Enterprise Van Write off Charges after Roof Damage

Mildly_Miffed

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MyRealNameToo said:

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UnsureAboutthis said:

I've read something like this before but I find the 'insurance' taken out on a hire van like this hard to follow

If I was to hire a van with a tall roof and damaged the roof,  the insurance taken out with the hire of the van, should it not cover the cost of repairs plus an excess of 250/500 or so pounds? Or are there different levels of insurance, and cars can get full cover and van can't?

No insurer in their right mind will cover roof damage on a hire van (unless the premium is in the thousands)

Insurers work on risk: they only cover what might happen (but is fairly unlikely), not what probably will happen.

Most occasional van hirers have spent many years driving cars, and have never once had to consider a height restriction, so they pretty much don't notice they are driving under a low arch until there is a great crunch, and rending of metal/plastic. Very, very easy to do. So easy that it is pretty common, and no insurer will take on the risk.

Some do, InsureMyVan provides up to £6,500 of damage to the roof as long as its not a commercial hire, iCarHireExcess £7,500, Questor will cover commercial hire but only give £2,500 

Relatively modest limits but then a policy only costs £10 for a short hire so far from the thousands

That is a surprise!

They will get their fingers burned offering odds of 750:1 on someone who doesn't usually drive a van not taking it under a barrier!

There must be some hidden exclusion.

Looking at just one of those named insurers...

I think it'd come under CarHireExcess's supplemental liability - six and a bit quid a day.
https://www.carhireexcess.co.uk/supplemental-liability-insurance-sli
And they don't seem to have any policy information on their website, which is naughty.

They also give the max payout in dollars, even on their UK site...

InsureMyVan - I can only find an Irish provider of actual full-year policies.
https://www.insuremyvan.ie/

Questor - the £2.5k max payout, £0 excess, is included - but it's £40 for Mon-Fri rental cover, which drastically shortens their odds...

Aretnap

facade said:

MyRealNameToo said:

facade said:

UnsureAboutthis said:

I've read something like this before but I find the 'insurance' taken out on a hire van like this hard to follow

If I was to hire a van with a tall roof and damaged the roof,  the insurance taken out with the hire of the van, should it not cover the cost of repairs plus an excess of 250/500 or so pounds? Or are there different levels of insurance, and cars can get full cover and van can't?

No insurer in their right mind will cover roof damage on a hire van (unless the premium is in the thousands)

Insurers work on risk: they only cover what might happen (but is fairly unlikely), not what probably will happen.

Most occasional van hirers have spent many years driving cars, and have never once had to consider a height restriction, so they pretty much don't notice they are driving under a low arch until there is a great crunch, and rending of metal/plastic. Very, very easy to do. So easy that it is pretty common, and no insurer will take on the risk.

Some do, InsureMyVan provides up to £6,500 of damage to the roof as long as its not a commercial hire, iCarHireExcess £7,500, Questor will cover commercial hire but only give £2,500 

Relatively modest limits but then a policy only costs £10 for a short hire so far from the thousands

That is a surprise!

They will get their fingers burned offering odds of 750:1 on someone who doesn't usually drive a van not taking it under a barrier!

There must be some hidden exclusion.

Of course, another possibility is that insurance companies have a better idea than you do of the number of hired vans that end up being driven into bridges...

I have no idea what the number is but profile that it is fairly low - if it was high then hiring vans out to the general public would not be a viable business model full stop.

MyRealNameToo

facade said:

MyRealNameToo said:

facade said:

UnsureAboutthis said:

I've read something like this before but I find the 'insurance' taken out on a hire van like this hard to follow

If I was to hire a van with a tall roof and damaged the roof,  the insurance taken out with the hire of the van, should it not cover the cost of repairs plus an excess of 250/500 or so pounds? Or are there different levels of insurance, and cars can get full cover and van can't?

No insurer in their right mind will cover roof damage on a hire van (unless the premium is in the thousands)

Insurers work on risk: they only cover what might happen (but is fairly unlikely), not what probably will happen.

Most occasional van hirers have spent many years driving cars, and have never once had to consider a height restriction, so they pretty much don't notice they are driving under a low arch until there is a great crunch, and rending of metal/plastic. Very, very easy to do. So easy that it is pretty common, and no insurer will take on the risk.

Some do, InsureMyVan provides up to £6,500 of damage to the roof as long as its not a commercial hire, iCarHireExcess £7,500, Questor will cover commercial hire but only give £2,500 

Relatively modest limits but then a policy only costs £10 for a short hire so far from the thousands

That is a surprise!

They will get their fingers burned offering odds of 750:1 on someone who doesn't usually drive a van not taking it under a barrier!

There must be some hidden exclusion.

One of those firms has been doing it at least 14 years because those were the terms when I did some work for their parent company. 

Its one of those low cost classes of insurance that many buy just in case, like annual travel insurance, and so actually there will be loads of customers who buy the policy each year without actually renting a car or van which will help offset the risk of those that are actually drive a van into a low bridge etc. 

