Is annual car hire excess insurance a good buy?
Written by Karen Bryan
I’m always trying to point out the potential pitfalls of car hire because it is complicated to come up with best all round car hire deal. You should never purchase car hire on price alone, you really just examine all aspects of the car rental agreement.
If I hire a car abroad once a year I use a car hire company which offers a truly inclusive price where either you will pay no excess in the event of damage of theft such as economycarhire or the excess will be refunded by the car rental firm if you pay an additional charge such as AutoEurope. However even with this cover damage to the roof, undercarriage, locks, tyres and windows is not covered.
I’m renting a car in Italy for one week at the end of May and I’ve booked through economycarhire which has zero excess policy excluding roof, undercarriage, tyres and windows. I think the risk of damage to these parts is fairly low and the cost of that damage won’t be too high.
However if I hire a car, away from home, more than a couple of times a year then I buy annual excess insurance is a good option. With this you are covered for any type of damage and you can go for a cheaper car hire quote which doesn’t include the no excess. The rental location must be more than 150 kilometres from your usual residence. European annual excess cover costs £49 for Europe for drivers aged up to 74 years of age, the cost is £65 for drivers aged 75 – 85. You’ll be covered for car hire periods of up to 31 days, as many times a year as you require. The policy covers all drivers named on the car hire agreement.
So to answer the question “Is annual car hire excess insurance a good buy?” my opinion is probably. If you hire a car more than once a year and perhaps even for a single car hire if you find a really low price quote where there is a large excess and you want to cover yourself for any potential damage to the hire car.
What’s you opinion, do you always purchase car hire excess insurance or take the risk?
I totally agree that purchasing the annual excess insurance is a wise step.
It’s never easy to locate the best car hire deal, and some research and a good look around usually pays off.
Have you rented a car outside Europe before? Would be great to hear your thoughts. Thanks.
Thanks for you comment, Jurga.Yes finding the most best car hire deal is never straightforward but it’s one of those things that you really must spend some time researching to ensure that you get a good price plus all the cover you need.
Jorga. forgot to say that we did hire a car in California for 2 weeks about 7 years ago and I was very careful to make sure I had the full insurance package there.
Thanks for your reply, Karen.
On the same note – I’ve just came back from South Africa and while staying at one of the safari parks we heard numerous stories of visitors arriving in hired vehicles, without decent insurance, and then expecting the park administration to pay for the damage done to the car bumper by a vicious hyaena! (Some camps are not fenced off so wild animals are free to roam.)
Depending on the travel needs, it’s essential to at least consider taking the insurance.
Thanks for you comment, Jurga.
Yes i have found the best car i have ever seen.
Regards
Hank Freid
Yes, I completely agree that it’s much better to set up a care for hire before your vacation. I’ve been zapped with a ton of charges when I “winged” it and went overseas…especially in Spain and France. When I did everything through a service ahead of time, I make sure to get all the extra insurance if I’m hiring the car for over 6 days…otherwise I just get liability and collision. I only had to hire a car for over a month, but fortunately for me I had a good deal and they even helped me get used to driving on the other side of the car (while i was in The UK for business). Needless to say, always get insurance when you hire a car abroad. Always makes sure it covers not only damage to the car and yourself, but anything that could be stolen from it. Always keep a list of every single item that you have in your bag and keep it on your person. This way if anything were to happen, you have a complete list. It’s also smart to literally take pictures of the items themselves, the items in the car and placement, and pictures of every place that you park. This way in case of incidentals, you have a complete list and pictures to prove it!
Classy Lady – yes I prefer to play it safe and have no excess all inclusive insurance for my hire car to avoid the possibility of an excess of a few hundred pounds or euro if the rental car is stolen of damaged.
It probably is sensible to take photos of the car and every parking spot, especially now that most travellers have digital cameras.
I can but agree that taking annual cover against such car hire risks is eminently sensible. I have an annual cover with the organisation :
http://www.insurance4carhire.com which costs me 49 pounds sterling a year for European wide cover as long as individuals trips are 31 days or less. Short Term cover is also availabl;e for individual trips and Annual UK or Worldwide cover is also available.Of course upmarket charge cards such as American Express PLATINUM have such cover “built in” to the cost of the card so no need to pay through the nose for such cover from the car rental companies themselves,as these are inevitably much more expensive.
In event of any incident as Karen says it is an excellent idea to have evidence of any damage – indeed some would say it is sensible to take photos even if no damage IF you are having to leave vehicle parked at airport or in town and office is unmanned.
Mike, I’ve had the £50 per year cover from insurance4carhire and thought it was excellent value for money but luckily didn’t have to claim so can’t comment on their claims procedure.
The policies I’ve looked at include a condition like this from insuremycar.com:
20. Losses occurring from driving whilst not on a Public Highway.
Does this mean that if my car gets scraped while left overnight in a hotel car park, or there’s some incident at a tourist attraction, potentially not on the highway leading from A to B, they refuse to pay up? Has anybody any experiences to share?
Roger, my understanding was that if you drove the car on tracks or unmade roads ie not a puublic highway, your insurance was invalidated. However it’s worth checking with your own insurance policy as exclusions could vary between companies.
[...] Is annual car hire excess insurance a good buy Europe a la Posted by root 34 minutes ago (http://www.europealacarte.co.uk) Thanks for you comment jurga yes finding the most best car hire deal is never straightforward but classy lady yes i prefer to play it safe and have no excess all inclusive insurance for find cheap hotels middot hotels combined price comparison engine euro Discuss | Bury | News | Is annual car hire excess insurance a good buy Europe a la [...]
I read lots of recommendations for annual car hire insurance, and indeed I have bought it myself for many years, however, has anyone successfully claimed from any of these companies?? I have been trying to claim from Insurance4carhire since July, and they are slow to respond to emails and have yet to pay up. I am only claiming a mere £45 for a scratch to a wheel rim, so am rather concerned how long they would take for a more substantial claim.
Julia – I’ve never had to make a claim on car hire excess insurance cover. Is it only possible to contact insurance4carhire by email? I’d try phoning or even a recorded delivery letter.
Some people think that car insurance is a waste of money but it is really very essential that you have one.-,`
Does carhire excess insurance cover accidents in car parks and other off road areas?
Michael – You really need to read all the small print in a policy before purchasing. My understanding is that on public roads and car parks accidents are covered but not if you drive somewhere like up mountain tracks etc.