Insurance requirements for car rentals in Europe vary from country to country, so when you’re looking to take out European car rental insurance you need to make sure that you let your insurer know of all the countries you intend to visit. Italy in particular has more stringent and expensive requirements than many other parts of Europe.
Many people arrange their car hire as part of their holiday package and will accept the insurance offered by the car hire company without giving it too much thought. Indeed many car rental companies now offer deals that include a certain level of Collision Damage Waiver or CDW cover.
What some people do not realise though is that this can be a very expensive way of insuring your rental car. It may also leave the renter liable for significant costs in the event of a claim. This is because European car rental insurance sold through the car rental companies or provided as an all-in deal may carry significant exclusions and excesses.
There are two main components of insurance for rental cars. The first, CDW, covers damage to the rental car itself. Insurance of this type frequently carries what is called ‘excess’, that is the part of any damage costs that must be paid by the renter of the vehicle. In addition, damage to some items, typically the windows, windscreen; tyres, undercarriage and roof may also be excluded from the policy.
The second category, Third Party, covers damage to someone else or to their property or vehicle. This can also carry excess and while by law in the UK, Third Party cover is unlimited; this is not the case in other parts or Europe. What this means is that there may be a shortfall in cover if the amount of liability assessed by the courts is higher than that provided by the insurance policy. This shortfall would then have to be paid by the renter of the vehicle.
While it is possible to purchase additional insurance from the car rental company to increase levels of cover and reduce excesses this can often be very expensive.
An alternative approach is to buy European car rental insurance from one of the specialist independent insurance companies easily located on the Internet or on the High Street.
The cover provided by these companies will generally include those all important easily damaged areas, cover all of the excess and provide generous Supplemental Liability Insurance to top up third party cover.
If your car rental company has provided basic insurance as part of an all-in deal, you may not be able to take advantage of all of the possible cost savings available from an independent insurer. However you are under no obligation to buy the car rental company’s top-up insurance and it is perfectly acceptable to decline this element and purchase it elsewhere.
European car rental insurance cover from an independent specialist can be bought on a daily basis for the duration of the specific car rental or can be bought on an annual basis and used for any number of car rentals within the duration of the policy.