Hiring a car is rarely a low-cost activity, even allowing for deals and special offers etc. The good news is that you could be able to save very significant amounts of money if you are prepared to take a little time and ‘shop-around’ for your car hire cover insurance. How does this work?
Car rental companies want to sell you insurance! In certain countries such as the USA, the car rental price may include little if any insurance and the rental company will try and sell it to you separately.
In others countries the rental price may include some elements of insurance. Although apparently attractive as a deal, in practice this insurance may be limited. It is very likely to exclude damage caused to several areas of the rented vehicle such as the roof, tyres, wheels, undercarriage and windows. It is also likely to carry a large excess of between 500 and 1500 pounds – the ‘excess’ is an amount the rental company may debit to your credit card as your mandatory contribution towards the cost of any accident even if you have their insurance. You may also find that their insurance covering injury to third parties is set at a maximum payout level that is way below the level of a court award following an accident.
‘Top up’ cover
The rental company’s solution to this situation will be to try and sell you additional ‘top-up’ insurance to increase the car hire cover and reduce some of the above limitations.
The reality of life is that a car rental company’s insurance will usually be several times more expensive than similar or even better insurance purchased in the open insurance market. You can find specialist car insurance providers on the Internet offering far better deals. Their policies are different to those of a car rental company because they will cover you the policyholder for a period of days or even annually. During this period the policy will cover any vehicle you rent with the exception of a few specialist types such as sports or very high value cars (over 100k US dollars).
Their policies often come entirely without excess and may not exclude any area of the rental car from damage, so you are getting better cover as well as a lower price.
Excesses
The specialist providers have numerous policies for car hire cover to fit most circumstances. You can use them to supplement the policies of the car hire company or in some cases to replace them altogether. This insurance can even cover you against the car rental company charging you excess if their vehicle comes with insurance included in the price.
It is always possible to ask a car hire company for a ‘hire only’ price and use your own cheaper and better insurance. Apart from in the case of certain ‘special all-in’ deals, they may be willing to accept your full or partial privately purchased insurance. It could save you a lot of money on car hire cover so it is worth checking out these insurance providers and asking the question of the rental company.
Tags: Car Hire Cover