Car Hire Excess Insurance

Save money on car hire excess insurance and take a winter break

2012-01-25T01:31:00.000-08:00

iCarhireinsurance.com a major car hire excess insurance and van hire excess insurance company issued a press release on the 23rd January.

This very informative news release said "Over two million people booked a holiday last week according to ABTA and for those planning several breaks with the use of a hire car, iCarhireinsurance, the award-winning car hire insurance broker, recommends that consumers should also purchase an annual policy for excess car hire insurance at the same time which could save up to £400 a year*(enough to pay for a mini winter sun break!).

Travellers often feel compelled to buy their car hire excess insurance from the rental company on arrival as they pick up their car, which is usually from £17 a day*, with 83% not realising they could purchase it from another supplier and over two thirds (71%) not knowing that this insurance is significantly more expensive than they could buy elsewhere (YouGov research 2011*).

“By the time people have a week’s break in February, a week at Easter and perhaps two weeks in the summer, they could well have spent over £400 on excess car hire insurance if they buy it from the car rental company compared with buying a one off annual policy from £39.99 with iCarhireinsurance.com,” said Ernesto Suarez, CEO and founder of iCarhireinsurance.com.

“We don’t begrudge sales staff at car rental desks trying to earn commission selling excess car hire insurance but we do begrudge the exorbitant cost, which is on average over 80% (see Table 1 below) more than buying the insurance direct from iCarhireinsurance.com. We recommend you put your hard earned cash to better use and have a free holiday in the autumn instead with the £400 saved.”

Many customers are unaware, until they collect their hire car, that in the event of damage or theft, even if it’s not their fault, they are liable for excess charges of up to £2000. At this point, unless they purchase excess protection from the rental-desk, they are left exposed. These policies are usually expensive, approximately £17 a day (see Table 1) and limited in scope.

Ernesto Suarez, CEO and founder of iCarhireinsurance.com, said: “Even a small chip on a windscreen or a scratch down the side of the car can leave people liable for hundreds of pounds if they don’t have an excess insurance policy. Our advice is simple - buy before you fly - to get the best excess car hire cover, at the most economical price and put the money saved towards another holiday.”

iCarhireinsurance.com’s excess insurance also protects vulnerable parts of the rental vehicle that are usually excluded by the rental companies’ policies.
As well as annual policies from £39.99, iCarhireinsurance.com also offers daily cover from £2.99.
Key Benefits of Stand-Alone Car Hire Excess Policies:

Annual or Daily cover
Protect yourself against excess charges for damage and theft
Cover for damage to areas usually excluded by the rental company such as windscreens, tyres, roof and undercarriage
European or Worldwide coverage
UK automatically included for UK residents
No distance from home restrictions
Cover for additional drivers named on the rental agreement

The Survey: The research was undertaken for iCarhireinsurance.com by YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2007 adults, of which 1103 had hired a car. Fieldwork was undertaken between 1 - 4 April 2011. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+)."

So if you are thinking of saving some money on your car hire excess insurance, visit the iCarhireinsurance.com website here

Source: iCarhireinsurance - Halo Insurance Services Ltd - January 2012

Vicki Butler-Henderson suggests Top 10 Holiday Driving Routesiving

2012-01-24T12:45:00.000-08:00

Insurance4carhire.com the long established car hire excess insurance company issued a press release on the 18th January 2012.

They said that new research commissionedby Insurance4carhire, the UKs largest provider of vehicle rental excessprotection, has revealed that almosttwo thirds (63%) of Brits are either planningor considering a driving holiday in 2012 – whether at home or abroad. Interestinglyit appears empty nesters are most keen, with 41% ofthose aged over 45 making up the largest group planning or considering adriving trip .

Channel 5's FifthGear presenter and motoring journalist Vicki Butler-Henderson, comments in the press release saying: “Driving is one of thebest ways to take in the scenery through some of the most beautiful routesaround the world. However, it is important to plan ahead - from selecting theright vehicle for the terrain, to readingup on the local road laws and signs to researching routes. While we don’t plan for mishaps, it isequally importantly to ensure you have sufficient insurance and excess cover asa small prang, could end up costingas much as the holiday.”

Vicki has listed the top 10 Driving routes that include The Dordogne region,France, Route 66, Chicago to Los Angeles , USA, Tuscany, Italy and TheCol de Turini, Monaco.

Find out the full details Here

To find out more about the range of car hire excess insurance products from insurance4carhire.com Click Here (Remember by following that link you can save money on some of their car hire excess policies)

iCarhireinsurance comes up with New Year Tips to stop car renters being ripped off

2012-01-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

To start 2012 off on the right foot the iCarhireinsurance.com team has come up with Five useful tips to avoid sales pressure at the car rental desk and also making sure that people hiring a car are not ripped off when they return a hire car.

Tip One: Take Photographic Evidence - something I have personally done when I have rented when I could not get anyone to sign off my comments when I collected a hire car.

Tip Two: Audit Trail icarhireinsurance suggests downloading a GPS Tracking app to the renter's smart phone to create an audit trail of where they have been.

Tip Three: Check Final Bill for Overcharging - Check the final bill from the hire car company to ensure that extras have not been added like petrol etc. Also get the car signed off when you return it and check your credit card statement.

Tip Four: Don't buy insurance from the Car Hire Rental Desk

- they say a car hire customer can save up to 80% buying car hire excess insurance in advance from iCarhireinsurance.com - Find out more Here

Tip Five: Take Photographic Evidence at the End of the Trip - If someone can't check your car in, then take photos. Digital photos should be able to show dates if the photo is taken by a digital camera or mobile phone.

So if you are planning on hiring a car in the near future or even later in the year it is worthwhile considering all of these.

Christmas Greetings from Economy Car Hire

2011-12-16T09:12:00.000-08:00

Find out more Here about Economy Car Hire HERE

There is still time to buy your car hire excess insurance for the Christmas holidays

2011-12-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

The Christmas holiday season is just under a week away and many people throughout the world will be hiring a car.

Did you know that if you buy your car hire excess insurance from an independent car hire excess insurance company it will usually be a lot cheaper than if you buy the product from the car hire company?

It can cost a small fortune and at this time of year when every penny / cent (or whatever your currency)counts, you don't want to be wasting money.

With many car hire excess insurance policies you can buy these well in advance and not have them coming into operation for a couple of months.

Annual policies will save even more money, particularly if you hire a car more than once a year, or your initial hire is over ten days (approximately depending on the company).

Remember to take the polict documenation with you so you have contact info or can prove to the car hire company that you have your OWN insurance. Unfortunately there are still car hire company representatives who will tell you your policy is not valid or you cannot have the vehicle unless you buy their expensive insurance, so stand your ground and and don't be afraid to compain.

In the UK and Ireland this year as Christmas falls on a Sunday there is an extended apres Christmas public holiday - Monday and Tuesday so this means as normal the hard working retailers who have worked hard with the build up to Christmas, have a day off and then have to open up for the sales (if they are not already running one before Christmas) so you might want to take advantage if some of the bargains about and visit your nearest furnishing store.

The only problem is it is going to be difficult getting all those rather large bargains home, so what do you do - hire a van. Just like when you hire a car, you will have to pay for van hire excess insurance and again it will work out cheaper at a specialist insurance company.

After all of the festive excitement you might feel like a brief holiday to get over it. What about a few days touring the south of Spain in a motorhome? Not a bad idea, however just like with car hire and van hire you also have to have excess insurance when you hire a motorhome. Motorhomes are costly vehicles to buy for the hire company and unlike a car or van when they are only kept for a couple of years, many companies are now keeping them for up to ten years.

Specialist excess insurance companies are taking this into consideration and are adapting theire policies accordingly.

Finally if you are hiring a car this year, beware of "bogus car hire deals" We published on this blog a couple of days a warning from the The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), to be on the lookout for exceptionally cheap car rental deals See Christmas car hire renters warned against bogus car hire deals

So where do you find a very good selection of competively priced Car Hire Excess Insurance - Van Hire Excess Insurance and Motorhome Hire Excess Insurance companies?

You will find a great choice at the insurance4carrental.com marketing site. Just Click Here and then find the approprate section just below the words car hire excess insurance

Have a great Christmas break and remember the drink drive laws in whatever country you live in. In some countries the legal limit is still a glass of wine or pint of beer in others absolutely no drinking if you intend to drive.

Christmas car hire renters warned against bogus car hire deals

2011-12-14T10:15:00.000-08:00

With the Christmas holiday season only days away, the The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), the trade body for the UK car rental industry, is again warning customers to take extra care when confronted with cheap deals for Christmas car hire on the Internet or in the press.

In their press release issued on the 13th December they advised: Festive season travellers were caught out by bogus car hire companies this time last year, handing over deposits of hundreds of pounds for cars that never materialised.

The BVRLA believes that similar scams are being planned this year and has already made contact with Police and Trading Standards over one potential threat.

“These companies offer unbeatable prices and free delivery – but they really are too good to be true,” says BVRLA chief executive, John Lewis.

“Unfortunately it is very easy for fraudsters to build a simple website and set up a call centre to pass themselves off as legitimate businesses.

These sham operators are damaging the reputation of car rental and many other industries. We are working with the authorities to help stamp them out.”

In the meantime, the BVRLA is offering five simple tips for customers looking for safe and hassle-free car or van rental:

1. Only use a BVRLA member. Seeing our logo on the front desk or website is a sign that you are dealing with a reputable company that has been vetted and operates to a professional code of conduct. You will also be able to use our conciliation service in the event of any dispute. Find a BVRLA member via the ‘member locator’ on the BVRLA website

2. Never hand over cash. Most reputable rental companies will only want to accept credit/debit card payment

3. Make sure the company is operating from a bona fide commercial premises, not a PO Box or virtual office, no matter how prestigious the location sounds

4. Make sure the company actually owns and operates the cars it is offering - all BVRLA members operate their own rental fleet.

5. Remember, if the price or service being offered seems too good to be true, it probably is and you may well end up out of pocket and disappointed!

Source BVRLA

Looking for car hire for that Christmas holiday trip? or January holiday?
Click on the image below to find out information abot Holiday Autos - Economy Car Hire and Carrental.co.uk

iCarhireinsurance.com urges Car hire renters this Christmas not to fall victim in excess insurance policies

2011-12-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

Don't Lose Your Christmas Cheer with the Hire Car says iCarhireinsurance.com's Press Release of the 14th December 2011.

iCarhireinsurance.com, is a leading car hire excess insurance provider (and van hire excess insurance provider), is urging people renting a car this Christmas to make sure that they don’t fall victim to a loophole in many excess insurance policies which fails to cover vehicles damaged within 150kms of the customer’s home, even if the car was hired from within that distance.

Hiring a car for short periods is an increasingly attractive option in the current economic downturn, but many people will be ignorant to the fact that their excess insurance policies may not include claims within this distance range even if the car is stolen or involved in an accident that wasn’t the customer’s fault.

“A good car hire excess insurance policy should provide you with full cover from home as well as covering you for the vulnerable parts of the vehicle like the windows, tyres, roof or undercarriage,” said Ernesto Suarez, founder and CEO of iCarhireinsurance.com. “We have found that the majority of policies bought direct from car hire excess specialists fail consumers in this area. We are urging people to read the small print in their excess policies to ensure their spirits are not dampened this Christmas.”

A 2011 survey* conducted by YouGov, on behalf of iCarhireinsurance.com, revealed that there was widespread ignorance about what excess insurance did and did not cover with eight out of ten people (85%) not knowing that some excess insurance doesn’t include damage to windows, tyres, roof or undercarriage or driving within 150 km of home.

iCarhireinsurance.com is one of the few providers that covers drivers wanting to hire cars near their home. It also includes cover for damage to the windows, tyres, roof and undercarriage - vulnerable parts of the car excluded by many providers.

iCarhireinsurance.com’s policies start at just £2.99 a day, compared with approximately £18 a day (see Table 1) if bought direct from the rental company. Annual polices start from £39.99.

Key Benefits of Stand-Alone Car Hire Excess Policies

Annual or Daily cover

Protect yourself against excess charges for damage and theft

Cover for damage to areas usually excluded by the rental company such as windscreens, tyres, roof and undercarriage

European or Worldwide coverage

UK automatically included for UK residents

No distance from home restrictions

Cover for additional drivers named on the rental agreement

*The Survey: The research was undertaken for iCarhireinsurance.com by YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2007 adults, of which 1103 had hired a car. Fieldwork was undertaken between 1 - 4 April 2011. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

Excess Europe: Daily from £2.99, Annual from £39.99

Excess Worldwide: Daily from £3.99, Annual from £59.99

USA and Canada: Daily from £6.99, Annual from £119.99

Worldwide Plus: Annual from £139.99

Table 1 (below): Excess Insurance cost for UK resident renting a VW Golf class car in Barcelona (Barcelona Airport) for a three day rental from 29.07.2011 - 01.08.2011

Average daily excess from the rental companies is €21.42 or £18.59.

This compares with iCarhireinsurance.com excess insurance at £2.99 a day, which gives an 83% saving.

For a 14 day hire period, average excess insurance would cost £18 multiplied by 14 = £252. This deducted from an iCarhireinsurance.com 14 day policy costing £41.86, amounts to a saving of £210.14.

Conversion calculated on 26 September 2011: 1 EUR = 0.868053 GBP 1 GBP = 1.15200 EUR

Source iCarhireinsurance.co.uk

Want to find out more about buying iCarhireinsurance Car hire excess insurance and Van hire excess insurance?
Click on logo

Holiday Autos improves it's marketing team

2011-12-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

"The Drum Modern Marketing and Media" website has said that Car hire/Van hire/Motorhome hire firm Holiday Autos has boosted its team with the appointment of Kevin Currie as Global Director of Digital Marketing and Elise Newman as Global Head of Affiliate Marketing and Meta Search.

Kevin Currie joins from hotel website Octopus.com where he was marketing director. Before that he was general managwer of Somewhere2stay and head of web at Virgin Holidays. He has just joined Holiday Autos

Elise Newman has moved from Affiliate Window where she oversaw client strategy and relationship management in her role as key accounts team leader.

She has previously held senior management roles at LinkShare Corporation and Blue Chip Holidays. She has been with Holiday Autos since September 2011

Isabelle Ratinaud, Managing Director of Holiday Autos, said: "Kevin and Elise bring a wealth of knowledge and experience that will help to develop and shape the growth of Holiday Autos. I’m very excited that they are coming on board at such a pivotal time for the company."

holiday autos is the world's largest and leading leisure car hire broker - they offer car hire - Hybrid Car Hire - Van Hire and Motorhome Hire in location around the world to find out more Click Here

Part Source: The Drum.

Insurance4CarHire appoints Publicasity

2011-12-12T10:03:00.000-08:00

"The Holmes Report" issued a news release on the 11th December 2011 "Insurance4CarHire Taps Publicasity For UK PR Drive"

Publicasity has been appointed by Insurance4CarHire, the UK's largest provider of vehicle rental excess protection.

Following a three-way pitch, Publicasity has been selected to deliver an integrated campaign across traditional PR and social media to showcase Insurance4CarHire’s industry leadership, quality of service and customer advocacy.

Publicasity will lead an on- and offline press office function in addition to a number of strategic, awareness-driving projects aimed at educating consumers on the wider category while driving a clear, differentiated brand personality. The agency will also lead on the creation and revamp of the brand's social media platforms, and help conduct ongoing engagement thereafter.

“We were very impressed with Publicasity’s approach, their creativity in communicating our core messages and thorough understanding of our target audience," said Gary Webb, marketing director at Insurance4CarHire. "This was underpinned by a robust measurement system which combined to make for a very well developed pitch."

Source The Holmes Report - It provides insight, knowledge and recognition to public relations professionals.

If you buy the annual Europe insurance4carhire car hire excess insurance through a dedicated link on the insurance4carrental.com website you pay only £39.20 instead of the usual £49.00

If you buy the Annual Worldwide you save money as well. You only pay £52.00 instead of the £65.00 price. If you click on the "Protect yourself from high car hire excess charges" image on the left you go straight to the "special" discounted page on the insurance4carhire.com website.

Now is the time to buy for your Christmas and January holidays.

Jubilee replaces Chartis as underwriter on insurance4carhire Europe

2011-11-29T03:04:00.001-08:00

Insurance Insight is running a news report that Jubilee replaces Chartis as underwriter for Towergate's insurance4carhire Europe. As an agent for advertisements from insurance4carhire we were informed at the end of October.

Jubilee have agreed a number of cover enhancements to the Annual product.

The major enhancements are indicated below:

No age restrictions - drivers between the ages of 21 and 85 are eligible for cover

Towing costs relating to damage or mechanical breakdown are now included

Increased excess or repair costs up to a maximum of £4,000 any one incident and up to a maximum of £5,000 during any one period of insurance.

Cover now includes Misfueling up to a maximum of £500 any one incident and up to a maximum of £2,000 in any one period of insurance

In-Country Rentals - this means there is no longer a 150kms restriction from where you live.

All for the same price! ...and if someone buys the annual Europe product via the insurance4carrental.com website it only costs £39.20 for the year.

