Europcar Premium Protection - Any Catches?

Belcheee

Hi,
I have booked a hire car in Italy for a week. I had already purchased car hire excess insurance from Eversure for about £13 but after some consideration, I am thinking of going for Europcar's premium (zero excess) plan.
The main reason is to avoid any of the potential stress of having to claim back for any repair work. I have read some reviews of these excess insurance covers where it takes months to claim the cost back and some don't get it back at all.

I am aware that the Europcar premium plan is expensive (£221) but I am willing to pay it if it means I can relax during and after the holiday and not worry about having to raise a claim for a charge on my card.

My question is, does this zero excess cover at Europcar really mean that or are there any catches?

Based on Martin Lewis' article on car hire excess, I know it suggests not paying this fee and going with the excess insurance, but does anyone have experience of this not paying out or being a pain to claim back?

Thanks.

Nebulous2

I've no idea about Europcar, I've hired from them, but can't remember specifics. 

However - I've often found the full zero excess cover from the rental company excludes things that the independent excess insurance covers. 

Things like tyre damage, damage to the underside of the car and roof damage are often not covered by the rental company insurance. Make sure you read it and know exactly what you are getting. 

So not only is it much more expensive, but it's more limited in cover. 

jbrassy

As the previous poster mentioned, Eversure will provide far more comprehensive cover than the Europcar cover. There are things that won't be covered by Europcar's insurance which Eversure will cover.

In terms of stress of the process, it's not that bad. Funnily enough, I'm currently going through a claim with Reduce my Excess following some damage I did to a van I hired from Europcar. It took ages (2 months) for Europcar to produce a damage report, invoice and charge my credit card. However, I didn't really have to do anything. 

Then, when it came to the claim, you have 90 days to make a claim which is enough time. Europcar provided all the documentation I needed for the claim in one email and I just had to provide a credit card statement showing I'd paid the damage and a copy of the insurance certificate. I submitted the claim on the 27th April and I'm still waiting for the payout, but they said it would take 2 weeks. 

The only other time I've claimed on these policies was through Eversure after a holiday to Iceland. Eversure paid out very promptly and paid the full amount to the penny.
I would honestly not worry and stick with the Eversure policy. It is not that stressful and you should get all your money back. Paying £220 to avoid stress is not worth it as it's honestly not that stressful.