Remember there is still time to book car hire for Easter says Holiday Autos

It is only just over a week now till the Easter weekend and I have just received this e-flyer from Holiday Autos.

They say "If you're planning an Easter break, don't miss out on our great rates in popular locations. Availability is tightening up in key destinations, but we still fare well against our competitors. But hurry, with car hire prices from just £6 per day, our cars go quick. Book now to avoid disappointment "

Holiday Autos has a wide choice of cars from companies like Europcar - Budget - Sixt - Record Go and Thrifty car hire

Book now to ensure you have that rental car for the Easter holidays HERE

Remember if you are flying and parking at your departure airport, make sure you book your parking well in advance at peak holiday times.



Easter holidays on their way

Easter 2012 is only under 10 days away and many people will be setting off on their breaks this coming weekend although with this fine spring weather in the south of England it feels like it has already begun.

The shops have their Easter displays like this one in Belgium to the left so if you have booked your car hire, don't forget your car hire excess insurance. The supermarkets have been selling chocolate eggs and hot cross buns for many weeks now. Some start soon after Christmas!

You can save a lot of money by buying it from an independent insurance company and whatsmore, if you are likely to travel a couple of times a year you save even more with an annual policy.

Some insurance4carhire and Questor insurance policies are still being discounted if you buy them from the link you find on the insurance4carrental.com site.  

Many people go on holiday around Easter hiring a motorhome and Questor and Worlwideinsure offer motorhome excess insurance. Find out more here.

If you are still looking for a bargain in the never ending sales and are staying at home, but renting a van remember you can also buy van hire excess insurance independently that will save you even more money to spend in the shops. Insuremyvanhire and iCarhireinsurance both offer this product. Find out more here   

Whatever you do make sure you do have adequate insurance for your travels.

You never know when you could become involved in an accident that is not your fault. (Left wing mirror cut off by falling metal from a delivery vehicle on a motorway). With a hire car if you had not taken out excess insurance such an incident that was not your fault would be very, very expensive. 

Your car hire bill could rise by 75% as a result of a hidden cost

iCarhireinsurance have today published a news release "The Hidden Cost That Could Add 75% To Your Car Hire Rental Bill"

Well what is it all about? According to the release, " Travellers arriving to pick up their hire cars may be surprised to find that excess insurance sold to them at the rental desk may add up to 75% again to their original car hire bill.


If excess waiver insurance is not purchased by a hire car customer they could be liable for up to £1500 if the car gets damaged or stolen, even if it's not their fault. Even a small scratch on a windscreen can cost hundreds to fix.


Research undertaken (see Table 1 below) by specialist excess insurance provider, iCarhireinsurance.com has revealed that:


- Buying excess insurance at the car rental desk can cost an extra 38% to 75% again on top of a customer's original hire car cost


- The five leading car hire companies surveyed charged an average of £17 a day for excess waiver car hire insurance, with the highest being an eye watering £23 a day with Europcar.


- An 82% saving can be made buying a £2.99 a day excess insurance policy covering Europe from a specialist company like iCarhireinsurance.com.


"Excess car hire insurance is sprung on people when they arrive at the car rental desk to pick up their car," said Ernesto Suarez, CEO and founder of iCarhireinsurance.com. "Tired after their journey they are then held to ransom to take out excess insurance with the fear otherwise of being liable for huge penalties, when all they want to do is pick up the keys and start their holiday or business trip. Asking people to make a snap decision on a complex product is not a fair transaction."


Many rental companies do not make it clear, when people are booking their hire car, that they are not completely covered unless they purchase additional excess waiver insurance. This lack of transparency in the booking process is creating a situation where people are arriving at the rental desk wrongly believing that they have bought all the insurance they need.


An iCarhireinsurance.com excess insurance policy starts from £2.99 a day or from £39.99 for an annual policy. It also includes cover for vulnerable parts of the vehicle, which are frequently excluded by the rental companies' policies.


"Our advice is simple, buy your excess insurance before you fly to save you time, bother and most of all money with a better product which gives you absolute peace of mind," said Ernesto Suarez, CEO and founder of iCarhireinsurance.com." 

Well with the Easter holidays now under a month away, it is time to book your car hire and of course buy your car hire excess insurance separately. Find out more about iCarhireinsurance here and save some money.
 
Another important consideration with Easter just around the corner is if you are flying, don't forget to book your car parking at the airport (or close to the airport) in advance. A lot of the smaller better value car park sites will become full early, so book now.

Insurance4carhire in Daily Telegraph's avoiding extras at car rental desk

"How can I avoid being stung for extras at the car rental desk?" was the question in Gill Charlton's travel question and answer feature in the Daily Telegraph.

She explained that the local car hire company would not receive a very large payment for the car gire from a car hire broker and the car hire company itself will need to make up any shortfall itself with extras. She said that a customer can quite often pay more for "cheap car hire" than going direct to a large company like Avis.

She suggested checking the size of damage excess saying that rental companies will charge between £10 to £15 a day to reduce this to zero and to "buy an annual excess-reduction policy instead from Insurance4carhire.com."

Currently these cost £39.20 (instead of the usual £49.00) when you buy from the link at the insurance4carrental's website. Find out more HERE  

Insurance4carhire's "Daily Excess" policy costs £4.75 a day (around €6.08) which is a lot less than you would pay to the car hire company at the desk or when you book.

It is all very well being armed with your own car hire excess policy. however as mentioned quite often in this blog, Gill Charlton said in her article "Another swindle is to include extra insurances you have verbally declined. Make sure you query anything you are asked to initial as "agreed". 

You could consider actually writing on their form "declined your excess insurance" as so many car hire companies try to make someone sign for this after the customer has verbally declined it.

The weekend break and mini holiday season is now hotting up, so make sure you have bought your car hire excess insurance in advance.