According to Insurance Insight's report -

Simon Townsend, Divisional Managing Director at Towergate Underwriting Group, added: "Jubilee has a proven track record in combining its broad scheme expertise and knowledge with the strength of the Lloyd's platform to create solutions that bring more depth and relevance to the needs of affinity schemes."

Warren Campbell, Affinity and Special Risks Underwriter at Jubilee, said: "We have been able to extend the benefits for Insurance4carhire.com's customers and ensure they have a competitively priced, market-leading solution to protect their excess payments. The scheme reflects our strategy of building a diverse book of niche scheme products."

Source: Insurance Insight and insurance4carhire

Are people buying large presents for Christmas or just on the move?

2011-11-25T07:16:00.001-08:00

There has been a great deal of movement in van hire excess insurance on the insurance4carrental.com / insurance4vanrental.com website over the past few days.

Information in from one of the advertisers "insuremyvanhire.com" which is part of the insurance4carhire.com operation shows people are renting vans for one or two days and buying that company's excess insurance.

Customers can also buy van hire excess insurance from another insurance company advwertising on the site - iCarhireinsurance.com.

So what are all these people doing rening vans near the end of November? Are they buying large Christmas presents? Have the post-Christmas furniture sales started early or are they just moving home, or builders carrying out building work and hiring a van whilst their vehicle is in for repair?

You can of course even arrange van hire (car hire and motorhome hire) via Holiday Autos on the insurance4carrental.com site.

What about people renting cars? At this time of year when Christmas expenditure is very much on the minds of consumers in a year when people have had to tighten their belts, it is good news to know that a couple of car hire excess insurance companies advertising on the jml Insurance sites and the insurance4carrrental.com site are continuing to offer lower price car hire excess insurance on some of their insurance products.

insurance4carhire the company that started car hire excess insurance a number of years ago, customers can save £9.80 off the £49.00 annual Europe 31 days policy by only having to pay £39.20 if they purchase via a link from the jml Group/insurance4carrental.com sites.

The insurance4carhire worldwide 31 days is currently being discounted from £65.00 to £52.00 a saving of £13.00. To get the lower price the consumer must go into jml-insurance.co.uk or insurance4carrental.com and go to the insurance4carhire logos or pages.

Questor Insurance are continuing to offer their 10 per cent discount their car hire excess insurance by adding a discount code when they buy using the link from the jml websites.

There are a great choice of providers advertising at Insurance4carrental.com WorldwideInsure.com who offer car hire excess insurance and Motorhome excess insurance - Essential Travel, iCarhireinsurance.com offering car hire and van hire excess insurance, Protectyourbubble and Odyssey.

Questor Insurance also offers motorhomehire excess insurance and insuremyvanhire.com is the van hire excess insurance from insurance4carhire.com. Daily policies from the insurance4carhire group can be found on the sites which have trade names of the cdwsli.com and dailyexcess.com.

So if you are planning that Christmas or winter break now is the time to buy your excess insurance and spread your Christmas spending budget. If you are hiring a van, car or motorhome remember it is usually a lot better value to buy your excess insurance from an independent insurance company like the ones advertising on the insurance4carrental.com website than from a car hire / van hire / motorhome hire company.

Holiday Autos are holding a November Sale!

2011-11-20T10:47:00.001-08:00

Sales used to come just after Christmas and in the summer in the retail trade. They now pop up all times of the year and it looks like some bedding and furniture companies in the UK hold sales most of the year!

In France, by law you can only hold a sale for so many days in a year. Anyway Holiday Autos have just sent me a flyer say there sale starts in the morning (21st November 2011).

According to the flyer:

Starting from 10am tomorrow that is (Monday 21st November 2011), you can make massive savings in their car hire sale. Whether you're looking for some sun, a winter city break or to hit the slopes, get 30% off car hire in popular locations.

Each day from 10am, the destinations shown will be on sale for 24 hours only. But remember, to book through the links in their flyer email to receive an exclusive 30% off. (that's an extra 5% off versus our regular website).

Their sale applies to ALL rentals in selected locations for pick-ups between 5 January and 29 February 2012.

Don't forget to come back on the relevant sale day to receive this great discount.

The Sale Destinations change each day

Mon 21 Nov UK & Ireland

Tue 22 Nov Canaries & South Africa

Wed 23 Nov France & Italy

Thu 24 Nov Portugal & Madeira

Fri 25 Nov Switzerland, Austria & Iceland

Sat 26 Nov Cyprus & Malta

To go to the normal Great Value Holiday Autos Website Click Here

Enjoy their sale

By the way if you are hiring a car don't forget your car hire excess insurance. Find out more here

Focus on Dublin Car Hire Rental Staff

2011-11-17T07:08:00.001-08:00

This morning I came acroos this article on the iCarhireinsurance site today. "Dubious Dublin airport car rental staff ".

This is a subject that is very close to my heart and I have submitted a few articles on the insurance4carrrental.com website as a result of personal experiences with car rental companies operating out of Dublin Airport, Ireland.

Unfortunately Ernie's article highlighs some of the major problems that iCarhireinsurance clients have been and continue to experience.

iCarhireinsurance says that "what strikes us from the comments coming in, is the fair amount of problems the car rental company staff from the various car rental firms at Dublin airport are giving our customers as well as our competitors." I have been told a very similar story by a representative of another major car hire excess company and the problem has been going on for a few years now."

"We know car rental companies treat ancillary insurance sales as a profit centre, but incentivising staff for selling excess waiver to customers results in a poor showing of morals and customer service. Your car hire excess policy with us is always valid and not one single car rental company has any say whether it is permissible or not. Remember this is a separate contract between an individual (you) and an a regulated and authorised insurance company says iCarhireinsurance".

Ireland needs tourists and business visitors and if in their first few minutes on Irish soil they are being put off the country by this first moment impression, they won't return and what is more will be telling their friends and business associates.

iCarhireinsurance say that they will take action with the European Commission on the client's behalf if you let them know of the following about any car rental company you have dealt with where:-
1. they have advised that our iCarhireinsurance.com excess insurance policy is not valid.
2. you have been pressured to buy additional excess waiver protection.
3. you have been told this type of insurance is compulsory and you are required to purchase it only from the car rental firm.
4. that you have been told they will not honour your reservation if you decided to decline their insurance.

Read the entire article in full Here

More Articles to see on this subject

Irish Car Rental Companies make customers buy their car hire insurance by financial constraints - Here

Car hire company in Ireland charges for unwanted excess insurance. Here

Irish car hire companies are taking visitors for a ride - Here

Irish Tourism in 2011 - Here

If you have been to Ireland and hired a car there and have been pressurised into buying unwanted insurance please reply on this blog or email us and we will pass your details onto the iCarhireinsurance team.

If you would like more information about iCarhireinsurance car hire excess insurance and van hire excess insurance please Click Here

Finally if you want to make coments about specific Irish car rental companies then an excellent platform is using Trip Advisor. Find the relevant forum or create your own review.

CAR2GO moves to Vienna

2011-11-16T07:59:00.001-08:00

Hallo Wien! Hello Vienna! is the welcome on the CAR2GO website. These two seater Smart cars will be available in yet another location.

They are already in Vancouver - Canada, San Diego and Austin in the USA, Hamburg and Ulm inGermany, Amsterdam - Netherlands, and coming to Lyon, France in 2012.

The cars will be available 24/7 and according to the company's website no reservation needed. A subscription is not required either and you can park for free anywhere in the car2go operating area. There will soon be some 500 of these cars out on the streets of Vienna.

In October Europcar issued a Press Release saying " Ulm/Guyancourt – car2go GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler AG, together with Europcar, the leader in car rental services in Europe, will create a new joint-venture to accelerate and extend their innovative partnership Europe-wide. The new company is called “car2go Europe GmbH” and will enable the two partners to bring the unique car2go mobility service to millions of drivers throughout Europe. Daimler’s car2go GmbH will be the majority shareholder in this new company."

“Similar to the initial car2go Hamburg joint-venture, founded last October, the new company is built around a balanced cooperation between the same two strong partners,” said Robert Henrich, CEO of car2go GmbH. “car2go Europe will be able to swiftly launch large-scale rollouts and strengthen our first mover advantage as the world’s first free-floating, one-way carsharing service.”

The innovative mobility concept car2go was developed by Daimler AG in 2008. Today, with a total of more than 45,000 members and 1,100 vehicles worldwide, car2go has proven success in four cities: Ulm and Hamburg in Germany, the Texan capital Austin in the US and Vancouver in Canada. Three other cities are announced yet: Lyon (France), Amsterdam (Netherlands) and San Diego (USA). In Amsterdam and San Diego car2go will start operations before the end of 2011 with full-electric fleets of 300 car2go smart fortwo electric drive vehicles in each city. Since the first launch in the southern German city of Ulm in March 2009, more than 900,000 trips have been made and approximately 9 million kilometres have been covered."

In the Vienna operation the rental charges are €0.29 per driving minute, €12.90 per hour and €39 per day of 24 hours - and while the car is parked but still booked out to the renter as with other normal hire cars, however unlike regular rentals, it will only cost €0.09 a minute. Everything is included - fuel, insurance, taxes and parking, For the first 20km of driving .If the hirer needs to go out of the city, it will cost an extra €0.29 a kilometre.

These sound like a great idea, however if you are looking for a car to rent that can

accommodate more than two people and one that you can drive in for further distances that is not a city run about, then you need to visit the insurance4carrental.com Car Hire page. Holiday Autos ( you can also rent vans and motorhomes from them), Carrentals and Economy Car Hire links can be found Here

Need car van or motorhome hire excess insurance?

2011-11-15T09:00:00.001-08:00

If you are renting a car, van or motorhome you will find that it is normally a lot better value to buy your excess insurance from a specialist insurance company.

The insurance4carrental.com promotional site has a great number of companies offering their products. There are daily and annual policies be advertised for car hire excess insurance and daily policies for motorhome hire excess insurance.

Many of the insurance companies advertising on the site will sell their insurance to residents of countries worldwide and as you pay by credit card, you pay the insurance company in your local currency which is changed by yiour credit card company.

Van hire policies come on a "daily basis" as most people only rent a van for one day or just a few every so often.

With motorhome hire excess insurance it is similar, as most renters would just hire the vehicle for a week or two.

It is a different matter with car hire excess. With people taking more holidays and short breaks these days, a lot of the car hire excess insurance companies are providing daily or annual policies. These can be for European destinations, Worldwide or USA and Canada. It normally will work out a lot cheaper if you buy an annual policy particularly if you are renting a car for more than ten days.

For more information pay a visit to www.insurance4carrental.com Not only has the site got lots of insurance companies advertising it also has advice, information, reports and guides.

If you are looking for temporary car or van insurance in the UK for a few days (loan vehicle, test vehicle, borrowing a friend's car or van etc) there are companies advertising their products on the site as well.

Finally, if you run a self drive car - van - motorhome business and are looking for insurance for your fleet, this is also catered for at the insurance4carrental.com site

3 car hire companies to choose from

2011-11-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

Insurance4carrental.com does not only promote car hire excess insurance - van hire excess insurance and motorhome hire excess insurance.

It also promotes car hire itself. For several years jml Property Services have been advertising Holiday Autos. Holiday Autos is part of Lastminute.com has been around for twenty four years or so and not only do they have cars they also are involved with van hire and motorhome rental.

More details can be found here

Economy Car Hire has been established for over ten years. They specialise in car rentals in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece and the Greek Islands, Slovenia, and Malta, although they cover many more destination, worldwide .

More details can be found here

Carrentals.co.uk are a search engine for car hire. They are the youngest of these three companies, being established in 2003. They search the car rental companies for you and say they don't add "a single penny" to the quotes they provide for the consumer.

More details can be found here

Don't forget to book your Christmas and New Year holiday car rental early

Carrentals.co.uk says that British Tourists heading for the SKI slopes Can Save on Car Hire with New Prices sourced by the site

2011-11-08T15:59:00.000-08:00

8th November 2011 from Carrentals.co.uk Press Release

Carrentals.co.uk, the award-winning car hire price comparator which sources deals from up to 50 of the industry's leading rental providers, has this week published new prices to help ski fans save.

With the European ski season getting into full swing throughout the next month(December), the Carrerentals website is offering new cheap car hire deals for Britsish holidaymakers making for the pistes of the Alps this year.

Many UK tourists heading for the Alps choose to fly into Geneva Airport and pick up a rental car there to make their way to their chosen ski resort. To help people make the most of their winter travel budgets this year Carrentals.co.uk has sourced new Geneva car hire prices from the likes of Alamo, Auto Europe, Budget, Ebookers, Hertz, Holiday Autos, Opodo, Sixt and Thrifty. Deals can be booked right now from just £22 per day with collections from Geneva Airport*.

Other travellers choose to fly into more rural France and combine a ski trip with a visit to the wine country. Lyon, in the heart of the Rhone country, which is another popular choice with the Britsish who choose to enjoy a scenic drive up into the Alps and Carrentals.co.uk can help them to source great value rentals there too. Users can compare the best car hire France has to offer and find deals like £19 per day with collections from Lyon Airport**.

Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, comments, "It is that time of year when tourists from the UK start to book car hire for their ski holidays in the Alps, and we are able to help them find some great value deals. Our site is updated in real time to ensure that people can always see the very latest deals from all the top name providers."

The Carrentals.co.uk service compares car hire deals from up to 50 rental companies, including Alamo, Auto Europe, Budget, Holiday Autos and Sixt, in over 10,000 locations worldwide. To compare the latest car hire deals visit carrentals.co.uk

Important Notes:
*Price correct at time of writing for 1 week car hire from November 30th for rentals collected at Geneva Airport.

**Price correct at time of writing for 1 week car hire from November 30th for rentals collected at Lyon Airport.

Find your perfect winter escape with holiday autos

2011-11-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

Holiday Autos the car hire company and as described on their website "the largest leisure car hire company in the world" has just sent out a winter flyer. "Bring on winter". You have images of snow, ice, long dark evenings and last year's winter.

However it is not all doom and gloom. Far from it.... They are featuring exotic delights in South East Asia, the culture in Africa & the Middle East, adventures in America and the beautiful sights in Europe.

Holiday Autos which is part of the Lastminute.com group has more than 24 years experience in the car rental business and not only can you hire a car from them, you can also rent a van or motorhome. You can book with them in over 5,000 locations worldwide.

jml Property Services have been working with Holiday Autos for many years now promoting them on their Travel websites, Car Hire insurance and insurance websites. Their Directors have personally used Holiday Autos a great deal over the years and have found they offer great value car hire.

To Visit Holiday Autos Website take this shortcut here

Carrentals says Surge in Bookings for Festive Escapes due to darker evenings

2011-11-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

as featured Insurance4carrental.com Driving Guides

Carrentals the Car Hire Comparator company has said that Christmas and New Year travellers should book early to secure availability of the right vehicle and extras such as winter tyres and child seats.

People wanting to rent a car over the festive season should book car hire early to ensure availability of the right vehicle and to secure the best price, as the return to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) marks a surge in festive bookings.

Independent price comparator Carrentals.co.uk says that currently most of its 50 suppliers have availability for the festive period, but with the clocks going back this weekend many people start finalising their travel plans and availability of the right vehicle and extras such as ‘snow packs’ can become tight.

Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, says: “Once the clocks go back it seems to become a countdown to Christmas and we see a big increase in reservations for the festive period – up 25% last year.

“At present there is plenty of availability in most locations, including ski destinations and popular airports such as London Heathrow and Malaga. However, with the return to GMT this weekend we expect to see a big jump in bookings as travellers look to finalise their travel plans ready for the Christmas break.

“Our advice for anyone planning a getaway over the festive period is to book as early as possible, not only to secure availability of the right vehicle, but also to get the best price and ensure you get any extras you may need such as snow packs or child seats.”

With the UK a popular location for Christmas holidays customers requiring car hire at Heathrow and London car hire, are particularly advised to book early, along with those travelling to top ski airports such as Geneva, Chambery, and Milan.

Carrentals.co.uk is the leading hire car hire comparison site comparing the best deals from up to 50 rental companies, including Alamo, Auto Europe, Budget, Holiday Autos and Sixt, in over 15,000 locations worldwide, including car hire in the UK.

Source Carrrentals-27-10-11 Find out more about Carrentals and arrange your festive booking HERE

The above information does not only apply to Car Hire, if you are booking flights over the Christmas period, prices are starting to rise as there is less space available so make sure book these early and book your car hire and car hire excess insurance

Rental Vehicle insurance

2011-11-08T06:56:00.000-08:00

In practically every country in the world, by law you will need some form of rental vehicle insurance for a car, van, motorhome or mini bus that you are hiring if you are the driver of that hire vehicle.

Usually the law will stipulate that you must have a certain minimum level of third-party liability cover so that any awards against in the even of an accident and you have injured someone (or damaged their property) with the hire vehicle. In general most car hire / motorhome hire / van hire companies will include this ‘minimum third-party cover’ in their basic rental price.

