Don't forget to renew your annual car hire insurance

It is one thing taking out an annual car hire excess insurance policy and another making sure it is up to date.

I received two remiders from insurance4carhire.com in September saying our "Anuual Europe Family and Partners 31 Policy" expires on the 28th October, 2010.

I decided to renew it today as the letter warns that "Letting your policy lapse could leave you exposed to costly insurance premiums and hidden excess charges whenever you rent a car. But if you renew your policy by October 28 2010, you'll stay protected - which could you save you thousands if a car you rent is damaged or stolen".

You can buy the policy up to three months in advance which is good if you want to renew early like we do every year. The Annual Europe Family and Partners 31 Policy costs £79.00 per year.

We used to buy two standard Europe 31 Annual Policies and save around £19 by getting the combined one. This policy offers cover for 2 Policy Holders, who must be family members (defined as spouse, partner, parent, brother, sister, adult child or fiance), travelling together or separately.

At the insurance4carrental.com marketing site there are several insurance providers being advertised. insurance4carhire.com - dailyexcess.com - Questor Insurance - Essential Travel - Odyssey and Icahireinsurance. They all offer great products, but we took out our original car hire excess insurance several years ago and they were the only company offering such a product.

Today apart from those advertising on the insurance4carrental.com site where prices start around £1.94 a day or £40 for an annual policy there are a lot of "players" in this market to choose from.

The renewal process only took a couple of minutes and I was able to pay on line by credit card and download and print off the insurance documentation straight away. Very easy.