Annual Car Rental Extra Insurance

A snowHead

This is regarding insurance policies for car rentals, for the additional cover like collision damage and theft etc. Car rental companies notoriously charge an arm and a leg for this. People variously mention companies that offer this independently at much less overall cost. But it takes some searching to find the references. So I thought I'd have a thread where people can mention who they have policies with and any claims experience and recommendations etc.

A snowHead

Insurance4carhire Used them several times - FAR cheaper than taking the hire company's excess. One claim (for callout for a flat tyre and related complications) settled without a problem though, as expected, I paid upfront.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Most of the major comparison sites will let you shop around for vehicle hire excess insurance. I’ve used reducemyexcess in the past, never needed to claim, though.

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I have used Questor for a few years now about £40 for European cover. Their call centre is pretty good and I have claimed once with little hassle (as long as you have/can get all the right paperwork needed).

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Vehicle excess cover is very different from full CDW etc needed for US. My experience is that it's hard as a UK resident to find CDW exclusive rentals as the default is to include it ( often quite reasonably if you're going through a consolidator).

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I've not rented a car in the US since I rented one from Hertz for $99 a month, unlimited mileage and did a huge and wonderful winter road trip, spending Christmas in Denver and new year shooting (or in my case failing to shoot) squirrels in Selma Alabama.

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We take out an annual excess policy also with Insurance4carhire.

Think it was £60 for worldwide cover incl USA and Canada for the year.

Luckily we’ve not had to claim from them but my uncle did and like @pam w, it was all straight forward.

After all it is free

I've also recently had a large claim very well handled by insurance4carhire

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Always use insurance4carhire, one claim settled quickly and fuss free. Always buy through topcashback as it reduces the cost significantly.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

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Another vote for insurance4carhire which worked out well for me when I claimed a few years back.

Similarly American Express platinum (full cdw, not just excess cover) was good with a claim, and paid out swiftly and in full on a claim last year.

I don’t understand why the car rental companies don’t do their own annual policies as a way of driving repeat business/locking customers in. They could charge a decent premium as it would be hassle-free in terms of not needing paperwork.

Another vote for Insurance4carhire, think it was £40 for European and UK cover for the year.

Had a claim from Goldcar and they paid within a week

You know it makes sense.

Insurance4carhire were great when I had issues in Spain a few years ago. Simple system to make a claim and a quick payout.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@mountainaddict, @j b, my Hertz car hire was Christmas/New Year 1970/71. The squirrels, shot in Alabama not by me, were subsequently turned into breakfast by the mother of Vernon, a friend from the Harvard Law School. It was served with "grits 'n gravy" as an example of traditional southern fare. As we were in a car with a Yankee licence plate I was told that if we were stopped by the police I was the one who had to talk. This was just 5 years after the famous Selma race riots. The driver of a car with Boston plates stopped by police in Alabama was better advised to be Welsh than Yankee.

The friend I travelled with, also a Harvard Law Student, was very amused when I suggested, after some thousands of miles, that perhaps we should check the car's tyre pressures and oil level. I was assured there was no need for such old-fashioned concerns with American cars.

Yes - thread diversion, sorry!

I have no idea what insurance the car had..... Embarassed

A snowHead

There are issues with small print.

Things like whether recovery is within the policy.

Think I use reduce my excess as they were the ones I chose a few years ago and often give you a good discount on renewal

But incredibly reasonably priced not that i have ever had the misfortune to claim (had a Portuguese car hire company bothered to clean the car properly they would not have left the papers from a previous hirer showing the damage they tried to stuff us for.....)

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@countryman, why would recovery be in a policy for damage excess,

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Aviva premier? (or plus?) car insurance includes free hire car excess insurance which is handy! It might sway your choice when you come to reinsure.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Sounds great @pam w! Mrs MA is amazed when I remember the price of ski hols, lift passes etc from 30 years ago - but I'm not sure I'll know them in another 20-odd years! Laughing

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So thanks for all the replies, and it looks like Insurance4carhire gets the most votes.

One thing I must admit that I hadn't realised is that their cover is only for excess, not if you have collision damage waiver. So you do still have to take out CDW.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@LaForet, yes you need the CDW, this is to cover the excess only. Its always included in any car hire I've used. I haven't hired in North America though

After all it is free

Another vote for insurance4carhire. About £40 a year, one claim for a scratched alloy (about £600), paid within 24hrs. Next year’s premium actually went down!

@andy from embsay, and biy through quidco for cashback

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@Bones, some of us have more claims paid out than we will ever pay in premiums

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@holidayloverxx, spot on. My claim was about 15 years premiums!

@andy from embsay, mine was 30 years!. (and that was just one)

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

I used eversure and directexcess. Google discount codes because there is always something available. I've had couple claims from directexcess and 1 from eversure. In both cases something was wrong in my paperwork (or lack of it) and both companies did best to resolve, e.g. by contacting car rental directly.
HOWEVER, please read T&Cs!
If you go to Switzerland or Germany and use one of the big brands it's very likely you will end up with a car faster or more expensive than what T&Cs allow for and it could cause an issue (luckily directexcess didn't check it for one of my claims or ignored it).

Not sure about the latest amex T&Cs but couple years ago they didn't have exclusions related to acceleration or car value.
Oh, and one more thing. In some countries SIXT offers possibility of renting a car without additional cover, i.e. you end up having TP only. I once was closed to accidently booking it.

A snowHead

I have a Revolut Metal plan which includes Car Hire Excess insurance up to £2000. I had to make a Sixt claim a few months ago, they do ask for lots of documents (passport/drivers licence/invoice/photos/damage report), but this seems fairly standard for a claim - fairly quick payout (vaguely recall 1 week).

Also the Metal plan includes the relevant following benefits (there's more on the website):
1) travel insurance (including winter sports cover) for you and immediate family, though I've not claimed (touch wood) so I'm not sure whether it will suit the hardcore skiers on this forum jumping out of helicopters! Laughing

2) better FX rates (zero fees or weekdays): it also allows you to hold CHF and EUR in a virtual wallet
3) £800 ATM withdrawal/month, including abroad (per above post, Revolut don't tend to charge a fee under this amount, but the ATM provider might)
4) SmartDelay: free lounge passes for you + travelling companions (even friends I believe) if Revolut detects your flight (which you must pre-register) is delayed by 2 hours (not sure what they use but the pass has been automatically issued before the airline told me about the delay in a couple of cases!). Could be quite handy if travelling in/out of UK when there's a speckle of snow
5) cashback on hotel/apartment bookings (I guess they get affiliate fees from expedia, which it books through)

Costs £140 for the year (just raised from £120, but they added more perks like FT subscription, tinder rolling eyes

, blah), or you can buy a monthly plan ~£15/month. For the metal plan you do get a metal card which seems "fashionable", but given I rarely use an actual card for spending and I'm not cool enough, I just use a regular one.

I would re-iterate to check T&Cs / details of their insurance policies to determine whether it covers your needs, as their limits may be lower than other policies and not cover specific things (not sure how insurers categorise ski gear damage for example)

[Caveat that I'm not a Revolut salesperson nor employee, just a happy early user sharing knowledge...and in full disclosure, I do own a teeny teeny bit of equity, but certainly not enough for a decent ski pass!]

If you do sign up, then please do use the referral link below and I'll donate any referral fees I get towards the forum...

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Annual Car Rental Extra Insurance

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