When you rent a car, are you really sure that you completely understand what your liabilities are and more specifically, where it relates to your policy for car hire excess insurance?
The rental deal that I off includes insurance.
Yes, it may do but note:
- if you're renting in the USA and a few other countries, it may not do and you'll need to purchase the insurance separately:
- in any country, your basic in the price car hire insurance very probably contains an excess and other conditions that may mean you're liable for perhaps as much as £1600+ worth of extra charges following an accident - even if you have the rental company's insurance.
What's are the exclusions and this excess charge?
CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) insurance protects you against the costs of damage to the rental company's car.
There are two important points to remember in a typical CDW deal:
- There will be an excess. This means that you will have to pay some specified amount in the first part of a claim that is made. You could find that the amount is £1600 or even more and this will be charge on your credit card:
- the typical CDW policy from a rental company excludes any damage done to tires, wheels, windows, the undercarriage, and possibly the roof - you will have to pay if any of those are damaged.
Is there anything I can do about it?
Well, you may find yourself facing one of three options:
- do nothing and hope you don't have an accident:
- buy additional top- up insurance from the rental company to cover the above risk areas:
- purchase car hire excess insurance cover from a specialist online provider.
What are the differences?
Ignoring the option of playing your luck, the insurance from a specialist provider will mean that you could claim back any charges for excess etc that you'd received from the hire company.
It may be more cost effective to go with this option rather than paying your car rental company more money to remove the excess and other charges.
You may also find that the specialists' policies provide additional cover such as personal accident, baggage cover and lost keys protection etc.
You are the only one who can really decide whether or not you want car hire excess insurance. If you do want it, you should look at all of the options that are available from car insurance specialist online providers. You need to remember to read the insurance policy carefully, because like with any policy, there will be limitations, exclusions, terms and conditions. Make sure you understand them completely.
Click here for more information on Car Hire Excess Insurance
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