Repairing cars can be an expensive business. However minor ‘the bump’, the bills generated can be vast. This applies just as much to rented cars as private vehicles and it may be advisable to consider CDW insurance if you wish to avoid some very large charges to your credit card by the rental company for repairs.
CDW insurance (also called Collision Damage Waiver or just Damage Waiver) exists to cover the renter of a hired car against damage that he or she may do to it. CDW insurance may be included in the basic rental cost of the car and when it is not, the rental company will most likely offer it to you as a purchasable extra.
If you do take or purchase CDW insurance from a rental company, you may wish to check two things if you wish to completely avoid the risk of needing to pay out large sums following an accident. The first of these is whether or not the policy carries exclusions. These are usually listed as areas of the vehicle that are not covered by the CDW policy. Typically these cover areas such as the windows, roof, tyres, wheels and general undercarriage. If they’re damaged and listed as exclusions, you will have to pay.
Secondly, remember to check the excess. The excess is normally quoted as a financial amount between 500 and 1500 pounds. It is the amount that the car rental company would expect you to pay as a contribution towards the cost of any claim. In other words, if there is 500 pounds excess and a claim totalling 1000 pounds for damage, you will be expected to pay the 500 pounds. If the damage costs only 300 pounds then you will have to pay it all.
You can pay the car rental company additional sums of money to improve this cover by removing the excess and extending cover to other areas of the vehicle. Most people find though that this additional insurance is extremely expensive when compared to the outside marketplace and other options.
You do not necessarily have to take the car rental company’s insurance. You can purchase CDW insurance from a direct insurance company over the Internet. Their policies will usually be significantly cheaper than those of the car rental company and typically offer better cover. They may well cover all areas of the rented vehicle against damage and come with little or no excess.
Even if you have decided to take the basic CDW that comes with the rented vehicle as ‘included in the price’ you can still purchase additional insurance from the direct insurance companies to protect you against excess charges or repair bills for damage to excluded areas of the car.
These forms of CDW Insurance are usually sold on a daily or annual basis. One of the big advantages of this is that they will cover the policyholder for any vehicle rented during the life of the policy – providing that certain conditions are complied with (e.g. no sports cars). The savings here could be very substantial and it may well be worth exploring further.
Tags: CDW Insurance