The system can vary from country to country and it is always an idea to being somewhat cautious. In some countries such as the USA, individual State or national laws may set the required minimum at a very low level. If the rental car comes with say US $25,000 of third party cover and following an accident you have $500,000 awarded against you, then it will be you the driver to personally have to find the balance of $475,000! This is a very serious matter.

In the UK the third-party protection that comes with the vehicle rental insurance as ‘included in the price’ must provide unlimited financial protection by law.

In some countries the rental vehicle may also be provided with CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) included – even where it is not, the hire company will usually offer it to you to buy in addition. This can be at the time you book the vehicle or when you go to collect it.

The CDW function is to cover you against the cost of any damage incurred by the rental vehicle while it is being hired out to you. This protection includes theft. If the vehicle sustains damage and you do not have CDW then it will be you who has to pay for any repairs and vehicle repairs cost a lot of money normally and often you have no control on the amount that the repair company is charging unlike if it was you personal vehicle back home.

The Collision Damage Waiver / CDW provided by the rental companies will possibly contain some clauses that may also get you reaching for a small bank loan following an accident, but how many people actually reads this? Probably not too many like a lot of small print on documents.

Vehicle renters may find that the policy won’t cover the vehicle in total and that some areas or parts are excluded from cover. It will also typically contain a large excess that may fall in the range £500-£1600. That may be debited to your credit card after an accident as your ‘mandatory contribution’ towards the total cost of the claim and as the vehicle hire company has your credit card details there is not a lot you can do.

As you will not want to risk exposing your personal finances to a claim as a result of third-party or CDW limitations, you can protect yourself by taking out a little extra insurance. This is excess insurance.

Quite often the vehicle rental company will offer you what they may describe as ‘rental car/ rental van insurance top-up’. This means that for an additional sum they may remove the excess and cover the entire vehicle. In countries where it is applicable, they may also offer something called ‘Supplemental Liability Insurance’ (SLI) which can boost the amount of protection you have for third-party claims.

It is usually more economical for the person renting the vehicle to get the same protection at a lower cost by taking out a policy with an online insurance specialist provider of rental car insurance like those advertising on the www.insurance4carrental.com site. If you have one of their policies you would simply recover from them any costs debited to your credit card by the rental car company for items like the excess.

Many of these specialist insurance providers offer daily or annual policies for car hire and daily policies for van and motorhome hire excess. Some will even cover the older renter age group 75 – 85. After all people are living longer these days and going off on vacation more often in later life. In fact the way various Governments are now changing the retirement age, many more people will be taking later life holidays.

Unfortunately hiring a rental vehicle be it a car, van, motorhome or even a minibus is not one hundred per cent straightforward so do make sure you have adequate protection when you rent. Start by visiting http://www.insurance4carrental.com/ today. You choose which company you want to use and make all the arrangements direct with the individual insurance company.

Five important points to remember when you hire a car, van or motorhome

2011-11-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

Article is at euro-rentals.com

Renting a vehicle is normally very straightforward. You make the arrangements online, by phone or in person, however sometimes there can be unforeseen problems so the following will be of help.

1) Keep a copy of the original booking confirming the price

2) Keep all paperwork when you collect the vehicle

3) Keep the sign off paperwork when you return the vehicle

4) Check your credit card statement to make sure that you have not been charged for any additions that you never agreed to

5) Keep details of rental vehicle's registration in case you are sent a parking fine or speeding fine and the vehicle rental company have provided the authorities with the wrong vehicle or renter information

Click on link below to read all the article at Euro-rentals.com

Five important points to remember when you hire a car, van or motorhome

iCarhireinsurance.com in finalists for Startup Awards 2011

2011-11-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Startup Awards take place in a month's time on the 2nd December at Kensington Roof Gardens in London

The event sponsored by NatWest Bank and car hire excess insurance and van hire excess insurance company iCarhireinsurance.com is in the finalist category of Online Business of the Year.

Now in it's eighth year, the Startups Awards recognises truly ambitious start-up businesses that have made an impact in the UK, celebrating young business success.There are 14 awards covering every business area.

iCarhireinsurance.com was founded in 2009. It offers a range of insurance excess hire policies, both in annual and daily format, that are fully comprehensive, simple to understand, unbeatable value and they can be used with any car and van rental agreements worldwide.

At jml Property Services / insurance4carrental.com we have been promoting their products since March 2010 and wish them great success in this event.

To find out more about iCarhireinsurance.com's products CLICK HERE

Inspirational car hire from Holiday Autos

2011-10-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

Just had an email in from those people at Holiday Autos earlier in the week.

They are saying "As the winter weather takes a turn for the worse, be inspired with some of our most popular holiday destinations. Discover somewhere new today with our amazing offers and rates."

They are suggesting hot and cold destinations Finland - Iceland - Norway - Thailand - Malaysia - Singapore - Los Angeles - Las Vegas - Orlando - Dubai - South Africa - Egypt - well those are the destinations all you have to do is find somewhere to stay and organise your flights. All seems very straightforward to do in the darker evenings starting next week

To visit the Holiday Autos website Click Here.

Carrentals warns motorists to think about winter tyres.

2011-10-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

We are near the end of a very mild October (currently 13 degrees in the London area), in a month when we had a very hot "late summer" weekend at the start. Carrentals have just issued a press release earlier today reminding us that winter is not far away and it was not too good last year...so be prepared.

Their release say... Snow Tyres Advised on UK and European Roads This Winter Says Carrentals.co.uk

Award-winning car hire website wants Brits to think about fitting winter tyres at home as well as abroad with a view to safety.

With another cold UK winter just around the corner and weathermen predicting snow very soon, award-winning car hire price comparator Carrentals.co.uk has warned motorists to think about putting winter tyres onto their cars not just abroad but at home as well.

This time last year leading suppliers of car tyres like Kwik Fit were even found to have sold out of their stock of winter tyres as Brits in their thousands looked to make their cars safer and more secure on the UK's snow-laden roads.

Each winter Carrentals.co.uk tells its site users heading for ski holidays to pre-book winter tyres and snow chains when they reserve their rental car to be sure of getting what they need - this year however the website is also advising Brits at home to think about fitting winter tyres when snow is forecast by the weatherman.

Car rental providers typically class winter tyres and snow chains among their list of optional extras, but many drivers still expect them to be available on arrival in a ski resort - this can lead to people paying more for them or missing out altogether.

Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, commented: "Whether or not winter tyres must be fitted on a car remains a confusing issue for drivers, but they're certainly required in ski resorts around Europe and this year advisable on the UK's roads."

"If hiring a car in a ski resort in the Alps or Pyrenees this year the smart move it to book a 'snow pack' with your rental provider before travelling - this is the way to ensure availability of these valuable extras like snow chains and special tyres."

Carrentals.co.uk is the leading hire car comparison site comparing cheap car hire deals from up to 50 rental companies, including Alamo, Auto Europe, Budget, Holiday Autos and Sixt, in over 15,000 locations worldwide including locations across Europe including car hire in Frankfurt and car hire in Berlin.

To compare the best prices visit carrentals.co.uk Here.

We hope that it is not as bad as last year and if it is does not last so long, however this release contains some good advice, in the meantime enjoy a sunny weekend.

Drivers take extra care - lower drink drive limits from midnight 27th October 2011

2011-10-27T02:25:00.000-07:00

New lower drink driving limits come into effect in the Republic of Ireland from midnight Thursday 27th October.

On the day the country goes to the poll to elect a new President see the level being cut from 80mg (like in the UK) to 50mg as in countries like France and Italy.

The new regulations also mean it will be 20mg for professional drivers, learner drivers and newly qualified drivers.

The Government is issuing stiff penalties for anyone over the limit with points, €200 fines and the risk of being disqualified.

This now means that it will only be safe to drink one glass of wine to drive (or equivallent). Take care that you do not go over the limit.

Visiting Ireland? Arrange your car hire here

Record Spending in the Car Rental Sector in New Zealand as result of Rugby World Cup 2011

2011-10-25T00:31:00.000-07:00

A report on PR Web on the 21st October said that New Zealand car rental companies are reporting a surge in business of around 30% as a result of the Rugby World Cup.

New Zealand car rental companies are reporting a surge in business of around 30% as a result of the Rugby World Cup, in stark contrast to the retail industry which has been complaining of stagnant revenue figures.

See the entire story Here

If you are thinking of going to New Zealand for your holiday and hiring a car, make sure you buy your car hire excess insurance in advance. See also Driving in New Zealand

AA Thrifty Car Rental for Members in New Zealand

2011-10-25T00:30:00.000-07:00

AA launches ‘AA Thrifty’ - a new partnership with Thrifty Car Rental - 21st October 2011

The AA has announced an exclusive business partnership with Thrifty Car Rental that will offer AA Members year-round benefits and discounts on car hire in New Zealand and Australia.

From 1 October, AA Thrifty is being marketed across New Zealand, and will feature in the 38 AA Centres and 34 Thrifty branches across the country.

Thrifty is owned by the NRMA, an affiliated motoring club to the AA that is based in New South Wales. Late last year, all seven Australian motoring clubs contracted with Thrifty to offer exclusive car and truck rental to their 6.8 million Members.

AA Club Operations General Manager, Peter Moxon, says Thrifty’s commitment to delivering great Member benefits and service, as well their strong focus on road safety, makes them a natural business partner for the AA.

“Members who choose to book with AA Thrifty for travel in New Zealand and Australia will receive discounts off the best rate of the day, year-round offers and exclusive benefits.”

“We are particularly pleased by AA Thrifty’s decision to provide motorists with the ANCAP crash safety ratings for their entire rental fleet. This shows a strong understanding of the importance that stringently tested motor vehicles play in improving safety on our roads.”

Bryn McGoldrick, CEO of Thrifty Australia and New Zealand, says “we’re delighted to be partnering with one of the great New Zealand membership organisations. Thrifty has become adept at serving motoring club Members and with 244 locations across Australia and New Zealand, we are looking forward to welcoming AA Members wherever they might be travelling. We will deliver friendly, helpful service along with great value, a wide range of exclusive benefits and many seasonal special deals.”

“To celebrate the launch of AA Thrifty, any AA Member booking a rental car before 31 January 2012 will be eligible to win one of two cars for a year. It’s a nice way for AA Thrifty to celebrate the launch of this exciting new service to AA Members.”

“We invite all AA Members to take advantage of our exclusive benefits and experience the special service for which we are already renowned.”

Source: AA New Zealand - The New Zealand Automobile Association is an incorporated society with over one million members. It represents the interests of road users who collectively pay over $2 billion in taxes each year through fuels excise, road user charges and GST.

If you are going on holiday to New Zealand or Australia don't forget to buy your car hire excess insurance in advance

Helpful tips from insurance4carhire

2011-10-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

As I have had an insurance4carhire.com European car hire excess insurance policy for many years now, I have just renewed it.

I have a Europe Family & Partners policy for my wife and myself that costs £79 a year.

Fortunately we have never had to use this, but it does mean that as we both hire cars several times a year we are covered in case we do have a problem.

The administration department at insurance4carhire.com have just emailed me some "useful tips" and am sharing some of these on this blog page.

Your Driving Licence - British licence holders should note that many car hire outlets will not release the rental vehicle on sight of a photocard driving licence without also seeing the paper licence counterpart.

They may also ask to see the paper licence counterpart of all named drivers.

From my personal experiences when we have both been on the paperwork to rent the same car, the car hire company's check in staff have wanted to see both counterpart licences and both passports as well"

Credit Card - The person renting the vehicle must have a credit card. Most car rental companies will not accept debit or switch cards, or cash.

"I have never heard of any accepting cash, after all there is no way the car hire company can obtain payments that are due to them"

Excess - What to Do - We cover Excess on CDW and Theft as well as damage to: undercarriage, roof, windows and tyres. Decline the car rental company's Excess at the counter. You do not need to show them your policy.

If you have any damage to the vehicle you will be charged, and then you claim for reimbursement.

"After a couple of experiences in Dublin, Ireland where we have declined the car rental's Excess at the counter and they have still charged us and refused to refund, we both always state at least twice we do not want their insurance products - make you then don't agree to buying it from them in writing"

Claims - You should notify our claims management company within 31 days. Your Policy documentation gives full details of how to claim.

Finally they say "If you think that our Excess Car Rental Insurance would be of interest to a friend or relative, please click on the link below"

Click here to tell a friend

Do you buy your car hire excess insurance from an independent provider?

2011-10-20T06:39:00.000-07:00

When you do your local supermarket shopping you will see X product or Y product on the shelf for a price. If you suddenly arrived at the checkout and were told that you would have to pay an additional amount you would not be too happy.

Unfortunately with a lot of car hire operations you do not appear to pay the price that you saw "on the shelf". Some of the extras are easy to explain - It's half term holiday time and you are taking your two small children to Portugal for a week. You don't want to have to bring your child seats with you, so you expect to pay extra to rent them from the car hire company.

Until all cars come with sat navigation, then you will have to rent these as well, although they are a lot easier to transport to Portugal for that holiday than child seats!

The one "extra" that you will normally be asked to buy at the car hire check in desk is for excess insurance. When you rent a car, you will find that your car rental agreement normally includes cover for Collision Damage Waiver - CDW (damage to the rental vehicle) and Theft. There is almost always an excess on the Collision Damage Waiver and Theft.

Unfortunately the person who hires the car (van or motorhome) is still liable for the Excess on CDW and Theft. When a rental car is damaged or stolen, the driver is asked to pay the first portion of the repair or replacement costs. This is known as the Excess.

Fortunately for a low annual or daily premium a car hire excess insurance company can provide excess insurance protecting the customer against excess charges whenever he / she rents a car/van/motorhome.

Buying the insurance policy from an independent provider like the ones advertising here at insurance4carrental.com will normally be a lot cheaper than buying one from the vehicle hire company.

What is more you can buy annual policies if you are going to be renting a car for more than once a year (or if you are renting for two or more weeks it works cheaper usually).

Just make sure when you collect the car you state to their representative that you don't want their excess insurance as you have your own and take a print off of the poilcy with you in case you need to make a claim.

Some car hire company staff are under a great deal of pressure to seel their insurance products, you have to decline if you have saved money and bought in advance. I bought a new microwave in England last month. It cost £49 and the person at the check out was rather insistent I bought their insurance in case it went wrong. £49 microwaves are part of out "throwaway" society, but expensive cars are not, so you must make sure you are properly insured.

Remember to buy car hire excess insurance for the Half Term Holiday

2011-10-17T06:58:00.000-07:00

The half term holidays start this week. If you are going away you might be hiring a car or motorhome for a few days.

If you are staying at home, you might be buying new furniture or moving flat or house and need to rent a van.

Either way you should buy your vehicle hire excess insurance in advance as it is normally a lot cheaper than buying it from the vehicle hire company, so you save money.

There are a great selection of car hire - van hire - motorhome hire specialist insurance companies advertising at the jml Insurance and insurance4carrental.com sites.

Many of these products can be bought several / weeks or even months in advance so if you are off on holiday at Christmas you can buy the excess insurance now.

Car hire excess insurance companies also offer annual policies as well as daily policies so by buying one of those you save even more money.

To find out more go to: insurance4carrental or jml-insurance

By the way, you can also arrange car hire - van hire - motorhome hire via the insurance4carrental.com site as well.

Have a good half term break.

An excellent summer for car hire excess insurance sales

2011-10-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

An excellent summer for car hire excess insurance sales

Driving guides at insurance4carrental.com

2011-10-06T09:39:00.001-07:00

insurance4carrental.com has over 30 individual guides to driving in different countries.

Each guide has a page of information on driving rules of the road, plus additional travel and resort information.

The A - Z of countries covers Australia to the USA with a great deal of coverage for European countries.

Apart from advertisers of car hire excess insurance - van hire excess insurance - motorhome hire excess insurance, car hire - van hire - motorhome hire companies also advertise their products.

The site has plent of information on hiring a vehicle and if you are running a vehicle hire business or thinking of starting one their are insurance companies advertising for that as well.
There are hundreds of car hire features listed under the "Blog Info" pages and the site has grown a great deal in size since it was very established two years ago.

Find out more at: http://www.insurance4carrental.com/Guides_to_driving_abroad_Summary.htm

Car hire fuel costs and insurance excesses too high says Which report

2011-10-03T02:34:00.000-07:00

Which the UK consumer watchdog issued a report on their website yesterday (2nd October 2011) saying "Car hire fuel costs and insurance excesses are too high.

In July this year, Which? surveyed 2,618 members of the public about their car hire experiences. Of the 618 who had hired a car in the past two years, 70% thought terms and conditions were too complicated and 69% felt insurance excess was disproportionately high.

Some 44% of customers who hired a car experienced a problem, the most common of which was that the vehicle was not adequately checked for damage before hire.

Other common problems were having to pay unexpected charges on collection, being given a car that need to meet the customer's needs and not understanding what was covered by the insurance provided.

Which? believes the experience of car hire can be improved for consumers and will be investigating the issue further.

It will be interesting how this progresses as a lot of consumers appear to have felt pressurised into taking out insurance offered by hire companies. Go to Which for more including their advice on renrting a car here

In the meantime the great late summer weather in the south of England is going away very quickly this week. We are now into October and the half term holidays will be upon us.

