Car hire and excess insurance advice please?

pinklady3333

Hello, 
we usually get car hire and pay for the added excess insurance with the car hire company. 

This year the cost of the hire itself is really expensive so I was thinking of getting a standalone policy. I noticed when searching for car hire via a comparison site that they seem to add on their own insurance, so by buying it myself I would be just doing the same. 

Anyway, my question is. What will happen when I pick up the car at the airport? Will the hire company try and sell me their insurance? 

And when I drop the car off will they spend hours inspecting it and try to charge me for something minor as it isn’t their Insurance that is covering it? 

Thanks in advance

eDicky

You don't mention the hire firm and location, but yes to your last question, they can often try to find some damage if you don't buy their full insurance with no excess.

The comparison site will try to add their excess coverage, which you can decline, and the hire firm will of course try to sell you theirs which you can also decline (without entering into any discussion about your separate coverage etc.). The cheapest way is to purchase separate excess insurance coverage (see the MSE advice article) and then if the hire firm finds damage you have to obtain the invoice and claim from the standalone insurance company.

Sandtree

pinklady3333 said:

Hello, 
we usually get car hire and pay for the added excess insurance with the car hire company. 

This year the cost of the hire itself is really expensive so I was thinking of getting a standalone policy. I noticed when searching for car hire via a comparison site that they seem to add on their own insurance, so by buying it myself I would be just doing the same. 

Anyway, my question is. What will happen when I pick up the car at the airport? Will the hire company try and sell me their insurance? 

And when I drop the car off will they spend hours inspecting it and try to charge me for something minor as it isn’t their Insurance that is covering it? 

Thanks in advance

Yes, they most likely will try to up sell you there... will probably point out things like the fact that with their insurance you dont have to pay the excess at all whereas with a third party policy you have to pay the excess and then"attempt" to get it back from your insurance.

Some protection policies reduce but dont extinguish the excess when bought from a hire company. Personally never found companies look any less hard if you have the insurance or not but then also have never had any problem with an hire car return... though most the time its with a company I have status with which may make them more lenient.