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Monday 24 November 2014

Yet another car hire excess waiver Insurance rip-off by car hire company

The Daily Telegraph today has featured yet another report of a holidaymaker being charged a very high fee of £335 for 14 days car hire excess waiver insurance.

According to the report Roger Wilkes hired a car for his holiday in Nice, France and was unknowingly sold extra cover he didn't want. He had booked the hire car as part of an easyJet package which included return flights from Liverpool to Nice for the whole family in July.

When taking out the package online, Mr Wilkes prepaid more than €600 (£475) for the 14-day car hire, including basic cover. He collected the car from Europcar at the airport and signed documents presented to him together with his credit card. Most of this of course is normal practice.

He and his family had waited 15 minutes in a queue and naturally wanted to get going as quickly as possible. The reader was under the impression that the amount was a deposit, however upon arriving home and reading his Barclaycard Visa statement he discovered a£ 335 charge from Europcar.

When he received an invoice from the car hire firm a few days later, he could see that the charge was for "GoZen Plus Coverage". This was excess waiver insurance which had cost him €24.16 (£19.18) a day, or €405.88 (£322.18) in total for the 14 days,. including VAT. According to the Daily Telegraph's report the €405.88 has been refunded by Europcar. Read the full report Here

Once again this is another report of a consumer being charged a very high amount for excess waiver insurance that they have purchased through a car hire company and what is more if they had purchased from an independent would have paid around £2.49 per day or annual policy from just £39.99

Find out more Here


Monday 17 November 2014

Seasonal Warning as Hiring a Car could be over £100 more expensive this Winter

The Car Hire Insurance specialist company - iCarhireinsurance.com posted an altert on their website last Thursday say in that  "Hiring a car could be over £100 more expensive this Winter"
Winter tyres and snow chains on hire cars, known as ‘winterisation charges’, are compulsory in some areas and can be up to £114.

iCarhireinsurance.com, the leading provider of stand-alone car hire excess insurance, researched the costs of five rental companies in seven European ski gateways (i.e., Geneva, Grenoble, Innsbruck, Barcelona, Turin, Sophia and Inverness) for a week's hire from 27 December 2014 to 3 January 2015.
It found the average 'winterisation' cost across the seven destinations was over £40, but could be up to £114 in Geneva with Avis, significantly increasing a customer's overall rental cost.

Paying the winterisation charge of almost £60 in Barcelona with Budget, for instance, represents an additional 30% on the original hire cost.
In Austria and Germany winter tyres are mandatory, yet despite this Avis levy a 'winterisation' charge of £25 in Innsbruck. Snow chains must also used, where instructed in mountainous areas, in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Andorra.
 
The 'winterisation' cost is included in the rental price in some instances but this varies greatly, for example Budget did not charge extra in Geneva or Innsbruck but charged £57 in Barcelona, £40 in Turin and £24 in Grenoble. In Barcelona all five rental companies charged a 'winterisation' fee averaging £53.

"Car hire companies are well known for surprise snowballing costs at the rental desk," said Ernesto Suarez, CEO and founder of iCarhireinsurance.com. "Why each individual customer should be held to account for winter tyres that have been changed once for the winter season is ludicrous and is another example of hidden costs that can make the original rental price not such a good deal."

This has been picked up by The Mail on Sunday yesterday who said in the headline "Warning for winter holidaymakers as European car hire companies add extra charges for snow chains and all-season tyres (but you'll be OK in Inverness)"

iCahireinsurance has also produced some excellent driving tips for winter driving. These are extremely useful whether you are hiring a car or taking your own car to other European countries.

For example if you are going to Italy you should carry snow chains and use as directed by local signs. Winter tyres are recommended, but are not compulsory. Mind you at the moment seeing all the videos and photos of flooding in the north your car really needs swimming pool arm bands!

To find out more about iCarhireinsurance car and van hire excess insurance, follow this link.

Tuesday 11 November 2014

Cold November here why not take a break somewhere warm and hire a car?

We are approaching mid-November. It is more like winter than like spring as it was a couple of weeks ago. The nights have become long and dark.
 
Are you planning on getting away somewhere to brighten up your life before Christmas or even after Christmas - New Year?
 
If you are then you will probably be hiring a car. Fairly straightforward, you fly or take a train to your chosen holiday spot. Go and collect the car and suddenly discover that the car you had arrange to rent for XX was going to cost you XXX. Why? Well basically when you hire a car, although it will come with some type of insurance if you have an accident or damage the wheels for example then you will have to pay the car hire company's excess on their insurance.
 
So you will need excess waiver insurance. Great idea, however you arrive at the car hire company's reception and are told the cost of the "additional insurance" could cost more than what you have paid to rent the vehicle.

These companies often make up money they have lost on a bargain deal by the commission they have earned on this rather expensive excess insurance they have just sold you.
 
What can you do? Probably not a lot at this stage as you want to get to that destination and you have to pay out for this insurance.
 
What should you have done?

You should have bought excess waiver insurance from a stand alone independent specialist insurance company before you left home. There are several of these companies advertising on the insurance4carrental.com site.

The costs are very reasonable and you can normally buy a daily policy or in many cases a better value annual policy. Questor Insurance and Insurance4carhire have a discounted product available via insurance4carrrental.com  - jml-insurance sites and carhireexcess.com, Worldwideinsure, iCarhireinsurance and Protect Your Bubble offer some great deals as well. To find out more follow this link

Going self catering? There is also Motorhome Hire Excess Waiver Insurance there too together with Van Hire and even Minibus Hire Excess Waiver Insurance.  

Friday 7 November 2014

Mini Bus Hire Excess Insurance - you might need it this weekend

Did you know that if you are hiring a minibus to take friends or colleagues on an outing to see a football match, wedding or other event that just like when you hire a car, van or motorhome you can take out Mini Bus Hire Excess Insurance from an independent insurance company.

Questor Insurance Services offer this product along with Travel Insurance, Car Hire Excess Insurance, Van Hire Excess Insurance and Motorhome Hire Excess Insurance.

Mini bus hire excess insurance has been designed to offer a complete vehicle insurance package, that doesn’t require drivers to take out separate and often costly excess waiver cover.

Whether you are hiring a mini bus for a few days or as long as a fortnight, mini bus hire excess insurance will provide you with the comprehensive cover that you need.

Looking at the Questor Insurance web site they say "Question: I am hiring a 10-seat minibus will I be covered?

Answer: Mini bus hire excess insurance gives you the flexibility to hire a mini bus that will cater to the needs of your party, whether it’s large or small.
           
Mini bus hire excess insurance provides cover for minibuses with up to 15 seats, so if you have any last minute additions to your travel group, you can be assured of full cover.

Question: If my vehicle breaks down, will I face an extra charge to move it?

Answer: If you face a breakdown on the road, mini bus hire excess insurance will ensure that you are able to continue on to your desired destination, covering towing charges up to a pre-specified limit.
           
Mini bus hire excess insurance also provides cover for loss or damage to keys, to ensure that you can get on the move again.

Question: What is covered under my mini bus hire excess insurance policy?

Answer: Mini bus hire excess insurance provides cover for all the features you would come to expect from a mini bus hire excess policy, but also provides cover for the excess on your hire agreement to a pre-specified limit. 
           
This means you will avoid having to pay expensive excess charges, the amount you pay towards a claim, with can run into the thousands. 
           
In addition, unlike standard mini bus hire insurance policies, mini bus hire excess insurance will also cover the excess on any damage that it incurred to the tyres, windscreen and under body of the hired vehicle.

It costs from £7.99 a day. Find out more at http://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/affiliate/?ag=105097