What is car hire excess insurance?
Car hire excess insurance is an optional insurance coverage which can protect you from the excess costs that you are required to pay in the event that your hire car is damaged or stolen.
You have two options when it comes to covering your excess:
- Purchase it in advance, from a third-party provider like insurance4carhire.
- Purchase it from your car rental company. This can often be more expensive and sometimes covers fewer things than our cover.
How does it work with insurance4carhire?
As an example, if your excess with the car rental company were £500 and you needed to make a claim, you would pay the rental company £500 and they would pay the remaining cost of the claim.
You'd then claim back the £500 you paid, through insurance4carhire's online claims process.
Car hire excess insurance is an optional insurance coverage which can protect you from the excess costs that you are required to pay in the event that your hire car hire is damaged or stolen.
How car hire excess insurance works
One story, two very different scenarios: without and with a car hire excess policy from insurance4carhire
Without car hire excess insurance
You're on holiday in France and you're unfamiliar with driving on the right hand side of the road. You accidentally clip the edge of the road, puncturing a tyre and damaging paintwork.
This costs £750 to repair. Your excess with the car rental company is £500, so you will have to pay the company £500 and they will pay the remaining £250.
Cost to you: £500.
With car hire excess insurance
You have taken out insurance4carhire's Annual Europe policy* in preparation for your holiday in France. You clip the edge of the road, puncturing a tyre and damaging paintwork. This costs £750 to repair.
Your excess with the car rental company is £500, so you will have to pay the company £500 and they will pay the remaining £250. However, you then claim with insurance4carhire and receive a refund of £500 for your excess.
Cost to you: From £46.99*.
Why choose a policy from insurance4carhire?
Excess cover is often offered when you pick up your rental car, but at a high cost - between £9 and £20 per day). A policy from insurance4carhire will cost you from £12.79 per trip or from £46.99 per year* and will cover your excess - up to £6,500 per claim.
What about CDW?
Most car hire companies around the world include this type of insurance as standard when you hire your car. However, in some countries, such as those in North America and central America do not. It is also becoming increasingly common for car rental companies in Europe not to include this cover. To meet the needs of car renters travelling to these countries, insurance4carhire offers a Worldwide Plus CDW & SLI annual policy.
Daily versus annual car hire excess insurance
The key difference between our daily and annual car hire excess insurance policies is that daily policies are available for periods of up to 60 days at a time and can cover you almost anywhere in the world*. However, please note that you'll need to take out a new policy with each car rental agreement.
Our annual car hire excess insurance policies, on the other hand, allow you to cover your excess for up to 60 days at a time as many times as you like over the course of 12 months.
* Price of £46.99 for UK,Isle of Man, Channel Islands and Republic of Ireland residents, £47.99 for Sweden residents, £49.99 for France residents, £54.99 for Netherlands residents, £74.99 for Spain and Germany residents, and £89.99 for Italy residents.
What insurance do I need to rent a van?
Van Hire Excess Insurance
Van hire excess insurance covers you for most excess charges if your rented van is stolen or damaged. It's a voluntary insurance which you can take out from the van rental company or another provider. If the van is stolen or damaged, you will be charged, and then you can claim back the expenses if the claim is covered under the policy.
Excess reduction policies bought directly through the van rental company can often be expensive and may not even cover the entire excess cost, meaning you may still be liable for a costly excess charge in the event of an accident.
If you decline the van rental company's excess cover at the counter when you collect the van and the van is later damaged or stolen, the van rental company will charge your credit card for the excess amount and you can then claim for full reimbursement on your policy, providing the claim is covered. You will need to ensure your credit card has enough credit to cover the full excess amount at the time of collecting the van, as the rental company may reserve the funds on your card even if you are not charged.
Key van hire insurance tips
- Always check what's included as well as what isn't - good advice for all insurance policies, but particularly so for van hire insurance as it can be complicated. Always check your policy carefully for features, limitations and exclusions.
- Check if basic insurance is included in the van hire price - van rental sites might not always be clear in telling you that the headline van hire price they display doesn't include even a basic insurance package. Make sure you check before you buy, or you could have to pay out for insurance separately when you arrive at the van rental desk.
- Bring a credit card when picking up your van - remember to have your credit card when picking up the van you have hired, as you'll have to leave a deposit with the van hire company to pay for the excess (which you can then claim back, if your insurer covers this - as an insurance4carhire van hire excess policy can.
- Check the condition of the vehicle and take photos of the van before you drive away - take photos of the van you are renting before you drive away or sign the rental agreement to avoid any unnecessary charges for damage that may have already been caused to the vehicle. If you notice any issues with the van, notify the hire company.
- Shop around for van hire insurance - There are a lot of deals out there for van hire insurance, and in such a competitive market, if the deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Shop around and check the details of your potential policies. Also look at the customer reviews before you book!