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Wednesday 20 August 2014

You can save £60 or more on Car Hire costs according to Daily Telegraph report

Yesterday's Daily Telegraph ran an article by Richard Dyson - "Why I'll never buy car hire insurance again" It then went on to say " Read this and save £60 (or much more) on car hire costs" which made me read on.

Apparently  in June he had rented a car in Jersey for six days from  from Europcar. Before he travelled he had  bought a £25, standalone policy from icarhireinsurance.

At Jersey airport Europcar offered him its cover for £90. He refused, saying he had my own policy. Then he had a minor accident. It took a few weeks to process and he got the problem sorted so in the end said that he was sold on stand-alone hire-car cover.

He then goes on to talk about "The great car hire cover rip-off"

He gave examples of hiring a car and then being asked for additional money for car hire excess insurance -   €24 (£18) per day in Tenerife for example and on a rental of  five days that is a lot of money.

According to this article "Traditional, big-name car-hire firms tend to be costliest when it comes to buying cover against damage to the vehicle"

So it means you need to go to a standalone car hire company. The article went on to say "Worldwideinsure would cover an economy hire car for £10.50; Carhireexcess for £9.95 and icarhireinsurance for £14.95. There is a choice of about eight providers all charging less than £20 for the period in question. 

He also points out that "But while the cover provided by the rental firms means there will be a no-quibble, no-payment-required process if you return a damaged vehicle, the standalone insurance policy will mean you have to pay for the damage out of your own pocket then claim back later"  See the full article Here 
 

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Shortage of children’s car seats and booster seats in hire cars

According to a Carrentals press release from a couple of days ago, although the summer holiday season is in full swing there is  a significant shortage of children’s car seats and booster seats from car hire suppliers abroad. The equipment is compulsory by law in all EU countries, so those hiring a car this summer with young children need to have the seats secured, or know what they can do if they don’t.

The company says "As with many car hire extras, the only way to guarantee availability is to pre-book the equipment you need when you book the vehicle. The extras have to be paid for locally but can guarantee availability for you on arrival, unless your supplier has contacted you and informed you otherwise"

"Travellers who can’t secure child or toddler seats through their supplier, or don’t want to pay for rentals must take their own. Families can transport car seats depending on their airline’s policy. Some airlines allow car seats in addition to luggage allowance free of charge, others will take them at a charge, but some, particularly in busy periods when they are at full capacity, can refuse to take them. Contact your airline to find out their exact policy and charges.  For older children that only require a booster seat, travel booster seats are available that can fit into suitcases and hand luggage."

Finally Carrentals "urges holidaymakers to book everything early as it will save a lot of stress. Try to book car hire ahead of your trip and include your extras when booking  - by doing this you can guarantee availability, even during the busiest travel periods."

If you want to find out more about carrentals and book your car hire now visit them here.

Wednesday 6 August 2014

It might be early August but not too late to buy your Car - Motorhome - Van Hire excess insurance

The peak summer holiday season is well underway with many people now back home and others not going away till later in August or into September.


Are you hiring a car when you take your break? The British and Irish newspapers have been running a lot of reports of consumers having difficulties when the rent a car and unfortunately a lot of the problems are down to the tight margins the car hire companies are working with.
 

To try and make some more money they have to look at ways to increase their income. Fuel policies whereby you must buy a tank a fuel at the car hire company's price and return it empty regardless if you use it all up. Car hire excess waiver insurance sold at very high daily rates, some companies even telling customers who have bought their own from an independent insurance companies that the particular product will not cover the vehicle which is not the case, but a way to make the customer pay over the odds for the car hire company's own preferred product so they gain a high commission.
Unfortunately the few "bad" car hire companies have tarnished the reputation of the majority who are "the good guys" in that business.
So if you are off on holiday very soon and want to save some money with the car hire buy you car hire – Motorhome Hire excess insurance in advance. The same applies if you are staying at home and moving home or doing some major shopping and hiring a van or even a minibus for a trip to the seaside.

