 Poster: A snowHead
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I could be hiring cars in the USA, Japan and Europe over the next 12 months.
Does anyone have any recommended annual car hire excess policies??
I've got loads of options from this comparison site so far!
https://www.moneymaxim.co.uk/
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I did use - http://www.icarhireinsurance.com - but have never had to claim so I can't say what the claims experience would be like. I haven't renewed this year as I've just got a Platinum Amex card and this includes the car hire excess insurance policy. It also includes comprehensive travel insurance and a Priority Pass that gives unlimited lounge access for the cardholder and a guest. Any supplementary Platinum card holder also gets a Priority Pass with the same guest benefits.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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http://www.insurance4carhire.com
Used them (European policy) for a few years and claimed twice. Full payout and fairly straightforward claims procedure. Adding USA adds a lot to the cost of the policy.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@rob@rar, +1
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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The car I am currently hiring in the US comes with zero excess on it. I dunno if that is something they do all the time now. Also, the excess insurance may cover somethings the CDW doesn't.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@tiffin, stand alone excess insurance will often cover damage to tyres, windscreens, roofs, stolen keys etc which may amongst other things be excluded on the hire companies CDW.
@kitenski, I use Direct Car Excess but critically buy it through Quidco to get a 25% (I think) cashback. Can't speak to the claims experience though.
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@Gaza, nice benefits but a hefty annual charge. Nat West Private Clients Black Account has similar benefits for half the price (the Priority Pass only covers the accounts holders though, no guests).
Beware though that whilst both the Amex & N/W travel insurance used to cover off piste unguided I'm pretty sure neither do now.
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There was a thing on Radio 4 last week or the week before about people getting gouged by this.
Personally I've hired cars for years and never had a claim, and my own car excess (never had a claim...) is about a grand in any case. At European hire car rates, the excess insurance can be more than the car hire cost, so the risk/ benefit doesn't really make any sense to me. That is, in my case the risk is apparently negligible, and the potential worst-case cost is not significantly more than the cost of the insurance.
I'm sure that using third parties will be significantly cheaper than taking what they try to push at you at the airport. Even so, pooling risk on something like this may not be cost effective.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Gaza wrote: |
| I did use - http://www.icarhireinsurance.com - but have never had to claim so I can't say what the claims experience would be like. I haven't renewed this year as I've just got a Platinum Amex card and this includes the car hire excess insurance policy. It also includes comprehensive travel insurance and a Priority Pass that gives unlimited lounge access for the cardholder and a guest. Any supplementary Platinum card holder also gets a Priority Pass with the same guest benefits. |
Just had a look at the Amex deal, even at £450 I might have gone for it, if the winter sports insurance had properly covered off piste.
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@jbob, get a Amex Platinum cashback credit card instead, use it for £2k a month of stuff, get £300+ cashback. Use the £300 to pay for NatWest Private Client Black and sports insurance from the broker in Chx (PM me for details) and you get the lounge access, the travel insurance, the mobile phone insurance, the euro breakdown cover, the o/p insurance (incl glacier), the mountain biking insurance, etc, all for a net £0 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@midgetbiker, I like it...but I'd be hard pressed to find anywhere that takes Amex for my regular spending
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@holidayloverxx, you do get a fair few knock backs, but all the supermarkets, all the petrol stations, plus Orange & P&O take it so I can spend 'enough'. Got an MBNA cashback Visa card to sweep up the rest 
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@philwig, An annual euro excess insurance is £40-£50 for as many out of local area hires (certain distance from home) as you like in a year. So if you do a few days a year it starts to be very economic.
Having said that despite numerous hires in UK, euro and US I have never yet claimed, but that's the nature of insurance. I am certainly very chilled about the return check in procedure mind (just drop the keys on the desk in most cases) as I know if I get an 'iffy' bill in the post then it isn't really my worry.
There, said it out loud now, bound to have jinxed myself 
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| midgetbiker wrote: |
| ... Having said that despite numerous hires in UK, euro and US I have never yet claimed, but that's the nature of insurance. I am certainly very chilled about the return check in procedure mind (just drop the keys on the desk in most cases) as I know if I get an 'iffy' bill in the post then it isn't really my worry. |
Yes, it's a choice you make. Add up the number of times you pay £50, and offset it against the few hundred quid you don't want to lose, which you never yet lost.