If you are off on your holiday then, or before if you don't have children to take away and are renting a car / motorhome, take a look at http://www.insurance4carrental.com/ You arrange car, van and motorhome hire, arrange car hire excess insurance, van hire excess insurand and motorhome hire excess insurance.

If you run a car hire company and are looking for insurance or need motor insurance for a short period of time there are plents of companies advertising on the site to choose from. The site is not an insurance comparison price website

Hiring a van to transport student's stuff to Uni?

2011-09-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

It is late September and time when students are moving into university and college accommodation.

Icarhireinsurance issued a News Release on Monday this week entitled "Don't Get Bitten By The Great White Van …"

Around two million students will be heading to University this autumn. Many of these students, along with their parents, will be hiring vans to transport their TVs, laptops, posters, pots and pans, cuddly toys etc. and the last thing they want is to land themselves another student debt of up to £2,000 if they damage their hire van. “Even a small chip on the windscreen can cost hundreds of pounds,” said Ernesto Suarez, Founder and CEO, iCarhireinsurance.com.

“We want to warn students and their parents that while hiring a van can be cost-effective, please be aware that if the van is stolen or damaged in any way, even if it’s not their fault, they could end up with a large excess bill.” With almost two-thirds (65%)* of van hirers driving a van for the first time, according to 2011 YouGov research, proper insurance cover to protect against the first part of any claim, known as the excess, is absolutely essential.

Buying insurance direct from the van company to protect against the first part of any claim, known as the excess, can cost up to £20 a day, which will still only reduce the liability to £250 - £750 rather than reducing it to zero. Specialist provider, iCarhireinsurance.com, sells daily van hire excess insurance from only £7.99 a day, and reduces the excess liability to zero.

“Driving a van is very different to a car therefore we urge students, and anyone hiring a van, to check their excess liability if they don’t want to end up with a large bill they were not expecting,” said Ernesto Suarez, Founder and CEO, iCarhireinsurance.com. * Daily Telegraph, 13 Sept 2011 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8759436/OECD-UK-student-tuition-fees-third-highest-in-the-world.html ** YouGov Plc survey.

Total sample size was 2007 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 1 - 4 April 2011. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

To visit the icahireinsurance.com van hire excess insurance page at the insurance4carrrental.com site - Click Here

Why do UK car retailers not supply GB Plate Number Plates

2011-09-16T01:49:00.000-07:00

Whenever you leave the UK with your vehicle, you must display the GB nationality plate. Euro-plates - number plates that include the GB euro-symbol - have been legal since March 2001 and make display of a conventional sticker unnecessary when the vehicle is travelling within the European Union according to the DVLA.

Most European countries have their national identity on their number plates these days (e.g. France - F, Ireland -IRL, Poland -PL. Netherlands- NL) whether they are members of the EU or not. In the UK although a lot of vehicles are fitted with these , many vehicle suppliers have a policy of not providing them which means a car owner has to buy a sticker for one or get a traditional GB sticker .

It is a great pity that the UK Government does not do the same as it's European neigbours and make it a legal requirement for all vehicles to have euro-number plates. The GB is then shown on the rear yellow plate and white front plate.

The cost of a GB "Euro-plate" costs the same as the conventional yelloe and white plates and putting a "GB" sticker on the back of the vehicle is not only ugly because of their average size, it can also damage paintwork when you try to remove them.

If main car dealers actually adopted a policy of providing these euro-plates when they sell a brand new vehicle or second hand one the numbers of these would dramatically increase.

Many of the newer EU member states have this type of plate as standard and non EU countries like Switzerland and Monaco have a flag or country code within their registration plate. I even spotted a Rusian registered Ferrari in Antibes port a couple of weeks ago that had "RUS" within it's number plates.

What are your thoughts? Add your comments to this blog

Car Renters must take care with Unfair Wear and Tear Charges

2011-09-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

Carrentals.co.uk issued a news release yesterday advising that Travellers renting cars are being advised to report any 'wear and tear' issues they experience with a car, including concerns such as brake and clutch performance, to the supplier to help avoid unfair excess charges on their return.
The advice comes from leading comparison site Carrentals.co.uk, which has been told of a number of cases where customers were charged for issues such as a damaged clutch, which would have been built up over time.

Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, says: "Most people will check over their rental car before driving off, but sometimes there can be problems that can't be found until the car is actually being driven. A clutch that has been damaged by frequent riding, brakes affected by aggressive usage over time - they're just some of the potential issues that can build up and result in one unlucky customer being unfairly charged. Our advice is that if you have any concerns about your car - be that the oil level or braking performance, contact your rental company straight away.

"Rental companies do regularly maintain their cars, but it's always possible for unseen damage to occur over time. Our focus is on ensuring our customers aren't financially hit for previous misuse."

Carrentals.co.uk Top Tips to Avoid 'Unfair Wear & Tear' Charges -

Shop around for the most comprehensive excess insurance cover before you travel - and make sure it covers things like tyre and windscreen damage.
On collection, check over your rental car carefully - take your time and highlight any concerns with your supplier.

While you may not be able to see things like a nail in a tyre or a clutch that is slipping, once you start driving the vehicle take your time to feel if everything's OK and if you have any concerns go back to the supplier and let them know straight away.
Again, once you're out on the road or in your destination, if something's not right with your car, don't wait until you drop it off to highlight the problem, contact the supplier and let them know.
Keep a record of your contact with your supplier, including phone calls and written communication to ensure you have all of the details in case you need to challenge any charges.

Gareth adds: "While many people now take out excess insurance cover, some elements such as damage to windscreens and tyres just aren't covered with many suppliers, despite them being the most likely to be damaged. Make sure you know what you're getting with your insurance cover, and if in any doubt about your car's performance report it to the supplier immediately."

The award winning Carrentals.co.uk compares cheap car hire deals from companies including Alamo, Auto Europe, Budget, Holiday Autos and Sixt, and has booked over 650,000 rentals to date. Offering car hire in Portugal, including car hire in Faro, as well as Spain, France and over 15,000 locations worldwide, for more information go to http://www.insurance4carrental.com/Carrrentals.htm

Save money on car hire excess insurance

2011-08-28T14:19:00.001-07:00

If you are looking for car hire excess insurance remember there are a couple of discounted insurance products if you purchase via insurance4carrental.com.

There are savings on insurance4carhire.com and Questor Insurance via links from the insurance4carrental.com site. Everyone needs to save money be it for a holiday car rental or a business one so it is well worth finding out more at www.insurance4carrental.com/insurance4carhire.htm
and www.insurance4carrental.com/questor.htm

So if you are planning on hiring a car this week, or in the future, pay the insurance4carrental.com site a visit.

Excess on the car rental was $2500 and unless $25 a day was paid to reduce the excess to $100 in New Zealand.....

2011-08-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

The weekend newspapers are full of Car Hire excess stories and it is not just in the UK. The New Zealand Herald is running a story today - 20th August 2011 "Read the fine print - and understand it" by Diana Clement who is a personal finance writer.

Like the USA it looks like some credit cards covers excess insurance, however according to the report Diana Clement's ASB card, which is underwritten by Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI), provides overseas rental vehicle excess cover, but it wouldn't cover her in New Zealand.

Many of the advertisers on the insurance4carrental.com site cover New Zealand (Click Here), but the situation there looks somewhat complicated even when you take a look at the New Zealand Tourism Guide website.

The insurance4carrental.com site has a useful guide to "Driving in New Zealand" HERE

More complaints about car hire companies - renters advised to buy cheap excess insurance

2011-08-20T06:59:00.000-07:00

The Guardian ran a story yesterday (19th August 11) entitled "Avis and Hertz leave car hire consumers fumingCustomers' poor experience of car hire from Avis and Hertz underlines the need to buy cheap excess insurance" by Miles Brignall

The first consumer was a person who rented from Avis in London. According to the report the car had numerous scratches and eventually the VCR(Vehicle Condition Report) was signed.

Upon returning the car a "non signed off" scratch was found. The car hire company is claiming £420 for repairs.The renter paid additional excess insurance to reduce the excess to £100 but is not happy.

The second reader hired a car through Hertz in Sweden, paying £450 for 10 days.Theye were offered top-up insurance when theye picked up the car, for about £120, which they declined.

They said "After an accident-free holiday we returned the vehicle. Again, no one checked the car. The day after we got home we received an email telling us it had been damaged. The cost to our credit card would be £550"

Miles Brignall says in his aricle "We are receiving so many complaints about car hire firms – these two are fairly typical – that it seems we need to do a quick guide on how to hire a car without getting ripped-off by an industry that will strike many as a law unto itself.

The first rule: before you pick up a car abroad, buy cheap excess insurance from Insurance4Carhire.com or icarhireinsurance.com – daily cover for Europe starts at just £3 a day. This is one policy really worth having.

When you pick up the car, mark on the paperwork every single scratch, dent and blemish. If a member of staff doesn't accompany you to the car, go back to the office and get them to sign the paperwork showing all the damage.

Don't let them brush you off – do it properly and get it signed. Use a digital camera to take multiple images before you drive it away. When you hand the car back, do the same thing – mark every scratch and get the paperwork signed. Take digital photos of every panel to show there is no new damage, plus one of the mileage recorded."

On the insurance4carrental.com website there is a page of advice on what to do when a renter collects the hire car. This can be found here.

At the end of the day it makes financial sense to take out excess insurance cover. For a low annual or daily premium a car hire excess insurance company can provide excess insurance protecting the customer against excess charges whenever someone rents a car.

You can also get this type of cover when you rent a van or motorhome.

Is the car renter liable for car rental damage?

2011-08-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Gill Charlton in her Daily Telegraph column earlier today ran a story "Am I liable for rental car damage?"

A reader had rented a car at Munich Airport, Germany and discovered a scratch on a door a shortwhile after collecting the car. Apparently there is quite a distance between the terminal and car rental collection point. The reader was charged €485 (£425) on the credit card. Despite arguing the case with the car hire company and it looks like the customer had signed the vehicle condition report before checking the car. They should have notified the company immediately and not till returning the car.

On the insurance4carrental.com website there is a page of advice on what to do when a renter collects the hire car. This can be found here.

Gill Charlton suggested in the article "Your experience shows how essential it is to report damage immediately, however minor. Any dents or marks should be added to the VCR(Vehicle Condition Report). This will mean returning to the rental desk in the terminal. At some airports, there's a booth in the car park to sort out such problems. In your case, the car hire company would have accepted the scratch if you had telephoned to report it from the café.

For peace of mind it is worth paying £49 for an annual excess insurance policy from a specialist insurer such as insurance4carhire.com. This will also cover damage to tyres and windscreens, which are excluded from basic policies."

In fact if you buy that £49 policy through the insurance4carhire.com link on the www.insurance4carrental.com site it only costs £39.20 as it is a discounted promotion that insurance4carhire.com is running for visitors to the insurance4carrrental.com site. Find out more here

Europcar in New Zealand launches loyalty program

2011-08-16T14:44:00.001-07:00

Europcar's unique, new loyalty 'Privilege' program has officially launched in New Zealand, introducing a new age in car rental loyalty.

The innovative Privilege program, leverages Europcar's global alliances to offer frequent renters a world of rewards and benefits. Many of the exclusive benefits available through Privilege, are only possible due to the company's extensive business reach.

Privilege program members will be rewarded for their rentals at Europcar locations anywhere in the world. Europcar provide Privilege members with three levels of benefits: Privilege Club; Privilege Executive; and Privilege Elite, all designed to reward loyal and frequent customers.

All members to Privilege save on time and money, receiving international discounts on leisure rentals, express pick-up service, rental upgrades, preferential services including guaranteed reservation, simplified rental processes, plus ten percent off the best, unrestricted weekend rates at Accor hotels.

Steve Whyte, New Zealand General Manager for Europcar, said Privilege was an exciting and innovative program that would differentiate Europcar and set a new benchmark for customer travel loyalty schemes.

"The idea behind Privilege is very simple. The more a customer rents, the more they get. With Privilege, we want to thank all of our customers for their loyalty and the trust they place in us every day, throughout our network in New Zealand.

"Through the 'get more by renting more' principle, the program offers our customers the best quality service while thanking them each time they rent with Europcar," said Mr Whyte.

The Privilege Program replaces Europcar's popular Ready Rewards program. Mr Whyte said existing Europcar Ready Reward members have been invited to join the new program and the rentals they have completed as a Ready member are taken into account and go towards their Privilege tiering level.

Privilege members are enrolled into the various tier levels based on the number of times they hire a vehicle with Europcar over each year. Privilege is about providing customers with outstanding service through an efficient rental checkout experience, global recognition and rewards and benefits for individual needs.

Privilege is a result of Europcar's continued dedication and investment in products, procedures and technology to improve the car rental experience, which includes the launch of a new user friendly website.

To receive Privilege benefits, customers can simply sign up for free on the Europcar website in the "loyalty program" section. Once registered, rentals are automatically tallied and allow the customer to obtain specific benefits. Members have access to a personalised page on the My Europcar section of the new Europcar website, giving access to car rentals, rental history, account details and rewards.

Europcar is the leader in car rental services in Europe. Present in 150 countries, the company provides customers with access to the world’s largest vehicle rental network through franchise operations and partnerships. Through Europcar’s portfolio of brands, the company and its franchisees generated more than €3 billion in revenue in 2010, including nearly €2 billion in consolidated revenue. With 6,500 employees committed to delivering customer satisfaction and an average fleet of close to 200,000 vehicles, Europcar is conscious of its corporate citizenship responsibilities. Winner of the first World Travel Award recognizing the World's Leading Green Transport Solutions Company, Europcar also was honored with the Award in 2010, the second time it was presented. Europcar is owned by French investment company, Eurazeo

Source:Europcar

If you are hiring a car in New Zealand take a look at our Guide to driving in New Zealand Here

Many of the car hire excess insurance / motorhome hire excess insurance companies advertising on the www.insurance4carrental.com site cover New Zealand.

What's the best travel insurance for you? What about car hire?

2011-08-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

Insurance4carhire.com and dailyexcess.com was mentioned in today's Sunday Mirror article "What about travel insurance?"

The article by by Melanie Wright under "Your Money" said " What about car hire? -
Protect yourself from steep excess charges when driving abroad with an independent policy from Insurance4carhire.com or dailyexcess.com

See the article in full Here

Car hire company in Ireland charges for unwanted excess insurance.

2011-07-23T04:22:00.000-07:00

Just picked up today's edition of The Independent newspaper and come across
Paul Gosling's column "Questions Of Cash". I always take a look at this ever since he intervened a few years ago when my son was travelling and had his credit card stolen. He was put to a great deal of expenditure phoning the credit card company from South America and was compensated after Paul Gosling got involved.

This week I see that a subject I am very interested in has been raised again. Car hire companies in Ireland charging excess insurance when it has been declined.

The Reader's Question: My partner and I had to travel to Ireland urgently in April after my partner's 25-year-old nephew died tragically. We booked flights on easyJet and hired a car with Hertz, both via the internet. The cost for the car hire was £150.56, barring any extras. At Belfast International Airport we collected the car. When my partner was asked about extra insurance and another named driver, he declined both, as he always does. He remembers explaining to the Hertz representative why we were in Ireland and that we would only use the car to get to his home town for the funeral. She was very understanding and expressed sympathy. He signed Hertz's copy of the hire ticket and away we went.

But when we returned home and the credit card bill arrived, it contained extra Hertz charges. I then studied the hire ticket and deciphered the abbreviations. There were a lot of figures on it that did not make sense. I found that two of the amounts were for the extra insurance that had been specifically declined. These added £132.54 to the bill, bringing the total to £283.10 for an economy two-door car hired from 25 to 30 April. I contacted Hertz, but it confirmed the charges and refused to make a refund. LS, by email.

Paul Gosling's reply:
A spokeswoman for Hertz apologises for the extra charges, which were included unintentionally. She explains: "Upon checking we have discovered that the charges were made in error and are processing a full refund and writing a letter of apology to the customer. We very much regret that [the reader's partner] was accidentally charged for the extras due to human error, and then not spotting that error when [the reader] first wrote to us.

Upon receipt of her first letter, we went back to the signed paperwork, rather than checking with the location direct, which we should have done. Since her second letter [via Questions of Cash] we have checked with the location and can indeed confirm the completely unintentional error. We deeply regret the stress and upset that this has caused, particularly at such a terribly tragic time for them. By way of apology, we will also issue [the reader's partner] with a gift voucher worth $100 which can be used at any Hertz location."

It is great to see a most satisfactory conclusion.

For many years my wife and I have rented cars in Ireland. Last year my wife hired a car in Dublin on a couple of occasions from the Europcar Ireland franchise Irish Car Rentals. The first time they tried adding on a crossing charge for the M50 toll and it was proved by the toll authorities (eflow) that the vehicle had never crossed the toll on the day in question and the car had never been in the area of the toll during the hire. The Europcar Ireland's representative initial email response was to say she must have used it to get to her destination from Dublin Airport. This would have meant adding around 20kms onto the journey for a 10km trip she had been driving for the last 30 years!

