Hiring a Car - How well insured am I

sh856531 · 12 July 2017 at 4:24PM

Hi all

I have used Enterprise Car hire a few times in the past and have accepted the Damage Waiver option which says my "excess" would be something like £1000 - which I'm fine and comfortable with. However, the last couple of times the sales guy in the branch has really pushed the excess protection insurance or whatever its called. He basically said that the default is meaningless as it only covers damage and wouldnt cover all sorts of things such as recovery fees, damage to another car, injury to someone etc etc. He gave an example that he was "currently dealing with" where he was billing someone 15K because he had been in a minor collision with 2 other cars.

Reading through the terms and conditions on the enterprise car hire site does have a fairly extensive list of stuff they would bill me in the event of an accident. Which then begs the question - why are they referring to anything as an "excess" if my liability is effectively uncapped by a whole load of other costs?

Can anyone advise on what car hire Damage Waivers actually cover and what they don't?

Thanks in advance

Simon

jbainbridge · 12 July 2017 at 6:10PM

My understanding is that you would have to pay the excess and no more. Sounds like they are trying to scare you.

In any case I always take out car hire excess protection separately as it is relatively cheap and gives me peace of mind. The price they try to charge you at the desk is insane.

loskie · 12 July 2017 at 6:59PM

you want xs insurance, not from the hire co but an annual policy.
https://www.confused.com/car-hire-excess-insurance

sh856531 · 12 July 2017 at 7:30PM

Thanks guys - I've been looking at the excess protection stuff as well

To be honest I don't mind having an excess of 1K as I very rarely write off cars ;-)

My issue is the pressure sell and the lack of clarity around what is actually covered by default. As an example, I've asked them via email what the "Damage Waiver" covers and quite reasonably they came back and said - "Damage to the vehicle".

What I can't get out of them is what would happen if I cause damage to a third party. The nightmare scenario would be badly hurting someone and causing them a lifetime of medical bills. That's the sort of horror scenario that standard comprehensive cover is designed to protect against but I can't for the life of me get Enterprise to say that they are protecting me against that.

I'm sure they must be somehow otherwise it would be a bit of a scandal having thousands of unknowingly uninsured drivers blasting around, however I don't see why it's so hard to find the answer to such a rudimentary question :-|

Many thanks

S

Mercdriver · 12 July 2017 at 7:38PM

sh856531 wrote: »

Thanks guys - I've been looking at the excess protection stuff as well

To be honest I don't mind having an excess of 1K as I very rarely write off cars ;-)

Many thanks

S

You might not do, but what if you hire a car and are hit by an uninsured driver or one who doesn't stop. For the sake of around £40-45 per annum you can save that £1000. Questor allow you add other people on it for no extra charge too.

sh856531 · 12 July 2017 at 7:43PM

Yeah - I think I'm going to give it a go the next time I hire. The only thing that gives me a slight doubt is the fact that all the excess places seem to be relatively niche and small outfits. I'd be happier giving them money if it were the likes of Direct Line with a track record of actually paying out.

Still - for the price its probably worth getting it

Cheers

Simon

Mercdriver · 12 July 2017 at 7:48PM

sh856531 wrote: »

Yeah - I think I'm going to give it a go the next time I hire. The only thing that gives me a slight doubt is the fact that all the excess places seem to be relatively niche and small outfits. I'd be happier giving them money if it were the likes of Direct Line with a track record of actually paying out.

Still - for the price its probably worth getting it

Cheers

Simon

Questor are well thought of here from my experience and I know people that have used them and had to claim and didn't have any issues. I wouldn't pay the rate that the hire car companies charge, but, I'd be nervous about hiring a car without any protection at all. For the sake of £40 - 45 it's a no brainer. It's the idiots on the road you have to take into consideration.

Avis etc don't like excess insurers - in their ts and cs Avis mention them and say that they will expect you to py them the excess and that you have to do the liaison with the excess insurance company.

If Hire companies made their charges more reasonable, there wouldn't be a market for 3rd party companies.

agrinnall · 12 July 2017 at 8:44PM

I've always used insurance4carhire when I've needed annual excess cover, although as I've never had to claim I've no idea how good they are when a claim is made. I'm pretty sure it was a recommendation on here that first led me to them. I now sometimes use the daily cover linked to from their website on the very few occasions that I need to hire a vehicle these days.

One thing to watch out for in the annual cover is a proximity restriction, as I recall it wasn't meant for hiring a vehicle close to your home, more for holidays or trips where you fly and pick up a car at your destination. That's not the case with the daily cover.

forgotmyname · 12 July 2017 at 9:49PM

Your £1000 excess maybe payable because another driver scraped the door or wing or bumper though not just totally writing the car off.

AnotherJoe · 12 July 2017 at 10:50PM

agrinnall wrote: »

I've always used insurance4carhire when I've needed annual excess cover, although as I've never had to claim I've no idea how good they are when a claim is made. I'm pretty sure it was a recommendation on here that first led me to them. I now sometimes use the daily cover linked to from their website on the very few occasions that I need to hire a vehicle these days.

One thing to watch out for in the annual cover is a proximity restriction, as I recall it wasn't meant for hiring a vehicle close to your home, more for holidays or trips where you fly and pick up a car at your destination. That's not the case with the daily cover.

Ditto. I got into it from the 'Honest John' motoring column in the DT so i think its going to be reasonable.

Le_Kirk · 13 July 2017 at 11:43AM

I have used insurance4carhire, good price compared to others but didn't need to claim. Have just put in a claim via Questor (damaged paintwork driving past a cactus in villa entrance - Grrr!) let's hope they deal with it quickly and sympathetically.

Hiring a Car - How well insured am I

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