If you have a portable SatNav take it with you it will save having to hire one, however do make sure it is set for the country you are going to. No good heading off to the USA or Turkey and finding out that the information about roads is not in there. Download the updates before you set off.
If you are hiring a car and require a child seat then consider taking your one, the cost of taking it could be a lot less than hiring one from the car hire company.
The insurance4carrrental and jml-insurance sites have a great selection of excess insurance companies advertising including Worldwideinsure – Carhireexcess.com – Protect Your Bubble –iCarhireinsurance – Questor Insurance - insurance4carhire and insuremyvanhire.com
 
 

 


 

Monday 4 August 2014

Beware of the Excess Waiver Insurance says Express article

Personal Finance News in The Express featured car rental and keeping down costs.

According to the report "Exclusive findings from insurer Protect Your Bubble show that Briton's have been unfairly charged £304 million for damage they did not do to hire cars over the past five years, at an average of £179 each. Of those, six in 10 did not get their money returned after they disputed the additional cost.

A driver will pay on average of £304 across a dozen of the most popular destinations including Spain, France and Ireland to rent a compact family car such as a VW Golf for a week in August, according to website ICARHIREINSURANCE"

The article goes onto talk about Beware of the Excess Waiver in hire cars and that "It continues to be the biggest rip-off at the rental desk with customers paying over the odds for cover that is not even comprehensive.
 
Stephen Ebbett from Protect Your Bubble says: "Excess payments can be staggeringly high with some car rental firms, so it makes good sense to buy excess insurance.
 
"However, it is far cheaper to buy this online from a standalone insurer. Also, many car rental firms' policies won't include damage to glass, the under-body of the vehicle and tyres."
 
"When picking up your hire car make sure that you check it thoroughly for any damage, including scuffs to wheels, and make sure that everything, no matter how small, is highlighted on the checkout sheet," says Ernesto Suarez, chief executive of ICARHIREINSURANCE"
 
See Full Article Here 
Find out more about Protect Your Bubble Car Hire Excess Insurance Here 
and ICARHIREINSURANCE Here

Sunday 3 August 2014

Insurance for hire cars

Renting a hire car can sometimes be risky. Even the smallest of accidents could result in you facing some potentially large bills for repair costs unless you have the right sort of cover through your insurance for rental cars policy.

Doesn’t insurance for a hire car come included ‘in the deal’?

In reality, this is perhaps better thought of as two separate questions:

  • Does the hire of the vehicles cost include insurance?;
  • Is the insurance adequate for your needs?

The rental car may or may not come with insurance included in the deal. Typically in most of Europe and many other countries it will have some insurance included, whereas in the USA and some other countries it may not.

If it does not have insurance included, the rental company will normally offer it for sale to the customer as an extra. If insurance is included, you may need to look at it carefully to see what is covered and what is not.

What needs to be examined with insurance for the car (or other vehicle) you are hiring?

Once again, this may vary depending upon the country you’re hiring in and the company you’re renting from.

When insurance is included, it typically provides financial protection to cover two forms of risk:

  • The risks that other people may sue you for injury you have caused them or for damage you’ve done to their property, with the hire car;
  • The risk that the car rental company holds you responsible for damage done to their vehicle while on hire to you – this could be up to the full replacement cost of the vehicle.

The first category of risk is covered by third-partly liability insurance and the second by CDW (collision damage waiver) insurance.

If you do not have these two forms of insurance and with both providing adequate levels of cover, you may end up facing potentially large costs if you have an accident in a hire vehicle.

If these two forms of cover are in place, what else is there to worry about?

The insurance provided by a car hire company, whether included automatically or purchased separately, will typically also contain two limitations:

  • It may carry an excess of between £500 - £1600 which could end up being debited automatically to your credit card following an accident;
  • It may exclude several areas of the rental car from its cover – possibly including wheels, tyres, undercarriage roof and windows.

The upshot is that even if you have the rental company’s insurance for car rental, you may find yourself facing a large bill after an accident.

Can these cost risks be avoided?

Yes.

You may have the option of paying the hire company extra and for that they may reduce or remove the excess and possibly the exclusions also.

Alternatively, you may find that it can be cheaper to purchase what’s called ‘excess protection insurance’ from an online specialist provider of rental car insurance. If you have a policy of this sort, you could obtain reimbursement of any excess or excluded area costs you’d been forced to pay to the rental company. Naturally you need to check the terms and conditions of the company you are buying from.

Is there more information available?

Yes.

If you’re looking to improve the protection you receive from insurance for rental cars, the sites of the specialist providers typically contain full explanatory details of their products and how they may benefit you. To access a choice of some of these sites Follow this link