On the second occasion she, as normal declined their excess charge insurance they were trying to make her buy as she told them she had an annual policy from insurance4carhire.com and we discovered on our credit card bill that they had charged €54.48 representing 4 days additional insurance and tax on it.

We went back to them with numerous emails, but they would not give a refund. They said "She had signed for it" even though she told the representative she was declining it. The car was a rather batterred Chevrolet and the radio had been removed.

After that very bad experience, we decided never to use this company ever again and since then have rented via Carrentals.co.uk have been using Hertz. The cars are good, they are parked close to the terminal (not a bus journey away at Santry)and staff very helpful.

I regret now not contacting Paul Gosling at The Independent's Question of Cash about the problem.

If you have had similar problems you reply on this blog.

No car hire shortages in the summer of 2011

2011-07-23T00:14:00.001-07:00

The Independent has just been delivered on the 22nd July and Simon Calder's travel page is preparing travelers (who have not gone off on holiday yet) for the last minute panic.

State schools in England broke up yesterday, (late as normal, however no one has missed out this last week with a very wet cold week in mid-July in the south of England)

One of the many subjects he has included in his "A&E for your summer break" is about Car Hire.

"I haven't yet booked a hire car, and a colleague says that there's a shortage of rental vehicles that's pushed up prices. Is he right?

No, not this summer. In 2009, the credit crunch led to a big shortfall, which pushed up prices to three or more times the normal prices. There was also the odd squeeze last year. But when any travel enterprise is seen to be making excessive profits, rivals pile in with loads of capacity hoping to cash in – only to see prices fall. Checking Holiday Autos for prices for the first week in August: an Opel Corsa costs £135 at Alicante airport, which is less than £20 a day. Florida is equally cheap."

In fact Holiday Autos issue a press release in June saying "Car hire prices fall for first time in four years"

"Of the 180 destinations surveyed by, prices fell fastest in Ireland, where prices have dropped 51% to an average £125 for a week’s car rental. There are also bargains to be had in Gibraltar, (where prices fell by 35% to £195) and major Spanish destinations."

The article also covers such topics as passport out of date...what do you do? - Mobile phones - Rynair's luggage rules and travel currency.

The Independent is on sale today, however if you have missed buying a copy, see the aricle Here

Renting a car in the USA is quite cheap until you get all the add-ons

2011-07-20T07:57:00.001-07:00

A friend recently rented a car for six days in the USA and the initial charge of $150 (GBP£90) looked very attractive, however the final bill came out in the region of $590 (£370 approx) which is quite a difference.

On analyzing the car hire company’s bill there a “luxury” item Sat Navigation GPS unit costing around $10 a day . For many drivers this is an essential for finding their way about and owners of Sat Navs, it now makes sense to actually bring your personal unit on holiday, provided it is set up for the country you are visiting.

It is very important to check this first as otherwise you arrive at your holiday or business destination, collect the rental car and next you plug the system in. It might not have a US or German road map programme installed so you then have to try and rent one.

The excess insurance was the expensive part over $250 for 6 days (£155 approx) which is a lot of money. You can buy an annual US and Canada policy for around £110 ($177 approx) or a daily one for under £7 ($11). This will save a great deal of money on the rental, but insurance companies advise you must show the policy documents to the car rental agency people before you sign up their paperwork.

Other ad-ons appear to be local state taxes, sales taxes and excess taxes which mount up on a daily basis. There is nothing you can do to reduce this however if the car hire company levies a refueling charge, bring the car back full.

Check the rental agreement to see if you have “free miles” or just a limited number. If they are not going to be sufficient for your needs, find out what additional costs are likely to be.

Do not bring the car back late as you might incur additional rental charges and most important, when you collect the car do check for any damage. If you find any that has not been noted, find a member of staff and get it signed off. This is sometimes difficult to do if you are in a hurry, it is dark or raining or all three at once!

You will find that your hire car will be an automatic transmission. If you are not used to driving one, never driven one you will soon get used to it, but take it carefully. If you normally live in the UK, Ireland, Malta or Cyprus and drive a manual transmission car you will have to get used to driving an automatic car and one on the right hand side of the road.

The road system in the USA is very good, but long distances can be somewhat boring, so take advantage of a cruise control system if your car has one and take regular stops and enjoy the scenery.

I hope my friend takes out car hire excess insurance in advance of renting a car the next time. There are several companies advertising at http://www.insurance4carrental.com/ who offer excess insurance for Canada and the USA and it is a lot cheaper than buying it from the US car rental company.

Car hire excess insurance for Irish residents via insurance4carrental.com

2011-07-18T03:51:00.000-07:00

Many of the major providers of car hire excess insurance are based in the UK, however they are able to offer their products to residents of the Irish Republic plus residents of other countries throughout the world subject to their terms and condition - Read on...

Car hire excess insurance for Irish residents via insurance4carrental.com

Car hire insurance featured on BBC Radio 4 You and Yours

2011-07-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Friday 9th July 2011 edition of BBC Radio 4 consumer affairs programme "You and Yours" featured Car hire excess insurance.

Following a recent survey by YouGov claiming that a large number of travellers were confused by additional charges on car hire, the programme looked into this issue. According to the programme a lot of travellers are confused by what is covered and not covered in car hire insurance.

We have been informed that the YouGov research was commisioned by iCarhireinsurance. The survey of 1103 British people who have hired a car, revealed that a sixth (15%) of respondents believed they had driven a hire car without fully understanding exactly what insurance they had and what they were covered for, but in reality the number is significantly higher than this.

93% of people did not realise that if their hire car was damaged or stolen in Europe, even if it wasn't their fault, then they would be liable for the first part of a claim i.e., the excess amount of up to £1500. 94% did not check the small print to find out how much they would be charged if their keys were lost or stolen, and 89%did not check it for costs incurred in the event of a short notice cancellation.

John Lewis the Chief Executive of the BVRLA - British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association was interviewed at length and the programme can be heard HERE

The BVRLA have produced an excellent five page guide to Hiring a Car and this can be viewed HERE

Remember if you are hiring a car it is usually much cheaper to buy your excess insurance from an independent insurance company. Icarhireinsurance.com is one of several car hire insurance advertising on the insurance4carrental.com site and you can find out more about their car hire excess insurance and van hire excess insurance Here.

Hidden charges from car hire firms - warning

2011-07-07T09:40:00.001-07:00

Following on from the item on this blog yesterday "Car hire companies will have to be more upfront about extra charges" which referred to the article in the Daily Mail this week "Crackdowns over hidden car hire charges will protect travellers on holiday abroad", "ComparecarhireUK's" Travel news has published the following:-

"Car hire firms warned about hidden charges"

Regulations could soon be in place to force car hire firms to be more careful about landing their customers with a variety of hidden costs. The number of complaints from rental firm customers rocketed in the first half of 2011 by 37 per cent, compared to the first half of 2009, according to the UK European Consumer Centre. Complaints ranged from being charged for repairs after an accident which never happened, to finding out unwanted insurance had to be paid for.

The Office of Fair Trading has said that it is concerned about the manner in which excess insurance is sold to customers. The watchdog has produced a report in which it points out that car rental customers arriving at airports are often tired after the journey and not in the best frame of mind to deal with the intricacies of the rental contract.

Regulators could soon come down hard on companies which are not completely transparent with their car hire deals. British Vehicle Rental Association representative, Toby Poston, defended the way in which hire companies sold their excess insurance. He said it was not a hard-sell to remind customers when they collect their vehicles that not taking out insurance could result in a hefty bill if the car is damaged.

He added that the price of buying insurance at a collection point was no more expensive than the cover offered under a normal policy. He went on to say that excess waiver insurance also means peace of mind for the renter.

Source: comparecarhire.co.uk

Car hire companies will have to be more upfront about extra charges

2011-07-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

The Daily Mail has run a story this week "Crackdowns over hidden car hire charges will protect travellers on holiday abroad" - Last week, the European Parliament imposed a ban on travel companies charging excessive credit and debit card charges by 2014, which was upheld by the OFT.

On the 28th June the OFT (Uk's Office of Fair Trading) issued a Press Release "OFT to take action over passenger travel sector payment surcharges"

They said "The OFT considers that surcharging for using a credit or debit card is potentially misleading to consumers when it comes as a surprise - particularly when free payment mechanisms are only available to a small proportion of consumers, making a surcharge effectively compulsory.

To make headline prices truly meaningful and comparable, the OFT is calling for traders to stop charging for paying with any debit card - the online equivalent to cash. Traders should still be able to impose surcharges for other payment mechanisms such as credit cards, which can be more costly to process, provided that they meet the minimum transparency requirements set out by the OFT in today's report."

The OFT report says: ‘Consumers were often tired after flights or in a rush to start holidays so were keen to collect their car and, as a result, were more likely to accept the terms without assessing them fully.’

To read the Daily Mail article in full Click Here

To read the OFT Press Release in full Click Here

July is here and there is still time to book your car hire and car hire insurance

2011-07-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

July is here and there is still time to book your car hire and car hire insurance

Car rental prices fall for first time in four years

2011-06-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

Car rental prices fall for first time in four years

Car Hire Drivers are confused about Car Hire Insurance says iCarhireinsurance.com

2011-06-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

Car Hire Drivers are confused about Car Hire Insurance says iCarhireinsurance.com

Car hire insurance continues to be discounted on sales generated via jml Group websites

2011-06-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

Car hire insurance continues to be discounted on sales generated via jml Group websites

Worldwideinsure car hire insurance revealed as cheapest for Car Hire excess cover after price comparison in the Sunday Times

2011-06-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

Worldwideinsure car hire insurance revealed as cheapest for Car Hire excess cover after price comparison in the Sunday Times

Nice Airport Car rental terminal | Location de voitures à l'aeroport de Nice Côte d'Azur

2011-06-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

Nice Airport Car rental terminal Location de voitures à l'aeroport de Nice Côte d'Azur

Buying the most suitable insurance for car hire

2011-06-16T01:22:00.001-07:00

When you hire a car, the insurance cover may vary depending upon the rental company that you’re using and the country you’ve decided to rent in. Buying insurance for a car hire could make the difference between an accident being a minor inconvenience or a large outlay, learning a little more about it might be a good idea.

Insurance for a car hire In the USA and a few other countries, the price you pay for the hire car will typically include little if any insurance. It may be offered for sale as an optional extra by the rental company or alternatively, purchased from an online specialist provider of rental car excess insurance. The latter option can sometimes turn out cheaper.

In many other countries including the UK and much of Europe, the rental car’s hire price should include some components of insurance.

‘In the price’ insurance for a car hire
Typically car rental insurance covers two forms of risk through two types of insurance:
• third party liability – to financially cover claims from other parties that have suffered personal injury or damage to their property;
• collision damage waiver (CDW) – to offer financial protection against claims from the car hire company arising from any damage the hire car may have sustained while you have it on hire.

In some countries, the ‘in the price’ insurance may only include third party liability. In others it may also provide a basic form of CDW.

Limitations of ‘in the price’ insurance

It may be advisable to check the insurance for car hire that is part of the rental cost as:
• the rental company’s policy may contain a large excess of between £500 and £1600 – that amount could be charged to your credit card following an accident as your contribution to the insurance claim costs;
• the CDW may exclude several important areas of the vehicle from its cover notably the wheels, tyres, windows, roof and undercarriage.
If you find these to be the case, you may decide that you are not entirely comfortable with the large financial risk presented. If so, you may wish to consider additional insurance to cover these ‘gaps’.

Additional insurance protection

The car hire company may offer you something they call ‘top-up cover’ or possibly ‘Super-CDW’. This is essentially additional insurance, which means they will reduce or remove the excess. It is also possible that they will remove the ‘exclusions’ and cover all areas of the vehicle.

An alternative source for this protection is the specialist providers of rental car insurance that you can find on the Internet. They offer a product typically called ‘excess insurance’ which will pay you back any sums you need to pay the rental company for excess or damage to excluded areas following an accident.

The policies provided by the specialists are typically cheaper that the ‘top-up’ insurance offered by the rental companies and they may also offer superior cover.

Finding out more
Web sites of the specialist providers of insurance for a car hire typically contain full details of their products. Looking at one of their sites may be time well spent as it may be able to save you money. Pay a visit to www.insurance4carrental.com to see insurance companies advertising car hire excess insurance, motorhome hire excess insurance and van hire excess insurance.

Europe 31 selling very well via insurance4carrental.com site

2011-06-08T07:01:00.001-07:00

The insurance4carhire.com car hire excess product "Europe 31" is selling via well at the discounted price via a dedicated link from the insurance4carrental.com web site. The normal price for this Annual Insurance is £49.00, however by going to the insurance4carrental.com site it is discounted to £37.99 which is a great saving.

There have been over 60 such sales during May and into the start of June. The Annual Worldwide 31 is also discounted from £65.00 to £52.00.

If you are only requiring cover for two or three days in a country like the USA a great value idea is to buy a Daily CDW/SLI Insurance from Insurance4carhire's cdwsli.com

This costs only £6.99 a days and is a lot cheaper than buying the insurance through a car rental company in the USA. There are a great range of car hire excess / van hire excess / lifestyle excess insurance products from the insurance4carhire company being advertised on the insurance4carrental.com site. Find out more and about other insurance provider's products at www.insurance4carrental.com

Discounts on Questor Car hire insurance via insurance4carrental.com

2011-05-22T01:33:00.001-07:00

Questor car hire excess insurance is still cheaper to buy if you buy it through the link on the insurance4carrental.com site.

You can get a 10 per cent discount on the car hire excess insurance product by adding the special code to your purchase when you have entered the Questor car hire insurance site from insurance4carrental.com

It must be purchased before the 30th June 2011.

As we are approaching the busy holiday season, why not get organised today and buy your car hire insurance?

Questor insurance also offer Motorhome / Campervan hire excess Insurance. With more and more people renting a motorhome for their holidays you can save money by buying your excess insurance form a insurance company like Questor Insurance. Prices start from just £7.14 per day and they cover rentals up to 31 days in length. Details Here

Caught Speeding? Did you know that there are 6,000 speeding cameras in the UK. Can you afford to be without your licence?

If you do receive a ban, the minimum is 6 months this will cause you considerable inconvenience and for some drivers may mean them losing their jobs.

Questor Insurance has a product that will mitigate the effects of a ban by paying additional travel expenses incurred during the period of a ban. Find out More Here

insurance4carhire car hire insurance still great value via insurance4carrental.com site

2011-05-17T10:17:00.001-07:00

Insurance4carhire.com Annual European 31 day car hire excess insurance policies are really great value when you buy them via the link on the insurance4carrental.com web site.

The price GBP £ is £39.20 instead of £49.00 - in Euros €49.39 instead of €61.74 and in US Dollars $69.78 instead of $87.22 (all prices taken at 18.30 17-5-11 and are through this offer link via insurance4carrental)

You can buy one of these policies in advance, so if you are off on holiday later in the summer and hiring a car, buy your cover today.

If you are hiring a car more than once a year or evening for more than a week this is very economical. The Daily Excess price from insurance4carhire.com is £4.75 per day. A fourteen day holiday will actually cost you £66.50 so it make sense buying that annual policy.

The anuual Worldwide 31 day is also good value via the link from the insurance4carrental.com site £52.00 instead of £65.00

In the last few days there have been numerous sales, many for dates in later June when the school holidays will have started in Ireland. You don't have to live in the UK to buy a car hire excess insurance policy from insurance4carhire.com So if you live in New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, France etc it is very simple and it is all arranged online. You must enter the insurance4carhire site by following the link from the insurance4carrental.com site here

To find out more Click Here Remember we are now entering the busy ore-holiday season. Check your passport now and if it needs renewing, don't leave it till the last minute.

If you are looking for a self catering Holiday rental take a look at the www.jmlvillas.com website.

Travel insurance can be found be advertised by a selection of insurance companies at http://www.jml-insurance.co.uk/products.php?id=8

Car Hire in Tenerife from Carrentals.co.uk

2011-05-16T02:41:00.001-07:00

16th May 2011 - Press Release from Carrentals.co.uk "Carrentals.co.uk Introduces Industry's Best Prices for Summer Tenerife Car Hire"

UK travellers and tourists heading for the sunshine and beaches of Tenerife this coming summer can look forward to great value car hire while there thanks to the latest prices sourced and offered by Carrentals.co.uk. The online car hire comparator, which helps people save on car hire in over 10,000 resorts and cities, has introduced a choice of new Tenerife Airport south car hire prices ahead of the summer holiday season.

Collecting a rental car on arrival at the airport is the most convenient way to get a holiday started, particularly if travelling with children. With deals on show from more than 50 of the industry’s most trusted suppliers - including Ebookers, Opodo, Avis, Expedia, Sixt, Thrifty and more - sourcing the cheapest car hire Tenerife Airport south around is a study in simplicity.

Exploring Tenerife and seeing its sights is best done by hire car since the island offers visitors little in terms of local public transport. Renting a family vehicle using the latest car hire Tenerife Airport south deals on show on the Carrentals.co.uk website means that holidaymakers can head off around the island’s beaches or taking the kids to the Aquapark Octopus at their own convenience.

Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, says, "Because we search all the biggest and best car hire providers around to find the latest deals our site is always the most up to date place to find all the best Tenerife car hire deals. The Canary Islands are as popular a destination as ever so we advise advance booking to secure the best value deals."

Carrentals.co.uk compares car hire deals from more than 50 rental providers, including Alamo, Auto Europe, Budget, Holiday Autos and Sixt, in over 10,000 locations worldwide. To compare the latest car hire deals visit carrentals.co.uk.

Travelsupermarket.com tops the car hire charts in Greenlight study...

2011-05-14T03:42:00.000-07:00

Travelsupermarket.com tops the car hire charts in Greenlight study...

How to avoid Expensive Car Rental Tactics

2011-05-14T03:05:00.000-07:00

The US Magazine "Consumer Reports" has an article in it's June 2011 edition "Buck the trend of car-rental surprises" and in the "Automotive Discovery" website today there is an article by Audra Dinino "Consumer Reports Outlines How to Avoid Expensive Rental Car Tactics".

The article says "Remember the “good old days” when rental car companies tried to get you behind the wheel and on the road with no hassle. Those days are gone. Today’s car rental companies have become more aggressive and in some cases just plain pushy about expensive extras and “gotcha” pricing. The June issue of Consumer Reports on newsstands May 10, 2011 and online at www.ConsumerReports.org outlines some of the expensive and common car-rental hassles and what consumers can do to avoid them.
“It used to be that car-rental companies made it as easy as possible to get you signed up and on the road,” says Consumer Reports senior editor Jeff Blyskal. “These days consumers need to slow things down and be more guarded to make sure they don’t pay more than necessary.”

Consumer Reports reminds consumers that you have a choice when it comes to those add-on services and liability coverage. In addition it recommends being aware the next time the person behind the counter puts the pressure on you for these add-ons.

1.There is a fee for every extra. Treat a rental car like a hotel mini bar: Don’t take any goodies without knowing the price. This includes GPS navigation, satellite radio, and child safety seats.

2. The insurance hard sell. Rental agents might strongly sell renters on a loss damage waiver that limits the renter’s liability for damage for $60 to $250 a week. Don’t take it, consumers may already be covered on their own auto insurance policy if it includes collision and/or comprehensive coverage. Some credit cards also provide protection.

3. Scratch-and-dent claims. Always pay by credit card so any inaccurate charges can be disputed. Fully inspect the car at pick up time, noting any damages in the paperwork

4. Return the car with gas. If not, expect to pay as much as $8 per gallon to have the rental agency fill the tank.

5. Decline the upgrade pitch. Don’t expect to be offered a roomier car at no extra cost
For more tips on how to get the best deal on car rentals log on to www.ConsumerReports.org -

To view Audra Dinino's article in full Click here to go to the Automotive Website

If you are hiring a car in the USA. don't forget to buy your car hire excess insurance in advance from a specialist insurance company like one of those advertising on the www.insurance4carrental.com website.

They also have a guide to "Driving in the USA" - More information Here

It must be Christmas insurance4carhire lowers price

2011-04-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

No it's Easter, but a real Christmas present as insurance4carhire.com has lowered the cost of it's Annual Europe car hire excess insurance to only £37.99 a year.

In euros this is currently €47.49 or in US dollars $69.14

This is really a most competitive price for car hire excess insurance from the company that put car hire excess insurance on the driver's map.

Back in July 2010 the price was lowered from £49.00 to £39.20 at several sites including insurance4carrental.com and sites within the jml Group.

The cost of the annual 31 days Worldwide was reduced from £65.00 to £52.00 for those customers visiting the insurance4carrental.com and jml Group sites advertising the product. (€65.00 / $94.64)

So if you are about to hire a car and want to save money by buying an annual policy why not arrange yours today?

To find out more visit insurance4carhire.com by following this link. http://www.insurance4carhire.com/index.asp?linkfrom=4&curID=1&langID=1&refID=188

Happy Easter

Uninsured driving -BVRLA Dealing with continuous insurance

2011-04-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

Uninsured driving -BVRLA Dealing with continuous insurance

Van hire insurance company research reveals that drivers lack experience driving rental vans

2011-04-20T03:43:00.000-07:00

Van hire insurance company research reveals that drivers lack experience driving rental vans

After Monaco London has electric car hire

2011-04-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

After Monaco London has electric car hire

More Women drivers renting vans?

2011-04-18T04:03:00.001-07:00

On the 1st March we ran an article on this blog "Are women in the drivers seat when it comes to van hire?"

We reported that in February this year our ox sixteen sales of Towergate’s Insuremyvanhire.com only one was a woman.

In March there were 21 sales and the number of women taking these van hire excess insurance policies had increased to 3. Does this mean there is more equality in the van rental business?

Looking at the stats provided by insurance4carhire.com in March once again the majority of people buying car hire excess were still men.

Could be sometime before more women than men purchase these car hire excess insurance products.

If you are about to move, got a lot of DIY materials to collect or furniture or taking a day trip to France to buy lower price alcohol, find out more about van hire excess insurance at http://www.insurance4vanrental.com

Holiday Autos is keen to help regulator stamp out some of the malpractices which occur within the car hire industry

2011-04-13T08:03:00.001-07:00

According to a posting on Travel Daily UK on the 11th April 2011 Holiday Autos has called on the car hire industry to help it build a code of conduct after a YouGov study found that budget-conscious consumers are taking risks when booking car hire.

According to the news report, mystery shoppers found that half of car hire firms do not have a customer support centre or a 24 hour point of contact. Around 38 percent of companies would not allow bookings to be changed online and complaints about the industry are said to have increased 30 percent. "There has been a worrying increase in the number of companies that are taking advantage of consumer trust and tarnishing the reputation of the car hire industry with their unscrupulous behaviour,” said Stuart Nassos, managing director of Holiday Autos.

"Holiday Autos is keen to help our regulator stamp out some of the malpractices which occur within the industry. The Code of Conduct we are working to create for brokers aims to regulate industry practices.” The code would look to set transparent pricing standard; ensure the customers understand terms and conditions; eliminate misleading advertising and create a faster response to complaints.

However despite the dubious operation behind some businesses, the ‘Car Hire Uncovered’ report found that 23 percent of consumers would book car hire through a company they had never heard of if the price was cheaper than competitors and 70 percent would not check if the company had a 24 hour support service.

Furthermore, the price-driven spend meant that only five percent of respondents considered customer service to be important, although 10 percent had reported they had a bad experience last year and complaints in the sector have increased 30 percent. Less than a third (23 percent) cared about the reputation of the company they booked through.

Read the Holiday Autos Car Hire Uncovered lifting the bonnet on car hire HERE

Car Rental drivers must pay the London Congestion Charge

2011-04-05T23:36:00.000-07:00

CChargepass will make it easy and save you money by ensuring you “never forget to pay

As anyone living or working in London will know the London Congestion Charge is a daily charge payable by motorists travelling into or within the London Congestion Charge Zone.

The main objectives of the Congestion Charge are to reduce traffic congestion and to raise funds for investment in London's transport system. The Zone came into operation in Central London in 2003. The system is run on an automatic basis using CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition.

What about visitors to London who rent a car?

The Congestion Charge is £10 plus a £2 admin fee fromCChargepass. If you do not pay the Congestion Charge by midnight on the following charging day, a penalty of £120 will be issued. If the penalty is paid within 14 days the fine is reduced to £60. The Car Rental Company, as the registered owner, will pay the fine. The Car Rental Company will then charge your credit card for the penalty (£60) and an admin fee of £30-£50. This means each day you travel into London can cost you as much as £110

So what do you do?

Register with CChargepass.com for an annual fee of just £15 and each day they will text you to ask if you have entered or intend to enter the Congestion Zone. Reply "Yes" and they will charge your credit card for that day’s entry. No reply and your card will not be charged....Simple

Find out more Here

Self Drive Car Hire business insurance being advertised at insurance4carrental.com

2011-04-05T23:30:00.000-07:00

Insurecarhire Self Drive Hire Insurance is now being promoted at the jml-insurance site and at insurance4carrental.com.

Insurecarhire offers the following products:

Self Drive Hire Insurance available on either "Pay-as-you-Go" or Annual Basis •Accident Management Insurance & Credit Hire Insurance •Taxi Hire Insurance along with Public, PCO & Private Hire Insurance •Classic Self Drive Hire Insurance •UK & European Breakdown cover •Motorhome Hire Insurance & Campervan Hire Insurance •Horsebox Hire Insurance •Motor Trade Insurance & Self Drive Hire Insurance

For more information CLICK HERE

Flying to Ireland and hiring a car can prove cheaper than taking your own car

2011-03-31T05:01:00.000-07:00

Driving to Ireland looks like it is getting more and more expensive. Not only has the price of fuel increased in Britain recently (despite the 1p cut in last week's budget) to get to the port, but the cost of crossing the Irish Sea.

I have to take my car to Dublin several times a year and had a €12 reduction voucher from Stena Line. I made a booking earlier this week and despite my €12 discount the return trip is going to cost €475 including credit card charges. That is the equivallent to around £411. Stena are starting up their large fast craft service HSS from the 1st April and that is slightly more expensive than the ordinary car ferry, however for the last three years, they go slower to cut down on their fuel costs.

The last time I actually used the HSS was in December 2009 when the premium price for a car and 2 passengers was £237. So in just over a year it has increased by £174!

On top of this £411 there is the cost of fuel - This can be around £150 for the return trip from Greater London to Dublin. This means taking the car can then cost over £560! You can buy a resonable length holiday for that.

For a family planning to visit Ireland for their summer holidays and taking their car that is a lot of money and that is before they pay for their own fuel and accommodation. This is an unfortunate situation and probably a reason why so many British people will cross the English Cannel to France for a fraction of the price they would pay going to Ireland.

If you are thinking of going on a short break, flying and hiring a car could prove better value. Flights to Ireland tend to be most expensive on a Friday, however there are bargain about if you can book in advance.

On the 30th March there was an advertisement from Ryanair in The Independent for flights from £9.99 per person (plus taxes and charges) if you booked by a certain time on the 31st March. Ryanair and Aer Lingus are alway promoting bargain flights, but book early. My wife has to visit Dublin a couple of times this year and found car hire very resonable provided by one the worlds largest car hire companies.

You can save money by declining the car hire company's excess insurance and buying it from an insurance company advertising on the www.insurance4carrental.com site.

Affordable Car Hire teams up with Halo Insurance

2011-03-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

News Release from Affordable Car Hire Tuesday March 15th 2011

We are delighted to have joined forces with Halo Insurance to offer comprehensive, low cost car hire excess insurance protection to our customers.

Most hire car drivers now understand that unless they purchase excess insurance they are liable for charges of around £1,000 if the car is damaged or stolen, even if it's not their fault and customers increasingly want to protect themselves against these charges. By teaming up with Halo Insurance, we are able to meet this customer demand whilst at the same time save them money when compared to the traditional way of buying this insurance at the rental desk when vehicles are collected.

Affordable Car Hire have a sophisticated online booking engine which enables customers to search for a range of vehicles from different rental companies in over 6,500 destinations around the world. As part of the relationship with Halo Insurance, our customers will be able to buy the company's new "Supermax" excess insurance policy when they are booking their car, saving both time and money.

The Supermax Policy acts as an excess reimbursement policy to protect customers against their excess liability if a rental vehicle is damaged or stolen. The policy also automatically includes additional cover, such as Vehicle Key Replacement and Lock Out Protection as standard. Supermax even includes cover for vulnerable parts of the vehicle that are often excluded by other excess policies such as tyres, windscreens, roof and undercarriage. Prices for the Supermax excess insurance policy start from just £4.50 a day, a saving of over 50% when compared to the typical prices charged by rental companies themselves.

Angela Day, founder of Affordable Car Hire said "We have a clear commitment to our customers to provide high quality rental vehicles and deliver a premium service at affordable prices at all times. Offering customers the option of buying cost effective excess insurance at the point of booking is a natural extension of that ethos. The Supermax Excess Insurance Policy directly supports that fundamental principle as it's not only more cost effective, but is also more comprehensive than the alternative products that are available at the rental desk. We're delighted to be working with Halo Insurance to offer this innovative product to our customers."

Ernesto Suarez, CEO and founder of Halo Insurance Services said, "Many people find car hire insurance confusing, and often don't realise that even though a rental vehicle is insured, they could still end up with a large excess bill if the vehicle is damaged or stolen, even if it's just for a small chip to the windscreen! We've developed our product with Affordable Car Hire to be easy to understand, and to offer comprehensive protection against the range of excess insurance charges that customers could potentially find themselves exposed to. Affordable Car Hire has a reputation for offering quality products at affordable prices and we feel that our insurance products are an ideal compliment to their existing service."

More Information about Affordable Car Hire: Affordable Car Hire have partnerships with many of the world's best known car rental companies including Alamo, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Toyota Rent a Car, National, Sixt and Thrifty.

More Information about Halo Insurance: They are a specialist provider of hire car excess insurance and are based in the United Kingdom in Uxbridge we offer excess protection for car hire users in the UK, Europe and Worldwide. They also offer great value Collision Damage Waver and Supplemental Liability Insurance for customers planning to hire a car in the USA and Canada.

Their policies are sold through their consumer website iCarhireinsurance.com please visit this site to find out more about our great products or to buy a policy.

Insurance4carrental.com has mini makeover

2011-03-16T00:38:00.000-07:00

The car hire excess insurance promotion site insurance4carrental.com has just had a makeover to bring it in line with the online products it advertises for car hire insurance, van hire insurance and motorhome hire excess insurance.

Read all of this news release at: -

Insurance4carrental.com has mini makeover

Economy Car Hire Are Pushing Forward Their Expansion Plans!

2011-03-12T08:19:00.001-08:00

Following this years World Travel Market, one of the UKs leading car hire brokers, Economy Car Hire has announced that its focus for 2011 will be continued expansion into new countries.

The dynamic team at Economy Car Hire has concentrated on adding new car hire suppliers to its portfolio in key locations such as Spain, Portugal and Turkey. This ensures that competitive prices and availability can be secured at peak times worldwide. Consolidating existing relationships with car hire suppliers also ensures that the customer is always offered a competitive price.

Car hire including no insurance excess, free additional driver and all taxes and surcharges at all locations is unique in the industry. The headline price is not always the cheapest, although when comparing the product like-for-like, customers will make a substantial saving.
Economy Car Hire is also keen to take advantage of the growing trend of taking a staycation by working with more car hire suppliers in the UK.

93% of customers would use us again or recommend us to friends and family. We want to guarantee that customers can find Economy Car Hire in every location worldwide said Managing Director Rory Sexton. Our unique selling points mean that we can offer consumers something different, combined with our unrivalled levels of customer service we are confident that we can become the biggest car hire broker in the UK!

A family run business, Economy Car Hire has been established for over 10 years. Currently specialising in Spain including Car Hire in Palma, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece and the Greek Islands, Slovenia and Malta, Economy Car Hire relies on personal service to receive repeat orders and positive word of mouth recommendation.

Source: Economy Car Hire

Find out more about renting a car from Economy Car hire at http://www.insurance4carrental.com/Economy_Car_hire.htm

Irish Car Rentals records a €3.4 million operating loss

2011-03-12T02:08:00.000-08:00

According to a report in The Irish Times 12th March 2011 "Irish Car Rentals (ICR) is expected to move into profit in 2011 after recording a €3.4 million operating loss for the 19-month period before it exited examinership last year. Accounts just posted to the Companies Office for the Europcar, Alamo and National Car Rental franchise-holder show the result came on turnover of €25.2 million.

The car hire company was placed in examinership in February 2010 and re-emerged in May 2010 after securing investment from the owners of the Thrifty car rental franchise."

On the 30th April 2010 The Irish Times reported "Irish Car Rental's board agrees to quit for investor" - A clear-out of the board of Irish Car Rentals Ltd sought as a condition of investment in the court-protected ICR motor group of companies has been agreed, the High Court heard yesterday.

The executive directors of the company said they were prepared to resign in the interests of the survival of the group, which employs 160 people. They have also agreed to resign as employees of the companies without any compensation for loss of office so as to facilitate the survival."

On the 2nd September 2011 the same newspaper ran a report "Irish Car Rentals posts loss of €13m for 2008" It had posted a loss of just under €13 million for the 53-week period ended November 2nd, 2008.

The 2nd September Irish Times report went on to say "The €12.9 million pre-tax loss revealed in the recently filed accounts compares to a pre-tax loss of just over €4,000 for 2007. It gives an insight into the financial decline of the business in the years preceding the examinership process. Turnover increased in the same year, from €13.2 million in 2007 to €15.5 million in 2008"

The ICR group operates the Europcar, Alamo and National car rental franchises for the Republic. It comprises Irish Car Rentals Ltd, Irish Car Rental (Holdings) Ltd, ICRG Dealerships Ltd, Ennis Road Motors Ltd, Motorzone Ltd, Car Central Ltd and Clareview Auto Repair Centre Ltd.

