Not possible to eliminate excess for third party liability?

pucbaldwin

Hi

I'm looking at car hire excess insurance, but have realised it doesn't seem to be possible to get insurance to eliminate the excess on Third Party Liability (i.e. damage/injury to other cars/people) in Europe.

You can get SLI (Supplementary Liability Insurance) that covers you for this in US/Canada, but it seems this doesn't usually apply in Europe.

Basic third party liability insurance is usually included in Europe, but there is usually an excess, e.g. Hertz in Sweden have a 5000 SEK excess.

Have I missed something? Do people who buy car hire excess insurance realise there is an excess they are not covered for. It's not clear from the MoneySavingExpert article...

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks

Pete

eDicky

The hire firm's excess amount remains part of the insurance unless you buy their own, usually expensive, extra cover to bring the excess to zero.

However the cheaper extra cover bought separately from a 'third party' company, which is nothing to do with the hire firm, is intended to cover you (personally) for the excess amount you are liable for in case of any damage to the car.

pucbaldwin

Hi thanks

Yes - that may be the case.

Although reading around some more - I'm not entirely sure that there is always an excess in Europe for third party liability. Otherwise surely someone would sell insurance for it besides the rental companies? Perhaps I've misunderstood...

The Europcar terms appear to say that there is mandatory third party liability protection and no excess...

Would post a link but the forum wont let me.

zagfles

This seems to be some peculiarity in Sweden. Not sure it's even legal - I understood EU rules said third party insurance is compulsory, and when I looked at the rules there was no mention of an excess. The previous time this came up it was in Sweden as well, see:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4981553/sweden-skavsta-airport-car-hire-hertz-excess-help

pucbaldwin

I picked up the rental car from.Hertz at Skavsta Airport yesterday and asked them about third party excess. They didn't know the answer "that's a good question" they said....

Pete

AlSto

https://www.bettersafe.com/Products/Car-Hire-Excess-Insurance-Protection

Their CDW & SLI policy is not limited to North America and the Caribbean.

eDicky

Sorry, reading your post more carefully I see that my reply was not relevant. It seems very strange, I've never heard of an excess on third party cover for rentals in Europe.

pucbaldwin

I've just read through the rental terms and conditions for Hertz Sweden for my current rental.

It's curious. The terms does have a list of the applicable excesses and it says "traffic injury/third party liability 5000SEK." which would suggest that there is an excess but there is no other reference to third party liability anywhere else at all. Other liability is mentioned in more detail..

This needs a bit more digging.

P