Car Excess Insurance

GBRX19

Hello

I am a bit confused regarding taking out the above. I have booked to pickup a car in Greifswald (Northern Germany) in October via Sixt website. I have tried to read some of the bumpf on the various providers' website and get very confused with what is and what is not covered!

Any help gratefully accepted.

DullGreyGuy

So you mean Hire Car Excess Insurance?

You need to read the rental agreement and decide what risks you want covered after understanding what risks you are exposed to from the hire agreement. 

For example in Europe own vehicle damage (CDW) is typically included as standard in hire agreements however it may exclude certain elements like the roof. So you could by an excess only policy and so would be covered if you ran into the back of another car but wouldn't be covered if you went under an ultra low bridge and took off the roof. If you want full European coverage you'd buy on the one that is excess and CDW. 

Supplementary Liability Insurance (SLI) isn't required in Europe as hire cars come with a very high property damage limit and near unlimited bodily injury whereas in the US it could be as low as $20,000 limit

Bonhomie

GBRX19 said:

Hello

I am a bit confused regarding taking out the above. I have booked to pickup a car in Greifswald (Northern Germany) in October via Sixt website. I have tried to read some of the bumpf on the various providers' website and get very confused with what is and what is not covered!

Any help gratefully accepted.

Various providers? You wrote that you booked directly with SIXT. So to which 'various providers' are you referring?

I've had to step in as DullGreyGuy's assertions are quite misleading.
If you have booked via SIXT UK or a UK based broker for 'various providers' , you will already have CDW coverage, so there is no need to purchase a policy for CDW. The issue is that the included CDW offered will have an excess amount for you to pay in case of damage. This is why some choose either to pay a relatively expensive waiver to the car hire firm(this is only done directly with the car hire firm) or a less expensive Car Hire Excess insurance policy. If you have booked via a broker, you will be offered a Car Hire Excess insurance policy likely designed to look like a waiver. But it is not.
With a Waiver,(ONLY direct from the provider, SIXT in this case) in case of damage, you simply hand the car back with nothing more to be said.
With a Car Hire Excess insurance policy, you leave a deposit/block via a credit card and in case of damage, they take from that. You gather the paperwork and present it to the claims department of your policy provider and they reimburse you.

What is correct is that certain items are likely to be excluded, such as Windscreen, tyres, breakdown cover, loss of keys, wrong fuel etc  A normal Car Hire Excess insurance policy can cover these items, including the roof of course. You don't need to buy a policy with CDW in order to have the roof covered, that's a error. A normal Car Hire Excess insurance policy will cover that. You'll be covered for any damage no matter who or what caused it. Covered by the included CDW and your own standalone Car Hire Excess insurance policy.

Example: https://www.bettersafe.com/car-hire-excess-insurance
If you intend to have more than one trip annually, consider an annual option, as it can be less expensive than the Daily option. Equally if likely to travel beyond Europe, a Worldwide Plan. If travelling to the USA, Caribbean and South America etc then Worldwide with CDW and SLI. But a policy including CDW and SLI is not required for places other than the aforementioned and usually in the USA(for bookings made from a U.K. based website) not required at all.

130maz73

We recently hired a car for 1 day and followed MSE advice, purchasing our own excess insurance beforehand, for around £6. Unfortunately we arrived very late at the airport, just before closing time. My husband was told he needed to purchase the company's own excess insurance in order for the car to be released. As a result he paid an additional £32 for 1 day's insurance. Very frustrating! 

Bonhomie

130maz73 said:

We recently hired a car for 1 day and followed MSE advice, purchasing our own excess insurance beforehand, for around £6. Unfortunately we arrived very late at the airport, just before closing time. My husband was told he needed to purchase the company's own excess insurance in order for the car to be released. As a result he paid an additional £32 for 1 day's insurance. Very frustrating! 

You paid for their WAIVER, not excess insurance.

Lavendyr

Bonhomie said:

130maz73 said:

We recently hired a car for 1 day and followed MSE advice, purchasing our own excess insurance beforehand, for around £6. Unfortunately we arrived very late at the airport, just before closing time. My husband was told he needed to purchase the company's own excess insurance in order for the car to be released. As a result he paid an additional £32 for 1 day's insurance. Very frustrating! 

You paid for their WAIVER, not excess insurance.

No, you're wrong. It sounds like they purchased third party excess insurance, but the hire company used sharp practice to force them to buy their own excess insurance. You are never under any obligation to purchase excess insurance at the desk, but companies can be very dodgy on this. 

Lavendyr

GBRX19 said:

Hello

I am a bit confused regarding taking out the above. I have booked to pickup a car in Greifswald (Northern Germany) in October via Sixt website. I have tried to read some of the bumpf on the various providers' website and get very confused with what is and what is not covered!

Any help gratefully accepted.

The MSE article is really good: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire/#excess

Bonhomie

Lavendyr said:

Bonhomie said:

130maz73 said:

We recently hired a car for 1 day and followed MSE advice, purchasing our own excess insurance beforehand, for around £6. Unfortunately we arrived very late at the airport, just before closing time. My husband was told he needed to purchase the company's own excess insurance in order for the car to be released. As a result he paid an additional £32 for 1 day's insurance. Very frustrating! 

You paid for their WAIVER, not excess insurance.

No, you're wrong. It sounds like they purchased third party excess insurance, but the hire company used sharp practice to force them to buy their own excess insurance. You are never under any obligation to purchase excess insurance at the desk, but companies can be very dodgy on this. 

No, you are wrong, they paid the car hire company for a WAIVER. That the company forced them to do so is obviously a bone of contention. If they paid again for excess insurance they would still have had to leave the normal excess deposit. The WAIVER waives that requirement. Excess insurance is a different product sold by brokers.
Hopefully you understand the difference now that I have explained it. It's a confusing issue for some, so best it's clarified here.