View these Irish Times reports in full at:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0430/1224269363017.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0902/1224278049922.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0312/1224291979853.html

100 New Jobs Announced at Hertz car hire in Dublin Ireland

2011-03-12T01:54:00.001-08:00

Global Leader in Car Rental Expands its Irish Operation to a Next Generation Shared Services Centre in Dublin - 11/02/10 - 100 New Jobs Announced at Hertz in Dublin

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan, TD, today (Thursday 11th February 2010), announced that Hertz, a global leader in car rental, is to expand its European Shared Services Centre in Dublin with the creation of up to 100 new jobs.

The increased capacity of the Shared Services Centre will see the transformation of Hertz’s existing Dublin operations to include support elements in the areas of human resources, finance, sales and customer care, in addition to handling customer reservations and other support services activity for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The investment is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.

Making the announcement, the Tánaiste said: “Hertz has successfully operated a European Shared Services Centre from Dublin for over 10 years and the transformation of this facility with the creation of 100 high value new jobs is a welcome step. This expansion will enable the Hertz team in Swords to focus on further enhancing its strategic partners with the business units across EMEA and to grow the operation’s reputation as a centre of excellence for customer care within the group.”

“A high-value transformation of this nature is characteristic of the Government’s ‘Smart Economy’ Strategy and I look forward to working closely with Hertz as it continues to develop and expand its presence in Ireland,” the Tánaiste concluded.

Andrew Varley - Vice President Hertz Europe Service Centre, said: “I am delighted with this announcement and mandate expansion at Hertz in Dublin (Swords). A number of new functions in both Finance expertise and Customer Care and growth elements will be managed from the Shared Services Centre. This will include the establishment of a Best in Class centralised Employee Shared Services Operation for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. The new jobs created by these functions will bring total employment in Swords to over 930 jobs.”
“On behalf of Hertz I look forward to this further development and to continue to build on the company's relations with Ireland and the Irish Government.”

Hertz is the world's largest general use car rental company, operating from over 8,000 corporate locations in 145 countries. Hertz is in its 91st year of delivering quality car rental solutions to leisure and corporate customers

Source IDA Ireland - Ireland’s inward investment promotion agency, IDA Ireland (Industrial Development Agency) is responsible for the attraction and development of foreign investment in Ireland

Looking for Hertz Car Hire in Ireland? Follow this link to carrrentals.co.uk

Good report insurance4carhire on tripadvisor

2011-03-05T00:29:00.000-08:00

Came across on the Google alterts. Ireland Forum: Insurance4carhire on tripadvisor

“ Insurance4carhire ”
Mar 01, 2011, 11:30 PM We will be renting a car during our trip in June and I learned about insurance4carhire through post on TA. The rates are great, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience actually submitting a claim with them. Are they easy to deal with and reputable?

1. Re: Insurance4carhire Mar 02, 2011, 7:45 AM Have a look here:
Aug 11, 2010, 6:15 PM
Before leaving for Ireland, we purchased the SCDW through insurance4carhire.com. We had an accident and were charged the deductible (approx $1700) by Murrays/Sixt (don't get me started on the terrible experience we had with them re. the accident and follow up- they were HORRIBLE).

Once we were able to get the accident report from Sixt (a month later- again, don't get me started)- Insurance4carhire wired the money to our bank account within hours of receiving the necessary documents.They were easy to contact, always prompt in their replies, and sent our money very quickly.

When I was researching them I had a hard time finding anyone who had actually had a claim - so wanted to let others know of the good service we received. The only down side is that you must pay the charges ($1700) and wait to be reimbursed. We knew this going in so were prepared - just not expecting the lack of service received from Sixt.

Further comments at: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g186605-i90-k3848844-GOOD_REPORT_Insurance4carhire_com-Dublin_County_Dublin.html

Car Hire and Car Hire Insurance In Daily Telegraph this week

2011-03-03T08:28:00.000-08:00

The Daily Telegraph has run an article earlier this week "Car hire: a guide to finding the cheapest rates -Nick Trend explains how to keep down the cost of hiring a car and launches a campaign to find those insurers willing to go the extra mile and minimise their exclusions."

The articles talks of the problems most people experience of booking a car rental and finding essential extras and then added on like car hire excess insurance.

He suggests "One way of getting around the confusion caused by excesses is to buy an independent policy. Several companies now offer these, covering either a single hire or multiple hires over 12 months. You will pay from about £3 a day, or £45 a year, which is generally less than the amounts charged by hire car companies.

Exact rates depend on the countries you are travelling to. Try icarhireinsurance.com; Daily Excess dailyexcess.com and Insurance4carhire ; Questor Insurance; and Worldwide Insure.

These and other companies advertise on the www.insurance4car.rental.com site.

The article itself can be found Here

New insurance option added to Affordable Car Hire

2011-03-02T07:58:00.001-08:00

Rental broker Affordable Car Hire has launched an excess cover option with Halo Insurance.

The policy will protect drivers if the car is damaged or stolen, as in these instances clients are deemed liable for the excess on their basic hire policy, often around £1,000. Affordable claims the new option is cheaper than buying insurance at a rental desk when vehicles are collected.

The Supermax policy is offered on Affordable’s website and covers Affordable’s 6,500 locations worldwide. It includes key replacement and lock out protection as standard and covers tyres and windscreens plus the roof and underside of the vehicle. Rates start at £4.50 a day, which Affordable claims is a saving of more than 50% on typical rental company rates.

Affordable is also running a sales promotion throughout March with free upgrades and additional driver offers. Free cancellation is also offered up to 24 hours before rental.

Source Affordable Car Hire March 2nd 2011

iCarhireinsurance.com is a trading name of Halo Insurance Services Limited - Find out more about their car hire excess insurance and van hire excess insurance HERE

Are women in the drivers seat when it comes to van hire?

2011-03-01T23:45:00.001-08:00

In the month when the Davies Report is reporting on inequality in the boardroom in the UK, men are still the main renters of vans. This is probably true due to the fact that the majority of vans are driven by men.

Looking at the copy insurance van hire sales generated by www.insurance4vanrental.com via Towergate’s Insuremyvanhire.com for February 2011, out of the sixteen sales only one was for a woman.

We have also found that the majority of daily and annual car hire excess insurance purchases over the last twelve months have been made by men. Is this because there are more male business people travelling and hiring a car, or do these come from the holidays and breaks that people take and the “male” in the household makes the booking and rents and drive when on holidays?

Some car hire excess companies cover all the drivers who are renting the vehicle.

When you take out car hire (van hire or motorhome hire) excess insurance there is no difference in costs for a man or women. Drivers over the age of 75 (to around 85) will have to pay more and this is of course different to the “Gender issue” for car insurance in the UK. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) to ban the use of gender in insurance policies from December 2012 where women in the UK are facing the prospect of higher car insurance. This move will mean that women aged under 25 could see a 25% increase in motor insurance premiums, but men are expected to see a reduction of just 10% in their premiums.

If you are about to move, got a lot of DIY materials to collect or furniture or taking a day trip to France to buy lower price alcohol, find out more about van hire excess insurance at http://www.insurance4vanrental.com

3rd March 2011 - Postscript to this. First van hire excess insurance sale of the month has gone to a female customer. Will there be any more this month?

Car hire costs plummet according to PR from Economy Car Hire

2011-02-28T07:45:00.000-08:00

Chris Spponer from Economy Car Hire Ltd has issued a Press Release today 28th February - The cost of car hire has plummeted in recent months as car hire companies compete for winter bookings. In some areas prices have become so low that car hire companies are actually making a loss.

The release says that "The cost of car hire has plummeted in recent months as car hire companies compete for winter bookings. In some areas prices have become so low that car hire companies are actually making a loss.

As prices become unsustainably low, car rental companies look for other ways to increase revenue. Traditionally, car rental companies have sold extra insurances directly to the customer on arrival; however, most car hire brokers and websites now offer their own insurance to the customer at the time of booking which is reducing the potential for an up-sell on arrival.

In recent years, many car rental companies have found a way to increase revenue by taking payment for a full tank of fuel when the customer collects the car and asking them to return it empty. Often no refund will be given for unused fuel.

Customers are very unhappy about this situation, as vehicles are rarely returned empty. The price of fuel has risen significantly over the past few years, and customers are becoming more aware of this practise.

With a variety of potential hidden extras, customers are advised to check very carefully when booking car hire, as there can be a lot of difference between car hire deals and headline prices cannot be compared on a like-for-like basis.

It is important to remember that if a price that looks too good to be true, it often is says Managing Director of Economy Car Hire Rory Sexton. The car hire market is very price sensitive, consumers would be sensible to consider at all the costs they may incur, including fuel, to make sure they really are getting the best deal.

Economy Car Hire provides fully-inclusive car hire services in over 22 countries worldwide, including the UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece (mainland and islands), Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Turkey, Jamaica and Australia.

Prices are fully-inclusive, with no insurance excess (hence no collision damage waiver necessary), unlimited mileage, free additional driver, no airport surcharges, and theft loss waiver included."

Economy Car Hire are based in the UK and established in the year 2000, Economy Car Hire Ltd specializes in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece and the Greek Islands, Slovenia, and Malta.

Find out more Here and make a car hire booking today with Economy Car Hire

Apollo Motorhome Holidays has joined forces with Hertz

2011-02-26T01:41:00.000-08:00

February 25th 2011 - Australian success story Apollo Motorhome Holidays has joined forces with renowned car rental company Hertz.

Hertz this week announced its expansion into the motorhome holiday market in mainland Australia and New Zealand thanks to a new partnership with recreational vehicle giant Apollo Motorhome Holidays.

Under the alliance, from April 1, 2011, Apollo Motorhome Holidays will provide car rental from select Australian and New Zealand locations and various downtown and airport branches, ensuring customers have access to Hertz rental cars alongside Apollo’s extensive range of campervans and motorhomes.

The deal is a partnership made in motoring heaven. Apollo is the world’s largest privately owned recreational vehicle operator, with a fleet of 3000 plus vehicles across 23 rental branches in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. On the other hand, Hertz is the largest worldwide airport general use car rental brand.

Brisbane brothers Luke and Karl Trouchet are the driving force at the helm of Apollo Motorhome Holidays - an extraordinary Australian institution. The business began in 1985 in the backyard of the Trouchet family home at Victoria Point when Luke and Karl’s parents, Gus and Carolyn, bought a pop-top campervan that they began renting out at weekends. The campervan was so popular, the family purchased more vans and so began the birth of a multi-million dollar Australian company. Gus and Carolyn handed over the keys for the business to Luke and Karl in 2001 and together, these dynamic brothers have taken the company to the world.

Apollo Motorhome Holidays now employs 300 plus people in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada and despite its overseas expansion, Apollo Motorhome Holidays continues to hold a place in the hearts of Australians, its popularity ensuring half of the company’s fleet is based on home soil.

Apollo Motorhome Holidays is now Australia’s biggest and best campervan rental company. In addition to renting motorhomes, Apollo also designs and builds its entire fleet through its sister-company Talvor Motorhomes – Australia’s largest manufacturer of recreational rental vehicles.

Apollo Motorhome Holidays CEO Luke Trouchet said he was thrilled with the Hertz partnership, which will give Apollo customers more choice thanks to the extensive range of Hertz car rental options available. “As our company continues to grow and expand, this is an exciting new business partnership not only for us but for our valued customers,” he said.
“Now our customers have easy access to the best of both words – recreational vehicles and rental cars. This is one more step forward in our bold expansion plans.”

Apollo Motorhome Holidays, a proudly Australian and family owned company, has branch locations throughout Australia at Adelaide, Alice Springs, Brisbane, Broome, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney as well as in New Zealand,the United States and Canada.

Source: Apollo Car Rental & Motorhome

Looking for Motorhome / Campervan hire excess insurance? Questor Insurance and Worldwide Insure advertise their Motorhome excess insurance at: http://www.insurance4carrental.com/Motorhome_excess.htm

Driving in Australia,Canada,New Zealand,South Africa,USA or Europe? Take a lool at these specialist guides at http://www.insurance4carrental.com/Guides_to_driving_abroad_Summary.htm

Halo Insurance partners with Chubb in Germany

2011-02-24T07:53:00.001-08:00

Thursday 24th February 2011. POSTonline has today reported that Halo Insurance has launched in the German motor insurance sector after partnering with Chubb insurance.

According to the online report at http://www.postonline.co.uk/post/news/2028601/halo-enters-german-market
Halo's new website, leihwagenversicherung.de offers car hire, van hire and car club excess insurance policies, with the products underwritten by Chubb. The new venture follows Halo's UK launch of Icar Hire Insurance.

Ernesto Suarez, founder and chief executive of Halo Insurance said, "We launched in the UK last year and the response has been even better than we had anticipated. We are rapidly growing and launching into Germany is the logical next step in our expansion plans.

"Germany has the largest number of hire car drivers in Europe yet the excess insurance market is in need of reform, so we expect there to be significant demand for products like ours. The Car Rental desks only offer expensive daily excess policies so it is likely that our annual policies will be especially popular in such a financially savvy country.

He added: "Partnering with Chubb in Germany will give us even greater credibility. They are well known for their high quality claims service and we know that working in partnership with them will give our customers the best possible experience."

Richard Gorely, product development manager of Chubb Insurance said, "Halo is an exciting business with ambitious plans. They have reinvigorated the car hire excess insurance market in the UK. We are looking forward to working with them on their launch into Germany and forthcoming European projects."

In March 2010 Halo Insurance launched the English language version - Icarhireinsurance.com. They offer car hire excess insurance from just £2.99 a day and van hire excess insurance from £6.99 a day.

Find out more HERE TODAY

Excess Charges on Hire Cars increased by car rental companies

2011-02-23T08:59:00.000-08:00

moneymaxim.co.uk, a car hire excess insurance comparison website has today issued a news release - "Car Rental Firms Increase Excess Charges on Hire Cars"

Wednesday 23rd February, 2011: Research from moneymaxim.co.uk, home to the UK’s only car hire insurance comparison service, shows that car rental companies are increasing the excess charges renters are liable for.

Exclusive moneymaxim research reveals that while car rental firms jockey to be the most competitive on price comparison sites by reducing prices, they are stealthily increasing the level of excess charges a driver remains liable for.

As a result moneymaxim.co.uk are urging holidaymakers when booking car hire to check car hire excesses carefully.

In major tourist destinations such as France and Italy these excesses are commonly reaching €1,500, but the moneymaxim study has shown that new highs are being reached in Australia, where a Sydney rental from CarHire3000, part of the Travel Jigsaw group, could, where single vehicle accidents are involved, result in excesses of up to Aus$7,700 (£4,800) being charged.*

Mark Bower, Managing Director at moneymaxim.co.uk says; “This year we have seen new heights in the level of excesses that car hirers are being charged by car rental companies. Whereas in the past these may have been a few hundred pounds they are now, in many instances, well over a thousand pounds.

“This also has the added benefit to car rental firms of making the refusal of their ‘excess protection policies’ more difficult when drivers discover the potential charges they can be liable for in the case of an accident or theft.

“The price of their excess protection policies can now often be in the region of €15 a day - not only is this excessive - sometimes eclipsing the charge of the car hire itself - but the policies often exclude a number of potential areas of claim, such as punctures, windscreen or mirror damage too.”

Many of these car rental companies have limited excess cover on their policies, meaning holidaymakers involved in an accident or having their car hire broken into or stolen can still be severely out of pocket even if they have purchased excess protection policies from car rental firms.

Policies are available through moneymaxim, some offering to cover excesses of up to US$80,000 on worldwide policies, at a fraction of the cost a policy from a Car Hire Company or Car Rental Broking company charge.

European cover runs from under £2 a day or less than £39 a year, with a range from Worldwide excess policies under £3 a day or less than £48 a year. Some annual policies cover trip periods of up to 60 days making them exceptional value.

Bower concludes:

“We really recommend car renters look carefully at their rental agreement well before they travel – that way they can check what excesses apply and obtain cheap cover if they wish to. It also removes any pressure to buy additional expensive products whilst standing at a foreign rental desk – a situation many of our customers say they have found themselves in.”

** Moneymaxim research into the Australian car rental market found that for a Sydney rental from CarHire3000, part of the Travel Jigsaw group, an extract from their terms and conditions reading:

‘Your rental includes Collision Damage Waiver and Theft Protection with an excess of between $3300 + tax and $5500 + tax. For groups IFMR, LFMR the excess is $5500.

If the vehicle is involved in a single vehicle accident, a higher excess of $5,500-$7,700 will apply. Please note that the TravelJigsaw Excess Refund Product does not cover this higher level of excess”

Source:moneymaxim.co.uk

Questor for motorhome hire insurance

2011-02-23T04:24:00.000-08:00

Came across this posting on the "Out & About Live" website

An article by Chloë Hukin that was added on Monday 21st February 11.

"The quest for motorhome hire insurance"

Questor, a leading insurance provider for motorhomes, believes that UK holidaymakers are being savvy and choosing to hire motorhomes as a way of escaping the unpredictable British summer.

A poll by TripAdvisor also found that 37 per cent of holidaymakers will be venturing outside the UK this year, compared with 27 per cent last year.