MyRealNameToo

Mildly_Miffed said:

facade said:

MyRealNameToo said:

facade said:

UnsureAboutthis said:

I've read something like this before but I find the 'insurance' taken out on a hire van like this hard to follow

If I was to hire a van with a tall roof and damaged the roof,  the insurance taken out with the hire of the van, should it not cover the cost of repairs plus an excess of 250/500 or so pounds? Or are there different levels of insurance, and cars can get full cover and van can't?

No insurer in their right mind will cover roof damage on a hire van (unless the premium is in the thousands)

Insurers work on risk: they only cover what might happen (but is fairly unlikely), not what probably will happen.

Most occasional van hirers have spent many years driving cars, and have never once had to consider a height restriction, so they pretty much don't notice they are driving under a low arch until there is a great crunch, and rending of metal/plastic. Very, very easy to do. So easy that it is pretty common, and no insurer will take on the risk.

Some do, InsureMyVan provides up to £6,500 of damage to the roof as long as its not a commercial hire, iCarHireExcess £7,500, Questor will cover commercial hire but only give £2,500 

Relatively modest limits but then a policy only costs £10 for a short hire so far from the thousands

That is a surprise!

They will get their fingers burned offering odds of 750:1 on someone who doesn't usually drive a van not taking it under a barrier!

There must be some hidden exclusion.

Looking at just one of those named insurers...

I think it'd come under CarHireExcess's supplemental liability - six and a bit quid a day.
https://www.carhireexcess.co.uk/supplemental-liability-insurance-sli
And they don't seem to have any policy information on their website, which is naughty.

They also give the max payout in dollars, even on their UK site...

InsureMyVan - I can only find an Irish provider of actual full-year policies.
https://www.insuremyvan.ie/

Questor - the £2.5k max payout, £0 excess, is included - but it's £40 for Mon-Fri rental cover, which drastically shortens their odds...

You missed the "i" out, page is https://www.icarhireinsurance.com/van-hire-insurance-products and if you do a quote it has the link to policybook

On the second I missed the last word so its InsureMyVanHire which is distributed by Swintons https://www.swinton.co.uk/hire-excess-insurance/van

Mildly_Miffed

MyRealNameToo said:

Some do, InsureMyVan provides up to £6,500 of damage to the roof as long as its not a commercial hire, iCarHireExcess £7,500, Questor will cover commercial hire but only give £2,500 

Relatively modest limits but then a policy only costs £10 for a short hire so far from the thousands

MyRealNameToo said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

Looking at just one of those named insurers...

I think it'd come under CarHireExcess's supplemental liability - six and a bit quid a day.
https://www.carhireexcess.co.uk/supplemental-liability-insurance-sli
And they don't seem to have any policy information on their website, which is naughty.

They also give the max payout in dollars, even on their UK site...

InsureMyVan - I can only find an Irish provider of actual full-year policies.
https://www.insuremyvan.ie/

Questor - the £2.5k max payout, £0 excess, is included - but it's £40 for Mon-Fri rental cover, which drastically shortens their odds...

You missed the "i" out, page is https://www.icarhireinsurance.com/van-hire-insurance-products and if you do a quote it has the link to policybook

On the second I missed the last word so its InsureMyVanHire which is distributed by Swintons https://www.swinton.co.uk/hire-excess-insurance/van

I missed the "i" because there is no "icarhireexcess" provider, and they were the nearest.

UnsureAboutthis

facade said:

UnsureAboutthis said:

I've read something like this before but I find the 'insurance' taken out on a hire van like this hard to follow

If I was to hire a van with a tall roof and damaged the roof,  the insurance taken out with the hire of the van, should it not cover the cost of repairs plus an excess of 250/500 or so pounds? Or are there different levels of insurance, and cars can get full cover and van can't?

No insurer in their right mind will cover roof damage on a hire van (unless the premium is in the thousands)

Insurers work on risk: they only cover what might happen (but is fairly unlikely), not what probably will happen.

Most occasional van hirers have spent many years driving cars, and have never once had to consider a height restriction, so they pretty much don't notice they are driving under a low arch until there is a great crunch, and rending of metal/plastic. Very, very easy to do. So easy that it is pretty common, and no insurer will take on the risk.

Apologies for coming back late.
The night I posted my question, I did vaguely recall hiring a van, a Luton van, on 2 occasions many years ago, and the member of staff saying something like what you said. At the time, we were only moving locally and did not think twice about it.  

I'm safely assuming if the rood got damaged in an accident where the roof damage was consequenstional to the main, none roof damage accident, you would be covered? Anyway, I will ask the hire people if we need to hire a Luton type, or van with a high roof.

facade

This scenario has been covered on here before a few times if you search for it.

IIRC, the actual "get out" clause was not covering recklessness on the part of the driver, and a specific example of recklessness would be trying to drive a 7' van under a 6' lintel.

This probably meant a few Court visits over whether an accident was caused by "recklessness" or "carelessness", so maybe they just specifically exclude roof damage now.