No one wants to imagine the difficulties that would come about as a result of being involved in an accident in a rental car, but it could be so much worse if you were on holiday in a foreign country while it happened. Although it’s a great way to see the sights and explore the local area, you do have to make sure you’re properly insured if you decide to hire a car, and that can often mean sifting through a large number of strange and alien-sounding policy extras (such as Super CDW cover), trying to find one that sounds both affordable and suitable – not an ideal way to spend the first hours of your holiday.
However, there are options available that can help you reduce the amount of excess you’d need to pay if you were to be involved in an accident of some sort. An excess – the amount your insurance company will expect you to pay towards repairs if you’re involved in an accident – is most likely going to be attached to the basic insurance package you get with your rental car, and it’s typically going to be a lot higher than the excess you have on your car insurance back home; it’s not unusual to find excesses on rental cars around the thousand pound mark, and sometimes more. One way of cutting this down is to purchase CDW cover.
Collision Damage Waiver insurance is an optional package offered by many insurance providers that is designed to reduce (or, in the case of the more expensive Super CDW packages available, remove completely) your excess, meaning that you’ll pay far less or nothing at all should the car be damaged while it’s signed over into your name. However, it’s important that these additional cover packages are charged on a day by day basis, meaning that (especially for Super CDW cover) you could be looking at a large bill at the end of your holiday.
One way to make sure you don’t fall victim to this (if you’re looking to buy a Super CDW policy) is to use an online collision damage waiver insurance provider before you even get to your destination. This can be cheaper (and save you precious time as well, as you don’t have to worry about the best type of insurance cover for you when you could be out enjoying yourself), and typically comes in two options – either a short term plan, which will allow you to purchase your cover by the day or week, or an annual plan, designed for people who plan on renting cars abroad more than once a year. While annual cover can at first seem more expensive, it can save you a substantial amount of money if you plan on utilising a rental company more than once in that time.
Whichever way you choose to get your Super CDW insurance (if you choose to get it at all), it can be a great way to ensure peace of mind and make sure that you don’t end up paying out more than you can afford should you have an accident.
Tags: Super CDW