You’ve rented your car and the person behind the desk asks if you want Excess Waiver Insurance. Your inclination is probably to say yes because the car hire company must know best. They wouldn’t ask you if you want it if you didn’t actually need it would they?
Before you make any decisions you need to be sure that you know three important things
• What is excess waiver insurance?
• How much is it?
• Is this a good deal if I go ahead and buy it?
The basic forms of insurance normally considered a minimum safe level when renting a car are third-party, theft and Collision Damage Waiver (CDW). Third-party insurance provides cover should you inure someone or damage their property with the rented vehicle and theft cover is, of course, self-explanatory!
In the event of an accident, CDW provides cover for damage to the rented vehicle. As with most types of insurance the policy may also list some exclusions to the cover, typically the windscreen, tyres, roof and undercarriage, with damage to any of these areas to be paid for by the renter of the vehicle. There will also almost certainly be what is termed excess on the policy. The insurance company will not pay for any damage below the excess. So with an excess of 500 pounds and damage of 750, you would have to pay 500 and the insurers 250. If the value of the damage were 400 you would have to pay it all.
Excess waiver insurance is an agreement with the insurance company that they will ‘waive’ their right to charge you for the excess. They will sell you a policy, with premiums normally priced as an amount per day, which means that they will cover (almost) all of the cost of any damage. The ‘almost’ refers to damage to any excluded items which may not be part of the excess waiver.
The amount of the excess varies from company to company. It will typically be in the range 500-1600 pounds. Excess waiver is a voluntary form of insurance so it is up to the individual to decide whether or not to buy it. You would have to decide whether it is it worth the risk of potentially facing payments of up to 1600 pounds to save on the excess premiums.
To decide whether or not anything that you want to buy is a good deal, you may wish to compare it to what others may be selling. Car hire companies sell these insurances but they are not specialist insurance providers and their prices can be very high compared to other sources. They will normally quote you one price. Even if you have bought your main car insurance from the rental company, there are many independent insurance companies either in the high street or on the Internet who specialise in excess waiver insurance and who may be able to offer more attractive terms.
If you investigate this option and purchase the insurance directly, you can arrive at the car rental desk with your insurance cover in-hand. Excess waiver insurance can be purchased in advance from most of the specialist insurers. Some will offer cover for a period of days or even a year. This means that the policies cover a policyholder for the entire period of the policy and can therefore be used during that period for any number of rentals. The cost savings are usually very significant over the same insurance sold by the car rental companies.
Tags: Excess Waiver Insurance