For whatever reason – be it greater freedom of movement, or just a chance to see more of the world – a great many people choose to rent a car when they go on holiday. However, this is often expensive in its own right, even without considering the additional expenditures that can come about as a result of making this decision, including the astronomical costs that can be associated with purchasing car rental insurance.
Car rental insurance when you’re abroad works in much the same way it does in the UK: if you’re involved in an accident or have the car stolen while it’s under your name (that is, while it’s signed over to you by the rental agreement), you’re covered for the cost of the car if you were proved not to have behaved negligently. It’s a way of making sure that you don’t end up being fully responsible for the cost of repairs, which could be an astronomical cost that is likely to be out of your ability to pay – either way, it’s sure to put a dampener on your holiday. However, one crucial way it differs is in the amount you typically pay in excess.
An excess, in terms of both normal car and rental car insurance, is the amount of money you’re liable to pay before the insurance kicks in – say you have an excess of £200, you pay the first £200 of any repair bill, and the insurance company picks up the rest. For car rental insurance purposes, the excess is typically far higher (often up to and above a thousand pounds), which means that any crash or damage could cost you dearly, as your standard package may not be enough to adequately cover you.
So, what can you do? Well, most foreign car rental firms offer a large number of optional policies designed to help you keep your excess and other liabilities under control. These include things like Collision Damage Waivers and Theft Protection, both of which aim to cut down on the amount you’d pay in excess should your car be damaged or stolen respectively. These also come in so-called ‘Super’ forms, which can even cut your excess down to zero, giving you a great deal of peace of mind. While these are the most common forms of car rental insurance abroad, you’ll find that most companies have a great many more options to keep you covered. However, these can be expensive, sometimes to the point where it become economically unfeasible to hire the car in the first place.
One alternative to this is to pre-book your car hire and insurance before you even set foot on the plane. There are many companies that will allow you to purchase your car rental insurance online before you get to your destination, either on a day-by-day basis, or annually. These can save you a massive amount of money if you’re planning on renting cars abroad with any regularity, and so are useful for people who go on holiday more than once a year or who find themselves having to travel on business. Additionally, it lets you make sure you’re all sorted the minute you land at the airport, and so you can start getting on with the business of enjoying yourself right away.
Tags: Car Rental Insurance