[TominScotland]

Does anyone use this insurance – looking at one at about £70 which covers damage and other costs up to £6,000? I am fed up with the charges that are made against minor wear and tear scratches and the like to cars and the cost of this insurance at point of hire is crazy.

Any advice?

[capetonianm]

Don’t even think about it, just take it.

Mine has saved me hundreds of pounds over the years and takes a major part of the stress away from the process. The average daily cost of what the rental companies refer to as ‘Super CDW’ or similar to reduce your excess from, typically £500, to zero, is £10. You only have to rent for 7 days and you’re in profit.

It does annoy me when the car rental operators charge for fictitious damage, or what most people would call reasonable wear and tear, and I usually try to fight it, but I have the security blanket of knowing that if they don’t back down, the annual policy will cough up.

I have claimed for blowouts in Africa, scratches in Surrey, cracked windscreen in Ireland (gravel chips thrown up from a lorry) and am about to claim for two new tyres on a rented Mercedes earlier this week. My dear wife hit a chicane and didn’t tell me, until I noticed a bulge the size of an egg on the sidewall of a front tyre. When questioned : “Oh, well there was this noise but I didn’t think it mattered.” The other tyre had to be replaced too as it had a previous defect, a cut in the middle of the tread which they hadn’t noticed.

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mkcol74, PhilipHart

[scotscrew]

Yes been using Questor Insurance for years and at under £50 for a years European cover it’s great value, you can even add a second lead driver for a small additional cost if living at the same address. Had a couple of claims due to over zealous car hire agents in Spain. Both claims settled easily although you do have to do a bit of scanning of contracts and licence etc. The car hire company will take a deposit from a credit card depending on the size of vehicle, if there is any damage they will take part or all of the deposit and it’s up to you to claim it back from your insurer. I’ve saved thousands over the years by not taking the car hire companies expensive insurance. Some car hire firms will try and scare you into taking their cover but as the years go by and they see I don’t ever take it, they give up the hard sell. Well worth it in my experience.

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PhilipHart

[Jules61]

Hi Tom,

As a frequent traveller have you considered the American Express Platinum card? Includes the car hire insurance as well as full travel insurance and even cover for winter sports plus other benefits.

It’s not cheap but I find it very useful (and no, I’m not affiliated in any way to them!).

[Tom Otley]

A few more recommended here on these previous threads

Car rental excess annual policy

Ryanair and not so Thrifty/Hertz car hire – extra insurance rip-off

[Charley Whiskey]

Definitely recommend it. I use https://www.insurance4carhire.com/ and have only claimed once – when I backed a Land Rover Defender into a hidden tree stump in Botswana, and they paid up without any problem. Complete peace of mind at a very affordable price.

1 user thanked author for this post.

DerekVH

[NorskSaint]

Like David I use insurance4carhire, now claimed twice and both times have been simple to deal with and receiving the costs back. As others have said, Don’t think twice about it and most definitely get it.

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DerekVH

[capetonianm]

I will also endorse insurance4carhire. They are efficient and pleasant to deal with and scrupulously fair. I think their callcentre is in Latvia, all the people speak excellent English and they understand what you are asking them, not like the automatons in Europcar ‘customer service’ with whom I spent half an hour on the the phone to make them understand that the Rental Agreement shows a completely different car to the one we had. That of course is impossible, and when I told that chap that then they achieved the impossible, it went right over his head. I need to get the RA reissued to show the correct car.

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DerekVH

[KennyK14]

Only problem I have had with insurance4carhire is that they automatically increase your renewal premium (excessively so, IMO). I therefore always shop around at renewal time. I have used 3-4 companies over the last 10 years, and they all been very good, and easy to deal with.

[TiredOldHack2]

[quote quote=953569]I use https://www.insurance4carhire.com/%5B/quote%5D

Same here. Haven’t had to claim yet, thank God, but just got pissed off with car hire companies ripping me off. Most recently, in Prague earlier this month, the additional ‘waiver’ charges were ridiculous. I just smiled, said I had an insurance policy for this, and declined. The lad behind thre Avis desk had obviously heard this before. He nodded understandingly and left it.

Hire a car more than once a year, for a week or more each time, and the cost of the policy is less than the full ‘cover’ offered by the car hirer.

When you think about it, someone is making a tidy and honest living out of the dishonesty of the car hire industry.

[AnthonyDunn]

Tom,

Just do it. Spent £40 and have finally, after lord knows how many years, finally had a very low speed scrape. This was priced by Avis at nearly £700. Why/How? Because they are pricing both the repair and the lost revenue of having a vehicle not out for hire. That’s why you need this cover.

1 user thanked author for this post.

GivingupBA

[ASK1945]

Like all the above I also use https://www.insurance4carhire.com (for “donkeys years”) and I had no problem with them the one time I had to claim. And, I have not experienced any undue increase in my premiums.

Is there any other industry that attempts to rip off its customers more than the car hire one? I have just had another refund by Amex from a post-rental charge by one company, which I had no idea what it is for and the company have failed to produce an invoice to show it.

[FaroFlyer]

Tom, I also use insurance4carhire and find them very good. Assuming that you are UK based go through Quidco and get about 15% cashback on the policy payment.

As KennyK says, they do seem to ramp up the fee each year, but I just take a new policy each year, and get the Quidco as well, which you don’t get by simply renewing.

1 user thanked author for this post.

ASK1945

[ASK1945]

[quote quote=953665]

As KennyK says, they do seem to ramp up the fee each year, but I just take a new policy each year, and get the Quidco as well, which you don’t get by simply renewing.[/quote]

Like you, I also do not renew but take out a new policy just before my next car hire, after the previous policy has lapsed. That may be why I have not experienced a hike in premiums.

Thanks for the Quidco tip: I hadn’t appreciated this one.

2 users thanked author for this post.

FaroFlyer, DerekVH

[TiredOldHack2]

[quote quote=953661]a post-rental charge by one company[/quote]

It wasn’t Avis, perchance?

[Author]

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