If you're unsure about taking the plunge and buying a motorhome, hiring as a practice-run could also be the answer.

“Motorhome holidays are a cost effective way of escaping the unpredictable British weather in comfort and style, but remember that, unlike hotel rooms, you have to insure them against theft or damage," says Questor CEO Andrew Lawrence.

“I would urge people who are renting motorhomes to remember to check the hire agreement carefully and make sure they understand what it does and doesn’t include.

In particular, check the excess on the rental agreement and what you are responsible for. Questor’s Motorhome excess reimbursement policy covers the excess on the hire agreement up to £2,000 for European rentals and £5,000 for worldwide rentals and includes loss or damage to tyres, the windscreen and the keys of the hired vehicle."

“We also recommend that you carefully check the vehicle before leaving the pick-up point noting any damage to the vehicle with the hiring company as well as checking that the tyres are legal. Finally, holidaymakers must make sure that their driving licence covers motorhomes.”

Questor’s motorhome hire insurance is easy to buy and starts at just £21.17.XXX Drivers must between 25 and 70 years of age, and rental cover can last up to 31 days.

For more informaton or to get a quote visit www.questor-insurance.co.uk/jml

-----------------------------

XXX The daily price of Questor's campervan / motorhome excess insurance is £7.14 per day

Questor also offer car hire excess insurance on a daily rate or annual rate and further details can be found at http://www.insurance4carrental.com/questor.htm

If you are thinking of hiring a motor home / campervan Holiday Autos now offer this facility and find out more at http://www.holidayautos.co.uk/cgi-bin/liveweb.sh/QSearch.w?ctryref=GBR&lang=EN&aff=xjeffreymilnerltd

With people facing cutbacks in their household incomes this year, why not consider taking to the road in a motorhome?

Carrentals.co.uk sees 8% rise in demand for long haul bookings for February 2011 half term

2011-02-22T07:07:00.001-08:00

British holidaymakers who are keen to get away this half term - despite Air Passenger Duty increases and Government cutbacks. Carrentals.co.uk, the leading car hire comparator, has reported a rise in long haul bookings rise by 8% this year.

The findings, which are based on a comparison of bookings for February half term in 2011 with those from 2010, demonstrate a significant rise in demand for long haul holidays, with some of the most popular destinations revealed as Auckland, Los Angeles, Cape Town, Jamaica and Sydney.

Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, says: “Following an eventful 12 months in the travel industry, many companies have been offering some very enticing deals to boost booking numbers and customers have really been able to benefit from this."

After the extreme temperatures the UK has been experiencing in the past couple of months it’s not surprising that a higher number of people are keen to get away for some winter sunshine and with the fantastic deals that have been on offer, the half term options available to travellers have been extended. We are still seeing many bookings for the popular short haul destinations, such as southern Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands, but with a marked increase in those further afield, such as Mexico, South Africa and the USA.”

In addition to those looking for sunshine breaks, Carrentals.co.uk is also seeing strong demand for ski car hire, with Geneva, Salzburg and Munich all seeing a year on year increase of over 30% for half term bookings.

“Any customers still waiting to book their half term car hire should do so as soon as possible to secure the best deal and a wider choice of vehicles,” adds Gareth. “If there are no cars available at a specified location, for example at an airport, it is worth looking for downtown destinations as often the demand will not be quite as high and customers will have a wider choice.”

A week’s half term car hire at Orlando Airport starts from £13* per day, from £12* per day at Cape Town Airport, from £11* per day at Abu Dhabi Airport, from £9* per day at Malaga Airport and from £19* per day at Salzburg Airport.

“People are always looking to get away for some sunshine through the winter, especially as we've seen sub-zero temperatures over the past few months. Holidays have been extended due to the excellent travel deals that have been on offer, and we have seen a rise in long haul holidays to Mexico, the USA and South Africa as well as the short haul regular trips to the Canary Islands, southern Spain and Portugal.”

There has been a 30% rise in ski car hire compared to 2010's half term holiday, which shows that people are keen to head off to the slopes as much as taking sunshine holidays. Trips to Munich, Salzburg and Geneva have seen the largest increase.

Carrentals.co.uk is the UK’s leading car hire comparison site, comparing deals from brands including Alamo, Auto Europe, Budget, Holiday Autos and Sixt.

Source Carrentals

Questor insurance continues to be discounted on sales generated via jml Group websites

2011-02-17T07:56:00.001-08:00

In October it was announced that customers purchasing Questor Car hire insurance before the end of December 2010 will qualify for a 10% discount if they purchase on line using a dedicated link from a jml Insurance / insurance4carrental.com website.

This offer has now been extended till the 30th June 2011. Find out more by following this link http://www.insurance4carrental.com/questor.htm#Discount

Questor offers - Car Hire Excess Insurance and Motor Home and Camper Van Insurance.

Questor Insurance Services Limited of Gallery 4, 12 Leadenhall Street London EC3V 1LP are Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority - Firm reference 466942. The car hire excess insurance policies are underwritten by White Horse Insurance(Ireland) Limited

Questor Insurance also provides car hire excess insurance for other companies including Carrentals and Intasure.

Carrentals.co.uk adds insurance for car hire

2011-02-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

Carrentals.co.uk adds insurance for car hire

Make Sure You’re Insured if you are going skiing warns Travel Insurer Protectyourbubble.com

2011-02-16T07:37:00.001-08:00

Make Sure You’re Insured if you are going skiing warns Travel Insurer Protectyourbubble.com

Holiday Autos Half Term offers 24 hours deadline!!

2011-02-16T02:44:00.000-08:00

We have just had a "flyer" in from Holiday Autos.

The half term holidays are just around the corner (and in some places already here) and they have deals for Florida and the UK.

With car hire from £12 per day, that's up to 25% off. Hurry - this exclusive offer only lasts for 24 hours.

This offer applies to bookings made before 10am on 17 February 2011, for selected rentals until 31 March 2011.

Other great half-term ideas for the perfect escape:
Cyprus car hire fr £6 per day
Greece car hire fr £12 per day
Turkey car hire fr £16 per day
Germany car hire fr £25 per day
Morocco car hire fr £26 per day

To enter the Holiday Autos website follow this link http://www.holidayautos.co.uk/cgi-bin/liveweb.sh/QSearch.w?ctryref=GBR&lang=EN&aff=xjeffreymilnerltd (All dealings are with Holiday Autos)

With half term holidays so close don't forget to buy your car hire insurance in advance. In fact with several providers you can buy it many weeks in advance of when you want to use it. Find out more at http://www.insurance4carrental.com/#Click

Forgot that Travel Insurance? Well there are a great selection of companies advertising their products at http://www.jml-insurance.co.uk/products.php?id=8 - Don't forget your insurance.... Insurance is one essential you can't afford to be without today.

Rent an eco car

2011-02-15T08:38:00.000-08:00

Just had an email altert in from Stars'n'Bars in Monaco and this was all about the MonacoUSA Happy Hour on Thursday February 17.

Moving about on their website I came across this page - "Rent an Eco car" -
Stars’n'Bars is delighted to be assisting Monaco’s first 4-wheel electric car rental company MC ECO RENTAL. The new company offers residents and tourists the chance to tour in and around the principality with zero emissions.

The fleet consists of 6 Estrima Biro, 2-seater urban cars that are 100% electric and be charged on a traditional plug. The cars can be rented by the hour, half-day, day, week or month. Reserve by telephone and the car can be delivered to your preferred location or picked up at the Stars'n'Bars.

Looking at the mc-eco-rental website you can hire these electric vehicles at starting price of €15.

Their website is in French and to rent one of their cars you will need the following:

Pour louer le véhicule, il vous sera demandé de présenter une pièce d'identité ainsi qu'un permis de type A1 (équivalent BSR) ou B1, et une caution de 600 euros (par carte bancaire, non débitée) jusqu'à 24h de location, et de 1500€ pour plus de 24h.

Une assurance supplémentaire pourra également être souscrite par le locataire, pour un montant forfaitaire de 30€ (non remboursable, ramenant ainsi le montant de la caution à 300€ (jusqu'à 24h - nous consulter pour plus de 24h -).

The little car has just about enough space for two people (driver and passenger) and measuring 1m X 1,74 so it is not going to be hard to park and ideal for touring Monaco.

They obviously don't go too quickly, however if you are wanting to see the "traffic" moving around Monaco ....FAST then the Stars'N'Bars 3 storey restaurant is located directly in front of the Grand Prix “paddocks” where the greatest Formula 1 drivers in the world and their teams set up headquarters during the four day Monaco racing event every May.

For those who like visting the Historic Monaco Grand Prix - Grand Prix Historique de Monaco that is held on the same streets every other year. Next date will be May 2012
More information at http://www.cotedazurrental.com/historic_monaco_grand_prix.htm

Why you should buy rental car Insurance

2011-02-12T00:42:00.000-08:00

Selecting a rental car can be fun. Looking for the model you want and searching for the best deal or special offer can be rewarding. Often however, you won’t actually get the model you thought you were going to get when you go to collect it.

Looking for the best deal possible on rental car insurance doesn’t have quite the same obvious appeal but it can save you lots of money and potentially, from needless expenditure.

Once the rental car has been found and the rates checked is when it is necessary to sit back and consider the insurance position. Does the car come with all the types of insurance you need? Is the cover under each category sufficient to give you peace of mind? Are their any costs and exclusions that are perhaps not immediately obvious when looking at the headline price? Is there really any alternative to taking what the rental company are offering by way of insurance cover?

The car rental deal may or may not come with some insurance included in the price. If it doesn’t, the rental company will offer it to you as separately purchasable elements. In such a situation, you are under no obligation to take their offerings – you can purchase your own cover from a direct insurance provider at a fraction of the cost the rental company would charge.

In other cases the rental company may include some or several components of insurance into the rental price. In those situations you can check with the rental company to see if they will offer a ‘rental only’ price without the cost of their insurance built in. That may also give you the possibility to purchase your own at a much lower cost though some rental companies may be unable to offer a ‘rental only’ price if the rental price is a special deal that includes mandatory insurance.

If the car rental company’s rental car insurance is included in the rental price and cannot be unpackaged from it, you may also wish to check it carefully. That’s because their basic insurance often excludes some areas of the rental vehicle from damage cover (i.e. you’ll have to pay if they’re damaged).

It’s also possible that their third-party cover for damage you may do to others is capped at a maximum payout level that’s far too low given high court awards following an accident. If all that’s not enough, it is worth checking the excess on their policy. That’s the amount of money you may have to pay towards the costs of any accident – typically this will sit at somewhere between £500 and £1,500 or euro / US Dollar equivalent.

Even if you have rental car insurance from the car hire company, you may feel that it is just not enough to cover the risks. In that case you can once again check out the direct insurance providers on the Internet. They also offer rental car insurance that exists to ‘bridge the gaps’ in the car rental company’s basic cover.

If you have to pay the rental company for excess following an accident or for repairs to areas of the rented vehicle not covered by their insurance policy, your own direct policy would reimburse you. The policies and offerings of these direct insurers may be worth a look if you’re keen to save some money at the same time as getting better insurance cover in place.

Source: insurance4carhire

New Poll reveals that Brits are stressed when driving on holiday

2011-02-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

British holidaymakers find driving abroad stressful and the results from the poll by the car hire comparison website are as follows: 10% are stressed by driving on the right hand side of the road; 47% find driving in unfamiliar areas stressful; 26% are stressed with local drivers' actions on the roads; and 14% don't know the road rules for the country they are visiting.

Read all of this Carrentals.co.uk PRESS RELEASE by following this link to the insurance4carrental.com website
New Poll reveals that Brits are stressed when driving on holiday

Holiday Autos find your February 11 escape

2011-02-08T00:12:00.000-08:00

Holiday Autos the international car hire broker company has some great deals on offer this February.

Under "find your February escape"

They suggest Celebrate Valentine's with your loved one. Whisk them away to one of their top romantic cities, hire a car for two and see the sights. Lisbon from £9 per day - Barcelona from £9 per day - Rome from £18 per day - London from £18 per day - Paris from £26 per day.

Alternatively for more people..your family, what about Sun or ski? Take a look at their recommendations for a great family holiday and then hire the perfect car for your family's needs.

Paphos from £6 per day - Malaga from £9 per day - Tenerife from £14 per day - Verona from £18 per day - Geneva from £24 per day

Where do I go next? You click on this link http://www.holidayautos.co.uk/cgi-bin/liveweb.sh/QSearch.w?ctryref=GBR&lang=EN&aff=xjeffreymilnerltd and drive away

Irish Car Rental Companies make customers buy their car hire insurance by imposing financial constraints

2011-02-06T01:27:00.001-08:00

If you are renting a car in Ireland apart from paying for the car rental in advance on line, you will more than likely have to pay the car rental company a lot of money as "a deposit" if you have purchased your car hire excess insurance separately and not from the car hire company.

Irish car rental companies are making it very difficult for customers to use independently purchased car hire excess insurance by insisting they pay a large deposit at the time of hire. Unless you are carrying a credit card with a high credit amount that can cover an instant deduction of €1,300 or more you have to buy their very expensive product.

See all this article Here

Hire car firm rip-offs in Australia are driving customers mad

2011-02-03T09:39:00.001-08:00

Below are some extracts from an article appearing online on the 1st February 2011.

Read it all at: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/hire-car-tricks-exposed/story-e6frfq80-1225995367110#ixzz1Cv2hw1PD

The survey of 2,500 Australians by consumer ratings agency Canstar Blue showed that many are frustrated when they do not receive the car model they had booked.

Customers have also been left enraged when the cost of a hire car is jacked up at the point of collection due to additional insurance charges and extra fees.

Despite being increasingly frustrated by these “unfair” tactics, the survey also showed that two out of five Australians don’t read the terms and conditions in full before finalising their hire car transaction.

Of particular concern, over 30 per cent of consumers are not aware that car hire operators can debit their card for an unlimited amount to cover vehicle damage and other terms

Tips for dealing with hire car companies:

- Read all of the terms and conditions before you sign

- Take photos of the car before you drive off, focussing on any existing damage, the fuel gauge, and noting the kilometres. Make sure the hirer is present and signs off on the inspection

- Fill up the petrol tank before you return it

- Make sure the car is relatively clean – inside and out

- Reduce the excess payable

- Book online to avoid an over-the-counter extra fee

- Avoid car rental companies at airports as they often charge extra

- Try using a debit card with limited funds available instead of a credit card (check beforehand that they will accept it though)

- Challenge an unfair fee either with the company or with the ACCC

See also: New law to fight against travel 'rip-offs'

If you are off to Australia take a look at car hire excess insurance - Driving abroad guide for Australia Here and don't forget to buy car hire excess insurance for your visit to Australia there are a lot of companies advertising at http://www.insurance4carrental.com

New law to fight against travel 'rip-offs' in Australia

2011-02-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

Australian travellers will now be able to fight back against any unfair airline and car hire practices due to a landmark new consumer law.

The Australian Consumer Law has been dubbed a “once-in-a-generation reform to consumer law” and is set to overhaul the travel industry.

So if you are thinking of hiring a car in Australia take a look at this page first

If you are off to Australia take a look at car hire excess insurance - driving abroad guide for Australia Here

Protectyourbubble.com is featured provider on insurance4carrental blog February 2011

2011-02-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

Every month into the early part of 2011 we are featuring one of the car hire insurance, van hire insurance or motorhome insurance providers who advertises on http://www.insurance4carrental.com/
For February 2011 we are featuring Protectyourbubble.com.

They offer a range of quality products including car hire excess insurance that are realistically priced and constantly growing and evolving to meet the needs of their customers. From buying a policy to making a claim, they want to build long-term relationships with their customer base.

They are a young, dynamic company benefiting from a heritage that enables them to swiftly and effectively listen and respond to market trends. Protect your bubble is part of a professional, credible and successful organisation, Assurant Solutions, which operates in the US, South America, Canada, China, Europe, the UK and Ireland.

Their ultimate parent company is Assurant, Inc. which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ.

Protect your bubble Car Hire insurance is underwritten by White Horse Insurance Ireland Limited (a Thomas Cook Group Company) and administered on their behalf by Questor Insurance Services Limited who are authorised by the Financial Service Authority.

Protect you bubble’s Car Hire Insurance is available to anyone renting a car with a value less than $80,000, who is aged 21 - 84 and has an internationally recognised full driving licence. If you live in the UK or Ireland cover in your home country is included and we have an option to allow rentals that start close to your home.

There are offer two products to choose from:

A Daily policy insuring a single car rental agreement up to 180 days in length or;
An Annual policy insuring unlimited car rental agreements in the year up to 31 days per rental.

With Protect your bubble Car Hire Insurance, for as little as £2.37 a day or £38.09 a year you can cover the excess on the car rental agreement up to £2,000 in any one claim or £3,000 in total each car rental agreement.

To find out more pay a visit to the Protectyourbubble.com advertising page HERE

insurance4carrental.com celebrates 2 successful years of trading

2011-02-01T05:59:00.000-08:00

insurance4carrental.com celebrates 2 successful years of trading