Questions and Answers from insurance4carhire

Going travelling soon and hiring a car for your holidays?

I found a set of interesting questions and answers from those insurance4carhire.com people.

CDW insurance for Asia:
Q) Do you cover CDW (collision damage waiver) in Asia?

A) Yes we cover CDW for Asia with either our daily CDW insurance policy, which is £5.99 a day or our annual policies starting at £109


Car hire excess insurance for the Canary Islands
Q) Does your Europe policy cover the excess for my car hire in the Canary Islands?

A) Yes, the Europe 31 policy covers the excess on car hire in the Canary Islands.

Car hire excess charges in North America
Q) Is an excess on car hire charged in North America?

A) Excess on car hire is generally not charged in North America, however there are some companies that charge for damage to the windows, tyres, undercarriage and roof. If this is the case then our excess policies will cover you for these items

Car hire excess insurance South America
Q) Does your Worldwide 31 car hire excess policy cover car hire in South America?

A) If you car hire comes with insurance, the Worldwide 31 policy will cover the excess that you may be liable for should you damage the vehicle or if its stolen whilst in your possession.

Car hire excess insurance for the Far East
Q) I live in the Far East, am I still able to purchase one of your car hire excess insurance policies?

A) Yes, our car hire excess insurance policies are available for customers worldwide.

Car hire excess insurance Australia
Q) How much does an annual car hire excess insurance policy cost that will cover Australia?

A) Our Worldwide 31 car hire excess insurance policy will cover you for Australia and costs £65 for one year’s cover. You can use the policy as often as you wish within the 12 month period as long as no one rental exceeds 31 continuous days.

Car hire excess for Northern Cyprus
Q) I am an existing customer about to renew my cover. We are going to Northern Cyprus this year. Does “Europe Insurance” cover this area?

A) Both Northern & Southern Cyprus are covered by our Annual Excess Europe policy

Arriving at the car rental desk
Q) Hello - before I buy a policy, please would you advise me if Avis in Ibiza will find it acceptable? I am mindful of arriving on a very late flight with a tired family in tow, and trying to explain this policy to a Sales Agent!

A) We bypass the car rental companies completely. We do not insure their vehicle - we insure you the Policy Holder. This means that you can use our policy with all rental companies. When you get to the car rental counter, you decline the car rental company’s Excess. This is a reimbursement insurance. If you have any damage to the vehicle, the car rental company will charge your credit card and you then claim for reimbursement. When you decline the car rental company’s Excess at the counter, they will respond in one of the following ways: they may simply swipe your card (which they will do anyhow), they may block the amount of the Excess on your card or, more rarely, they may actually withdraw the amount of the Excess from your card and release it when you return the vehicle. At any rate, if you have any damage to the vehicle, they will all charge your card and then on your return home you claim for the full amount back from us.

Difference between Worldwide cover and USA/Canada cover

Q) I’m a little confused about the difference between worldwide cover and USA/Canada. Do I have any level of protection in USA/Canada if I opt for the worldwide cover?

A) When you hire a car directly when in the USA, you have the choice of taking a rental that is either fully inclusive, or fully exclusive, of car rental insurance. If you hire a car on an exclusive basis, no car rental insurance is included in the car rental price. In those circumstances, it is necessary to purchase Collision Damage Waiver/Loss Damage Waiver (CDW/LDW) and Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI). CDW/LDW covers damage, loss of use and theft of the rental vehicle, and SLI covers third party liability. These insurances are sold at the car rental counter and cost between US$20 and US$30 per day.

Our USA & Canada policy covers:

Supplemental Liability Insurance (Third Party) up to US$ 1 million
Collision Damage Waiver/Loss Damage Waiver (CDW/LDW) - covering damage, theft and loss of use of the rental vehicle - up to US $80,000
Uninsured Motorist up to US$ 100,000
Under-insured Motorist up to US$ 100,000
Hit & Run Motorist up to US$100,000
Car rental excess if excess is charged (it is generally not charged in the USA)
Damage to windows, roof, tyres & wheels and the undercarriage.
Our Annual Excess Worldwide policy covers you for the Excess which is not usually charged in USA.

Insurance cover for fly drive and package holidays

Q) Hi, I have a package holiday with Thomas Cook to Florida (Sanford Airport), I just found out the included car hire with Dollar only covers SLI or third party. Thomas Cook said I can upgrade for extra but I think its too expensive. Can I use this insurance to cover for the two weeks? Am I allowed to do that? I mean will Dollar still give me the car if I have insurance with some other company?? Also there will be 2 drivers both over 25.

A) If you require our insurance for the USA you will need to hire a car that has no insurance included and our policy will fully cover you.

