Scratched rental car on holiday?

jayneaustin321

I recently returned from a lovely 3 day getaway with my husband in Spain and what a beautiful place it was. The weather was actually spot on luckily and overall a brilliant holiday!

However on the last day of our trip on the way back to the airport my husband scratched the side of our rental car..complete nightmare!

I was wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else and if so how much did you have to pay out in excess charges? Also can anyone recommend a cheap reliable car hire excess insurance company? There are lots to choose from but not sure which one is best: compareexcess.com

We plan to travel to Germany next month and I really don't want a reoccurrence of our last holiday, it definitely took the shine off the holiday and stress set in as soon as we got home. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

PeacefulWaters

I lost a wing mirror in Montenegro. A bin leapt out at me, honest. £250 cost to me.

I had an American Express Platinum Chargecard at the time. £450 annual fee. 30,000 Avios for £2,000 spend. Worldwide travel insurance. Car hire excess cover. Airport lounge pass for two. Hotel status at numerous chains including free breakfast at Hilton.

That paid up within a week or so. The other benefits were value too given the amount of travelling I was doing then.

If it's just a car hire excess policy you want, a £50 a year option shouldn't be hard to get.

pollypenny

We have just had a branch come down on our hire car ( New Jersey in a snow storm)

I thought we had escaped damage, but there are two little dings on the driver's door.

eDicky

When you're not used to left hand drive you have to be very aware not to drive too close to objects on your right, as if you were in the right hand seat as normal. Perhaps that's what happened - don't fret too much, it's easily done.

If you didn't buy the excess cover from the hire firm they will have taken the excess amount as preauthorisation or deposit on your card. You don't mention who the firm is, but in general for any damage they charge and retain the full excess amount (assuming they notice the damage).

A popular source of excess cover:

http://www.insurance4carhire.com/

agrinnall

You might get away with it, I scratched a hire car in Spain but never heard anything about it from the hire company (I had cover with insurance4carhire anyway). I think they expect their cars to get a bit beaten up, and I guess some companies don't bother to claim for repairs that they'll probably never do anyway.

NoodleDoodleMan

I kept an advert for this outfit, but had forgotten until mentioned.

http://www.insurance4carhire.com/?refID=2120&subRefID=0&curID=GBP&langID=1&mkwid=ssZdr9Goq_dc&crid=101583033143&mp_kw=%2Bwww.insurance4carhire.com&mp_mt=e&plc=&slid=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkKPVBRDtARIsAA2CG6F1Tm7We-_424zQQXHRua8yFChBuXZ47HoQx0JhWqI4oiDG7vukXJsaArlqEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Deleted User]

jayneaustin321 wrote: »

I recently returned from a lovely 3 day getaway with my husband in Spain and what a beautiful place it was. The weather was actually spot on luckily and overall a brilliant holiday!

However on the last day of our trip on the way back to the airport my husband scratched the side of our rental car..complete nightmare!

I was wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else and if so how much did you have to pay out in excess charges? Also can anyone recommend a cheap reliable car hire excess insurance company? There are lots to choose from but not sure which one is best: compareexcess.com

We plan to travel to Germany next month and I really don't want a reoccurrence of our last holiday, it definitely took the shine off the holiday and stress set in as soon as we got home. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

I have been with Questor for a number of years and always find them reasonable.Check out any discount codes.
Claimed off them once when our parked hire car was scratched by another motorist and it was sorted immediately.
ALWAYS check you rental car before driving off at the airport.

AlexMac

jayneaustin321 wrote: »

I recently returned from a lovely 3 day getaway with my husband in Spain and what a beautiful place it was. The weather was actually spot on luckily and overall a brilliant holiday!

Lucky you; we just returned from Southern Spain and it rained almost every day; initially torrentially (as we were in the mountains during storm Emma!). Sunny the day we flew home; still, we had a great time

jayneaustin321 wrote: »

However on the last day of our trip on the way back to the airport my husband scratched the side of our rental car..complete nightmare!

I was wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else and if so how much did you have to pay out in excess charges?

Unlucky you; it will really depend on the rental company; some (Europcar, Goldcar...) are notorious for stinging you excessive repair costs - possibly hundreds of euros or even close the max Excess (usually 600-1,000 Euros). Trading standards are trying to clamp down on this, (google it), and the fact that the Hirers often don't even do the repairs in the hope they can also sting the next renter for the same fault if they don't notice it in a dark airport car park on pick up.

But you might just get lucky and get away with it; I hope you do.

jayneaustin321 wrote: »

Also can anyone recommend a cheap reliable car hire excess insurance company? There are lots to choose from but not sure which one is best... Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

We always take out online Excess cover with the company mentioned above; insurance4carhire as they get good reviews, and only cost £40 p.a. for annual multi-trip EU Excess Cover up to a grand or so. Must be a sort of talisman, as in over 50 years of rentals we've never had to claim, but a mate who did said they paid up immediately on the evidence of his credit card payment.

And the question you don't ask is; which Rental Company to use? We always avoid the cheapos who promise a car for a couple of qauid a week; there's always a catch; fake damage, forcing you to buy their own overprices excess cover even if you have your own, fake damage, fuelling scams...

So google or use the search bar on Tripadvisor Forums for reviews on the local operating rental company- not just the broker or agent - before you book; the worst get literally hundreds of thousands of accusations of fraud; especially the one I mentiaon above.

And look on the positive side; at least you had a great hol, AND you did actually do the damage (unlike the thousands of renters who get stung for stuff they didn't do! And averaged over the next 50 trouble-free (insured) rentals, any cost will just be a part of the lessons learned in doing travel better; buen viaje or whatever they say in Germany!

iltisman

I am a regular renter in the USA and I thought if you took out CDW you could bring the car back in a skip. I don't understand how a scratch can be expensive.

AlexMac

As that iconic American Homer Simpson said...

iltisman wrote: »

...if you took out CDW you could bring the car back in a skip. I don't understand how a scratch can be expensive.

CDW? Doh...!

stevenhp1987

iltisman wrote: »

I am a regular renter in the USA and I thought if you took out CDW you could bring the car back in a skip. I don't understand how a scratch can be expensive.

CDW is generally free for EU renters in the USA, complete with $0 excess.

In the EU, we don't get so much protection; rental agencies will happily charge up to 50 Euro/£50 per day for the same cover.