CDW insurance for hire cars

CaroleK_2

I'm wondering if anybody has any experience of insurance4carhire.com?

My husband and I are going to Australia, and will be hiring a car for a few weeks and the CDW is over £10 per day, so we were wondering about getting annual insurance from the above.

Has anybody used this company (or any others), and had to make a claim?

Cardew

I have had their annual policy for the USA for a couple of years, but never had to make a claim.

I understand that you get exactly the same policy(at a cheaper rate) through NatWest bank if you have their credit card. I would hope NatWest would have checked them out.

Also it would only take one serious problem with the company for every major car rental company to refuse to accept the policy.

Well that's my theory anyway!!

CaroleK_2

Thanks for that Cardew.

My understanding is that you have to pay for any repairs, and then claim the cost back from insurance4carhire.com, so they wouldn't even be aware of who you are insured with, or care whether you got your money back at all!

pompeyrich

Be careful you are sure of what you are buying from Insurance 4 car hire. Some of their policies only cover the Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) "excess" amount. If you buy CDW from the rental company this waives your liability for any damage to the car except for an "excess" amount, which varies but is typically,at least the first £500, often much more. It is this extra liability that Ins 4 car hire cover in their cheaper packages.
If you were thinking of the Worldwide package it would be worth checking that the car rental company will accept other CDW insurance packages as some wont and will require you to leave a hefty credit card deposit if you dont take out their own CDW insurance.
I would be inclined to phone Ins4car hire to discuss their products rather than book on-line if your'e not 100% sure.
Having said that I have used them for Spanish car rental as they offer tyre and glass damage cover, which is the renters responsibility in Spain. Forunately I didnt have to claim so cant help with how good they are if a claim was needed.
Sorry if I have confused things or if you were already aware of the insurance they offered. Rich.

Cardew

To add to the above from pompeyrich; on some 'Fly Drives' packages to Florida the firms will try not accept the insurance and Insurance4hire warn you of this in a covering letter.

This is not because of any problem with the insurance but simply because the firms want to protect the exorbitant profits they make for overcharging on insurance on their so called free cars. Firms like Travel City Direct charge hundreds of pounds more for their insurance alone than other UK firms charge for a car with fully inclusive insurance.

Rental cars in the USA for USA citizens are sold without CDW/Sli insurance because many motorists are covered by their own policies. That also applies for all visitors but the ‘fly drive’ operators will throw every obstacle in your way. You cannot now take a fly drive without insurance and simply not take the car.

pompeyrich

Sorry to hijack the thread, Cardew, which US car hire firm accepted the policy or did you just decline CDW and rely on the Ins4carhire one? I found it near on impossible to find a company that didn't state that they would accept no other CDW policy other than their own. Ended up using Airline Network all in, still cheaper than the rediculous all in packages that come with a "free car"