I set out below the cover and how the policy works:
When you hire a car in the USA, you have the choice of taking a rental that is either fully inclusive, or fully exclusive, of car rental insurance. If you hire a car on an exclusive basis, no car rental insurance is included in the car rental price. In those circumstances, it is necessary to purchase Collision Damage Waiver/Loss Damage Waiver (CDW/LDW) and Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI). CDW/LDW covers damage, loss of use and theft of the rental vehicle, and SLI covers third party liability. These insurances are sold at the car rental counter and cost between US$20 and US$30 per day.
Our USA & Canada policy covers:
• Supplemental Liability Insurance (Third Party) up to US$ 1 million
• Collision Damage Waiver/Loss Damage Waiver (CDW/LDW) - covering damage, theft and loss of use of the rental vehicle - up to US $80,000
• Uninsured Motorist up to US$ 100,000
• Under-insured Motorist up to US$ 100,000
• Hit & Run Motorist up to US$100,000
• Excess if excess is charged (it is generally not charged in the USA)
• Damage to windows, roof, tyres & wheels and the undercarriage.
If you have taken a rental that is exclusive of car rental insurance, then our Policy will fully cover you for your car rental insurance requirements

Fly Drive programmes are generally structured so that the car rental company makes very little money on the rental, and looks to make its profit from add-ons such as insurance. For that reason, companies which participate in Fly Drive programmes do not always readily accept this insurance.

If you are doing a Fly Drive programme, it would be sensible to contact the car rental company, tell them you can provide your own insurance, and confirm that they will accept it.

Interesting facts there. If you are looking for car hire excess insurance take a look at insurance4carrental.com

Car rental advice on Irish Radio

With school holidays fast approaching in Ireland many people will be renting cars overseas. The Myles Dungan Today consumer programme offered advice on what to do and not to do.
I was in Dublin earlier this week and whilst I was sitting in the car wash, RTÉ Radio One’s Today with Myles Dungan programme and he was interviewing a lady regarding tips for when you are renting cars.

The interview came at a time when many Irish people will be off on their summer holidays as Irish schools (like Scottish ones) end the summer term much earlier than in England and Wales.

The person being interviewed in this consumer feature was warning people that although if they book a car via an online provider that the ultimate responsibility lies with the car rental company itself if there are problems.

She explained that the daily rate quoted would normally have lots of extras like car hire excess\insurance and waiver, insurance for additional drivers, however did not mention that if a renter was staying at home in Ireland, Dublin car hire rental companies normally charge an “airport fee” as well. Maybe this is just peculiar to some cities in Ireland.

Advice was given about checking the car when you collect it. Damage, is full of fuel etc, which was rather interesting as this north Dublin petrol station is also used as a depot for a few rental cars and as my car was being washed a mini bus arrived with two couples collecting their rental cars.

One couple never looked at the state of the car, it was very clean, but did not check for damage and the other couple were more concerned about how to open the boot. The representative helped here, but was already driving off in the mini bus before I saw him take a quick look around the 2005 Toyota.

Apparently one issue that is very important is to make sure if you are dropping a car rental back out of hours, that you actually leave the keys. One renter from Ireland had taken the keys on the flight back from England and posted them back when he realised that he had forgotten them.
They took a few days to get back to the car hire company and because the car could not be hired out to anyone else he had to keep on paying rent! Car hire companies don’t normally keep spares at the local depot unless it is a small organisation, so do take care not to loose them. This is another reason to take out car hire excess insurance, although not sure if the gentleman who flew off with the keys would be covered.

Another point that was mentioned was that apparently Visa and Mastercard must now inform the cardholder if the car hire company is going to charge for damage before debiting the account. Again do make sure you have you take out the appropriate excess insurance and an annual policy certainly proves great value. A company like insurance4carhire.com caters for the Irish renting cars overseas.

There were a few text messages to the programme with listeners’ experiences and one person who texted the programme said that he had booked a car rental in the USA costing €400, however by the time he had paid all the additional “add ons” this was €800.

Whether you are just off on holidays, on business and have or have not rented before do make sure you take out the proper insurance, check that car when you collect it and return it and make you are insured to take the car from one country to another if you are renting in mainland Europe for example. Don't forget to take out car hire excess before you pick up that car hire vehicle. You could save a lot of money.

Times Online features insurance4carhire.com under Best road, rail, ferry and cruise websites

The March 18th edition of Times Online had a feature to show “Trains, boats, automobiles... these websites will make researching and booking transport a doddle”
Under the “Road” classification was insurance4carhire.com car hire insurance excess site that jml-insurance.com and jmlvillas.com have acted as introducers for since 2004.

