quick google and I can see some insurance companies offer annual excess policies for car clubs but I haven't found any specifically for easycar or for short-term. Does anyone know of any providers? Are there any potential traps/pitfuls I should look out for, both with insurers and with easycar car club? Eg.

3) if anyone knows of any carhire deals over Christmas I would love to hear them

Last, but not least, thank you to all that take the time to reply - I will thank your posts.

Rob

richardw

Easy car club is very different to Zip car and City car club, which is why you probably can't find a policy.

What extortionate prices are you looking at?

EyesWideShut

Thanks, Richard. Yep, that makes sense. I did find a policy for easy car club but it is annual only and I only expect to use it once.

used a few of the comparison sites but am seeing quotes of around £80+ a day. I have found a £40 a day but they are with dodgy firms and/or airport offsite and inconvenient to get to.

I live in Crystal Palace and don't mind getting a train to Gatwick if the hire car firm is onsite and reputable.

richardw

Ok btw there are some car hire firms around East Croydon, have a look with google maps to get exact location names before putting them into a comparison website.

An airport location may be competitive.

zagfles

Big excess and exclusion for tyres etc are common practice in car hire. insurance4carhire do short term excess insurance see http://www.insurance4carhire.com/daily-car-hire-excess-insurance

EyesWideShut

Thanks, both. Much appreciated. Zagfles, do you know if there are any insurers specifically for car clubs and even more specifically, easycar car club that offer short term cover (e.g. 1-7 days)?

Thanks entirely to MSE I always use third party insurance when hiring a car but as Richard noted, car clubs are a different kettle of fish to carhire companies and easycar club even more so as it is individuals renting their car out.

The insurer would have greater risk when insuring Joe Blogs seven year old car than on a 2 month old car from Hertz that is checked and serviced every week so their insurance policy would have to be different to reflect this/or I take a standard carhire insurance cover that doesn't cover me (fully).

Would love to hear from anyone that has used easycar club

Sorry my posts are boring-like work emails! Still in work mode