Buying rental car hire excess insurance from one of the Internet based independent car hire insurance suppliers may not only save you some money, but may also provide you with superior cover.
Car rental excess insurance is needed because typically the collision damage waiver (CDW) cover sold by the car hire companies tends to carry an excess.
This ‘excess’ represents the maximum amount of money that you could be expected to contribute to the repair costs of those parts of the car covered by the CDW. The exact figure will depend on the car and the car hire company but figures between £500 and £1600 are not uncommon.
If you add to this the amount that you may have to pay towards the repair costs of those parts of the car typically excluded from the CDW (the tyres, windows, undercarriage and even the roof, ) then you could be facing quite a rather large charge to your credit card.
For example, during your rental you swerve into a bush to avoid hitting a dog, damage one of the tyres which needs to be replaced and scrape the bodywork quite badly.
Car rental scenario:
You have an excess of £750. When you return the car you find that the paintwork will cost £500 to redo. Since this amount is less that the maximum excess, you are responsible for it all. You are also responsible for the total cost of the type replacement because your CDW doesn’t cover them at all.
You could reduce the risks of incurring expense of this nature by buying some excess insurance and your car hire company will typically be only too happy to sell you some.
The hire car excess insurance may prove to be expensive when compared to other options and there is no obligation to buy this type of cover from them - which is where the independent specialist providers of rental car insurance come in.
Take a look at the Internet sites of these car hire excess insurance specialists and you will find that they offer a wide range of rental car excess insurance products, which offer several features including cover for families and for senior citizens.
Additionally you may find that their excess insurance will also cover the excluded items at no extra cost. So the example quoted above for the replacement tyre would be covered as well.
Another feature of excess insurance bought from these specialists is that they can provide annual cover which is a great idea, rather like by annual travel insurance. This means that your policy is valid for a year, can be used for any number of rentals you choose.
You may only be able to rent one car at a time (up to a specified number of days at a time) and you may not be able to rent certain types of vehicle. (Motor homes, motorbikes, commercial vehicles, very high value cars, sport or vintage models may not be covered.)
If you are a regular renter, you may end up saving quite an amount of money, depending of your circumstances and what is more you don’t have to keep on arranging cover for every rental, just once a year.
This works quite simply. If you do have an accident, the car hire company may still charge any excess or charges relating to damage to ‘excluded’ car parts for which you are responsible, to your credit card. All you would have to do then would be to claim on your rental car excess insurance policy for reimbursement.
Still looking for car hire excess rental insurance? Take a look at: http://www.insurance4carrental.com/