Their comment on the long established car hire excess provider was “This site is a gem if you want to avoid getting stung by car rental firms for excess charges. For an annual premium of £49 you can get cover for the total amount of excess for which you are liable if the car is damaged or stolen, and also for damage to the roof, undercarriage, windows and tyres.”

The “Times Online” website is part of the News International Group that publishes The Times and The Sunday Times. The site is full of up to date news from these two publications.

The £49 a year is great value considering I have just booked a 13 day car rental and was quoted £38.87 for the period for the excess waiver.

Don’t get caught not paying the toll on the M50 in Ireland

To speed up the M50 “C” shaped motorway that links the north and south of Dublin with all the major motorways and “N” roads, it has been widened in part and the toll removed. The toll is for the bridge over the River Liffey and was originally the west link with a toll plaza. There are now cameras operating as you cross the toll rather like those for the London congestion charge zone.

If you are driving an UK registered car as I was last week, apparently because you are on foreign plates does not exempt you from paying the toll. The signs are not one hundred per cent clear and you are meant to pay this charge by 8.00 the following evening.

If you don't pay your toll before 8pm on the day following your journey, a penalty of €3 is added to the outstanding amount. If you fail to pay the toll and this €3 penalty within the next 14 days, a further penalty of €41.50 will be levied. Failure to pay the full amount due within a further 56 days will result in an additional €104.50 penalty. Then if you still have not paid the total amount due, legal proceedings will be initiated

Motorists must carry an electronic tag, pre-register to pay automatically, or pay the following day in order to avoid penalties. All car registrations from Ireland and the UK passing through will be captured on camera.

The National Roads Authority will use a Europe-wide debt recovery agency to seek out drivers from the UK who fail to buy an electronic tag or to pay later via the internet. It compared the fines regime to the one used in London to monitor the congestion charge.

I paid my €3 in one direction by having to find an Internet Café and paying on line and in the other direction by finding a local SPAR shop that I could pay at. Apparently you can save money by registering your car on line at the e-flow website.

If you are renting a car, do make sure that you check with the car rental company about the toll. Some Irish car rental companies are keeping credit card details so the amount can be debited accordingly. If you are renting a car in Northern Ireland it is worth checking there as well.

On the 11th June it was reported that the company handling customer queries from M50 toll users has lost its contract due to the high volume of complaints about its service. BetEireFlow which is the organisation that operates the M50 tolling system on behalf of the National Roads Authority (NRA) had terminated its contract with its customer service operator, Teleperformance. It had also handled queries for the eFlow electronic toll tag service.

According to the report in "The Irish Times" The contract has been awarded to Cork-based business services provider Abtran, which is to hire an additional 100 staff for its head office in Bishopstown to handle the approximately 6,000 telephone calls a day associated with the service. One of the problems was that the legal firm appointed by the NRA to pursue motorists who failed to pay the toll sent letters to motorists who claimed their account arrears had already been paid.

When I paid my toll charge on line at the Internet café, I printed off the payment receipt and when I paid the second time in the SPAR shop I asked for a receipt, in case there was a payment at a future time.

It is important to retain these receipts for a while together with car hire information as you never know when you might need it. A few years ago my wife received a speeding notification from the Garda Síochána (Police). She had rented a car, however the registration the car hire company had provided the authorities with was similar to the one on the ticket. She had to send them a copy of the car hire agreement to prove she was not driving the car involved. Fortunately she had retained the information as otherwise it would have involved contacting the car hire company and asking them to provide this.

Whether you use the toll or not don’t forget to take out your car hire excess insurance in advance and save money.

Car hire charges could increase in Ireland

I see in the “Irish Times” Motors feature on the 10th June that they are reporting on the state of the Irish car hire market. Apparently the total num,ber of new cars that has been supplied to the car rental market has fallen by 70 per cent in 2009 compared to the same period in 2008.

In January to May 2008 there were 14,235 registrations whereas this year there were only 4,272. Tourist numbers are expected to be down this year and so car hire companies won’t need such a large stock. There are going to be a number of factors leading to increases in rental charges.

This includes the VRT allowance. (Vehicle Registration Tax) that can be claimed by the car rental company. There are many lower rates of VRT on the 09 fleets, but there is the prospect this could be scrapped in 2010 and the car renter will have to pay the difference on a daily rate. Some providers like Irish Car Rentals are selling off some of their fleet with a page of cars on their website. This is probably a regular occurrence and must obviously save dealers costs and make a second hand car better value.

Cars in the Republic of Ireland do tend to be a lot more expensive than in the UK.