Local Car Hire - trip to London - Insurance

PierremontQuaker03

I am looking to hire a car to drive to London for the weekend, as I cannot trust the trains. I am searching on car hire sites, and then coming to the Insurance Options - which are Limited or Premium. Limited looks like third party, but then theres Premium for 13 quid a day. Then there's the excess to think about - is this the insurance they always try and flog you when you collect the car? Is it best to go with Premium then take a separate policy to protect any excess claims?  Many thanks

CliveOfIndia

It's always wise to check the T&Cs of the insurance very carefully.  Different hire firms will have different options when it comes to insurance - in the example you're looking at, what does Premium give you that Limited doesn't?  If Premium is fully-comp and Limited is 3rd-party only, it's probably worth going for Premium for peace of mind.

And yes, watch out for the excess.  There's often a pretty hefty excess to pay - £750 or £1000 is not uncommon.  But as you say, there are plenty of stand-alone policies you can buy that will cover you for the excess, often substantially cheaper than the CDW the car hire firm themselves will offer you.

As a slight aside, if you have any independent hire firms nearby it's well worth getting a quote from them as well.  Often they can be cheaper than the big well-known national names.

Grey_Critic

Should you wish to take out your own insurance to cover the various risks - the hire company will insist on approving the policy to ensure adequate cover.

EssexExile

When you get to London you'll wish you didn't have a car with you.

Goudy

When you hire a car or van you will be liable for the insurance excess.
As already written, this varies from company to company and car model to car model.

This means in the event of any accident or damage you will be required to pay this amount.
The hire company usually block this amount on your card then unblock it a few days after you return the car undamaged, so it's almost pre paid before you drive away.

You can take out different insurance to cover this or reduce it.
The hire company themselves will usually push their policies. It's usually expensive though often around half of the original hire quote.

Car hire trawler sites sometimes offer you the option of extending the insurance, again it can be expensive.

You can also take out your own excess insurance which tends to be cheaper.
Cheap car hire: compare prices & excess insurance costs – MSE (moneysavingexpert.com)
I pay around £31 for a whole year, UK and Europe which is good value as I hire around 5 or 6 cars a year but you can do single hire policies for less.

The last two usually require you to pay the excess in the event of an accident or damage but then claim it back from them after, so you need to keep hold of all the paperwork and receipts.

You obviously need to check the terms and conditions of all.
As written, some only reduce your liability by a certain amount and not cover all of it.
Most these days won't cover hires from a certain company called Green Motion. 

There are some hire companies that only do full cover insurance with no liability or deposit but they are few and far between and usually in places like the Canaries or small Greek islands. 

Again it's already been mentioned that hire companies will hard sell you their own, expensive policy and tell you all sorts of rubbish to get you to buy it at the desk.
Just keep saying "no thank you" as saying anything else, like you have your own policy opens up their hard sell to more rubbish and if they think you paid for that, you'll pay for theirs. 


I don't want to ramble on much longer but whatever you do, make sure you check the car carefully when collecting and make sure all the damage already on it is on the form.
If they say things like it's too small to record ask if they are saving ink and offer them a pen!
Don't forget to check the wheels, the sills and under the bumpers as these are favourite spots to hammer customers later.

mgfvvc

Grey_Critic said:

Should you wish to take out your own insurance to cover the various risks - the hire company will insist on approving the policy to ensure adequate cover.

I've never had a hire company vet my cover. I have heard that some companies try to tell you the cover isn't good enough, as a sales tactic to get you to buy their cover. All the cover that is absolutely required is included in the policy.

Bigphil1474

Have you looked at National Express? I used them the other month, first time in years. Was pleasantly surprised and the journey wasn't as long as I'd expected. If you can get a direct coach it's pretty good (and cheap).

CliveOfIndia

Grey_Critic said:

Should you wish to take out your own insurance to cover the various risks - the hire company will insist on approving the policy to ensure adequate cover.

mgfvvc said:

Grey_Critic said:

Should you wish to take out your own insurance to cover the various risks - the hire company will insist on approving the policy to ensure adequate cover.

I've never had a hire company vet my cover. I have heard that some companies try to tell you the cover isn't good enough, as a sales tactic to get you to buy their cover. All the cover that is absolutely required is included in the policy.

Is there perhaps an element of confusion here?  The original point I made was about taking out your own cover to cover the excess.

I can well believe that the hire company could insist on their own standard full-comp insurance being in place to cover damage to the vehicle, and that they may get a bit iffy if you wanted to provide your own cover.

But it's the huge excess that they usually have on their policy that's the issue.  You can either take a chance and have to pay the excess should you cause any damage.  Or you can take the hire company's additional cover to reduce or remove the excess.  Or you can buy your own "excess" insurance.

As far as the hire company is concerned it's no skin off their nose whether you have to pay an excess or not.  They'd like you to take their excess cover (I think it's usually called CDW?) because they charge a lot for it, but you can get the some cover from a third party.  So yes, in that scenario, if you damage the car then you have to pay the excess to the hire company, but you can then claim it back from your stand-alone insurance.

ontheroad1970

CDW is the insurance itself, what you pay extra for is the excess.  In the UK CDW is automatically included, it's the excess that varies.

CliveOfIndia

ontheroad1970 said:

CDW is the insurance itself, what you pay extra for is the excess.  In the UK CDW is automatically included, it's the excess that varies.

Thanks for the clarification - and yes, it's definitely the excess that I was meaning :-)

baser999

EssexExile said:

When you get to London you'll wish you didn't have a car with you.

Second this. OP have you considered parking etc when you get in London, congestion charges and ULEZ? The Mayor really doesn’t want anyone driving in London these days