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Saturday 16 March 2013

icarhireinsurance points out possible extra car hire charges over Easter 2013

Easter is very early this year and only a couple of weeks away and if it is like this weekend's weather in England, people will be wanting to find a hotter environment.

You don't want to be spending Easter in the winter and  iCarhireinsurance published a news story earlier this week -"Car Hire Hot Spots Over Easter" It makes good reading before you set off and is published below.

A family hiring a standard family car in Malaga, over the Easter week, could hand over an additional £352* at the rental desk when picking their car up.

Purchasing excess car hire insurance (at £130), extra driver's cover (at £74), a child's seat (at £67) and a Sat Nav (at £81) from the rental desk will push the overall cost up by an additional 125% (nb. the basic cost for the week was £280).

iCarhireinsurance.com, the leading standalone provider of excess car hire insurance, has compared the prices of four rental companies at five popular destinations for the Easter week, 29 March - 5 April 2013, to reveal the hidden costs at the rental desk.


Looking at the destinations of Malaga, Faro, Nice, Milan and Barcelona, iCarhireinsurance.com found great variations in the costs that travellers would be paying at each destination.


An Extra Driver

Putting an extra driver on a policy can be costly ranging from up to £74 with Hertz in Barcelona, to £41 with Avis in Malaga, to £20 with Sixt in Nice. Budget for around £50 as this was the average cost, although if the driver is under 25 expect a steep hike again with an average charge of around £100.

A Child's Car Seat
If you can, take your own car seat otherwise you could be looking at paying up to £80 in Milan for instance. The average price was around £50 across the four destinations of Faro, Malaga, Barcelona and Milan, falling to £38 in Nice.

Sat Nav

Another expensive addition. The cost of hiring a Sat Nav ranged from over £85 in Milan with Avis and Hertz, to a more reasonable £56 in Faro with Budget and £38 in Barcelona with Sixt.

Excess Car Hire Insurance

"The sting in the tail at the rental desk," said Ernesto Suarez, founder and CEO at iCarhireinsurance.com. "This will make the biggest dent in the holiday budget."

If excess waiver insurance is not purchased by a hire car customer they could be liable for up to £1600 if the car gets damaged or even stolen. Visitors to Barcelona and Malaga over Easter could be looking at a week's excess insurance costing them £168 if bought from the rental desk - this is over eight times the cost of an iCarhireinsurance.com policy at £21 for the week (at £2.99 a day).


The most reasonable place to purchase excess insurance was in Nice, where it costs £73 on average from the four rental companies, however this is still three and a half times more than a policy form iCarhireinsurance.com. iCarhireinsurance policies are also more comprehensive and cover vulnerable parts of the vehicle which are frequently excluded from car hire companies' policies.


"Many travellers do not factor in excess insurance in their holiday planning and are therefore surprised when they're stung with expensive and often not very comprehensive cover at the rental desk", said Ernesto Suarez, founder and CEO at iCarhireinsurance.com. "When a small scratch on the paintwork can cost hundreds to repair make sure you buy your excess insurance before you fly from a specialist supplier like iCarhireinsurance.com for a fraction of the price."

"To avoid these costs at the rental desk, we strongly advise travellers to take their own child's seat, think twice about putting an extra driver on the policy, take their own Sat Nav with them and to buy their excess car hire insurance in advance to save up to eight times compared to the rental desk prices." Source  icarhireinsurance

 Find out more about icarhireinsurance Here

Thursday 14 March 2013

The Observer says Beware hidden extras that drive up car hire costs

Last Sunday's Observer had an article by Lisa Batchelor on car hire. The photo in the article is taken in Nice, France close to the airport and by coincidence I rented a car there for four days last weekend.

The car hire company was very helpful, however when I said I did not require additional excess waiver insurance, the representative started to say that if it had been the insurance I had bought from the car hire company in England it would not be sufficient and I should buy his!! 

After saying that I had an annual policy that covered wheels undercarriage etc, he left the subject and didn't even charge the 23 euros for the additional driver.

One issue I was concerned about was the fuel policy, this company had got hold of the idea used by some Spanish, Portuguese and Cypriot car hire companies - Pay for a full tank of fuel and bring back empty. 

You pay their price and if you don't use the fuel too bad no refund. The company I used only had this policy for rentals of more than four days. The car was in fact half full and this was noted on the paperwork, however it is tricky to refill to half. Just like it is tricky to drive around back to the car hire depot on empty!

Fortunately the majority of car hire companies at Nice, do not have this policy.

Going back to The Observer article they used research from icarhireinsurance a major force in car hire excess waiver insurance. According to research for The Observer, adding an extra driver, particularly one under 25, a car seat, a satnav and excess car hire insurance at the rental desk all bring extra cost – in some cases more than the price of the actual hire.

The article is very interesting and can be found in full Here   

It concludes saying Companies including insurance4carhire and icarhireinsurance have annual and daily policies that you buy before you go, and can cost as little as £3 a day.

Find out more about insurance4carhire Here and icarhireinsurance Here
Incidently the car I had rented from Nice airport did not come equipped with an In-car alcohol tester / alcohol breathalyser - See Breathalyzer kits / éthylotest in motor vehicles in France, the saga continues 17 October 2012


Tuesday 5 March 2013

Carrentals are help to raise money for Red Nose Day

Carrrentals.co.uk are going to donate £1 GBP to Red Nose Day for every car booked on the 15th March and they will match it with another £1 according to the email just received.

Comic Relief is a major charity based in the UK which strives to create a just world free from poverty – and we work 365 days a year to help that vision become a reality. To date  they have raised over £800m and helped to change millions of lives as a result.Comic Relief supports work in the UK as well as overseas and has funded 15,786 projects in the UK to date. (Source Comic Relief)

Carrentals.co.uk is the UK’s leading car hire comparison site that helps customers find the cheapest car hire deals every day.


By searching up to 50 different car hire websites, we provide an impartial comparison of the best prices available in over 15,000 locations. This means our customers can be satisfied they have found the best car hire for them at an unbeatable price.

You can start your search for car hire here