Renting a car has never been easier and there are many good deals to be had. How do we know though if the rental car insurance coverage that comes as standard with many mainstream car rentals, is actually good value for money?
For many of us purchasing our entire rental insurance from the car rental company may seem to be the easiest and most logical thing to do. Surely if the rental price was a really good deal then the insurance must be too. Sadly this is not necessarily the case and it is generally accepted that the insurance provided by car rental companies is expensive. It may also still leave the renter with significant costs in the event of an accident or damage to the vehicle
This is because the insurance cover provided by the rental company may carry exclusions and hefty excesses.
The exclusions applied to rental car insurance coverage are for the areas of the car that may be some of those most easily damaged. What this means is that any damage to the windows including the windscreen, the tyres, the roof and the undercarriage may not be covered by the standard insurance policy.
Similarly with excesses, you may find that you will still be liable to pay for the first, or excess, part of the costs to repair any damage to the vehicle. With costs of 600 pounds for example and an excess of 500, you will have to pay 500 and the insurance will cover only 100.
It is possible to buy additional top-up insurance from the car rental company to include ‘exclusions’ or to reduce or remove excess completely but this can be a very expensive option.
An alternative is to consider using an independent insurance company for your rental car insurance coverage, or at least for your top up cover. You may find that the rates offered by these companies will be significantly cheaper than those offered by the car rental company.
A specialist insurance company will be able to offer policies either on a daily or an annual basis. An annual policy is obviously valid for a year and can therefore be used by the policyholder for any number of rentals in that year, subject to the policy’s terms and conditions. You may find that even if you use your annual policy only once it could still be cheaper than buying the equivalent insurance from the car rental company.
How it works is that in the event of an accident, the car rental company would charge the cost of any damage to your credit card and you would then make a claim on your car rental insurance coverage for reimbursement.
Direct insurers offering car rental insurance typically will not cover unusual or specialist vehicles such as classic or sports cars. There will also usually be a limit as to how much you can claim back on a high value vehicle.
If you’re looking for a normal rental vehicle to get from A to B, you may find that you can make substantial savings on rental car insurance coverage by shopping around for a good deal from an independent insurance specialist.
Tags: rental car insurance