Insuring an insurance "excess" is particularly interesting. The more people who do it, the cheaper the core rental cost gets, so perhaps I should be in favour of it for other people
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Poster: A snowHead
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| philwig wrote: |
| midgetbiker wrote: |
| ... Having said that despite numerous hires in UK, euro and US I have never yet claimed, but that's the nature of insurance. I am certainly very chilled about the return check in procedure mind (just drop the keys on the desk in most cases) as I know if I get an 'iffy' bill in the post then it isn't really my worry. |
Yes, it's a choice you make. Add up the number of times you pay £50, and offset it against the few hundred quid you don't want to lose, which you never yet lost.
Insuring an insurance "excess" is particularly interesting. The more people who do it, the cheaper the core rental cost gets, so perhaps I should be in favour of it for other people |
I had an car damaged during a company car hire, the excess cost was thousands from memory. The £50 per year doesn't seem so bad if your hiring regularly, this will only be the 2nd time I've ever bought such a policy though!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I only started taking annual excess insurance when I started hiring cars/vans for ski holidays. Watching small children in ski boots sliding across a frozen car park carrying their skis and poles horizontally in their hands made me very glad of the insurance. It's really easy to get the paintwork scratched in these places and some rental companies seem to make most of their profits from charging for damage.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@kitenski, agreed. For Europe I pay £39.99 and i've had back more in 2 claims than I'll every pay in premiums.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Yeah, I don't want to pool my risk with people who have significantly more risk than I do.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@philwig, Hmm, because people who e.g. are parked in a car park and someone rolls into them because the handbrake is off (as I witnessed last week) have the same risk status as you, unless you always park in a private garage. It's not always in your control. Same with self insuring for skiing - someone takes you out then bugs off (like the situation with hells bells OH when his neck was broken), it's not your fault but the consequences will rest with you.
I get that you have chosen your path of self insure, I hope it pays off for you over your lifetime, but people who ask about insurance are those who (generally I expect) can work out the cost-benefit but don't have your risk appetite, otherwise they wouldn't be asking about insurance.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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You can also buy excess insurance from the above mentioned sites by clicking through from Quidco or Topcashback and get a significant discount in the form of cashback.
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cheers everyone gone with
http://www.insurance4carhire.com
as they appear well recommended and have paid out!
Interestingly going via a comparison site the price offered was £46.99 but £49.99 on their site directly. Quidco gives me 15% cash back 
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I hire a car virtually every week at Stansted as I 'commute' to Essex from my home near Edinburgh. I generally pay between £60 and £80 for 3 days car hire. Europcar charge around £20 per day to reduce the excess to zero otherwise it is £1000. For £50 a year it is a no-brainer to cover this. Car Hire companies make more profit on the insurance than they do on the rentals. Because of this they heavily push the excess reduction insurance. The flip side of this is they scrutinise cars on the return, especially if you haven't taken the excess insurance and then try to gouge you for cost of damage. I've been renting at STN for around 14 months and now know most of the check-in guys and they barely give my cars a second look before issuing me with the return confirmation.
A few weeks ago my wife hired a car in Belfast. She declined Budgets excess insurance as she has cover through our Platinum Amex. They tried the hard sell and my wife was beginning to feel that they would not give her the keys if she didn't take it. At this point she called me and handed the phone to the Budget rep. I told him she would not be taking any additional insurance as we were covered by a third party policy.
Unsurprisingly on the return they found "damage" that was not there when my wife collected the car. See the photo below.
It was a scratch on the door handle that would have taken 2 minutes with T-Cut to remove. My wife insists that she didn't cause it but Budget insisted she complete an accident form. She refused as she felt it would be an admission of guilt. Almost immediately Budget charged the full £1000 deposit to our Amex account. When I saw this going through a few days later I immediately raised a dispute with Amex. We also contacted Budget and informed them of the chargeback.
A few days later Budget contacted us to say they had reviewed the damage and were now classing it a 'wear and tear'.
Ultimately I wasn't too bothered about the charge as I knew it would be covered by the Amex insurance. However, I hate companies taking the wee wee and would have been prepared to fight it all the way.
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FAQ
