Car hire insurance

[mardi]

Hi everyone,
Have any of you heard of the above insurance which covers the excess payable if your hire car gets damaged. At the moment i pay 7 euros per day to cover an excess payable but i have stumbled across insurance that costs around £50 per year that does the same job and whats more covers tyres and windows etc. As we make frequent trips to Portugal this would mean a saving of around £300 over a year. Have any of you had any experience of this type of insurance? Can anyone recommend a company?

[alf1956]

i think one of the companies is mondial.we have the yearly excess insurance at approx £50.if you search on the forum it will bring up lots of info on it&the names of the companies that provide the yearly excees policies etc

[laserblazer]

Many of use http://www.insurance4carhire.com/index. ... refID=1808 It's around £50 for Europe and £60-£70 for the rest of the world. Touch wood, I've never had to make a claim but I understand it's quite painless.

[logicbob]

I made a claim last year for a tyre that got damaged, they settled within a week. Fantastic service.

[Lesley Jean]

Yes, we have used http://www.insurance4carhire.com/index. ... refID=1808 for the past 7 - 8 years, luckily we have never had to claim so far but it is good to know they are there and that they pay out very quickly as long as you have all the offical paperwork to submit (like any insurance company)

[kevinandhilary]

on the subject of car hire insurance, my partner and i have recently been badly let down by" economy car hire" a car hire agency who operate out of Faro airport and who you book with online. We are Carvoiero property owners of 2 years, we hire our properties out through the year and have always used and recommended economy car hire as they are competitively priced and advertise, i quote, "full collision damage waiver are included(with no insurance excess)." unquote. A few weeks ago while shopping in Intermarche somebody ran into us while we were in store causing a small amount of damage. On returning the car at Faro airport we were told to pay 80 EURO,S to cover the damage and on returning to England we would be re-imbursed by economy car hire as a matter of course. Not a chance, it became immediatly obvious to me as soon as i phoned them they had no intention of meeting their obligation, the first question being "had i upon seeing the damage upon exiting Intermarche driven the 40 miles to Faro airport to report this minor damage" ridiculous. It subsequently became obvious that the small print attached to their "no insurance access" waiver was very vaquely written to give them plenty of room to squirm out of their committment.Am down 80 euro,s, annoying, but not enough to be bothered to take it further. Obviously wont be using them again, and as this is a hot topic at the moment thought there might be many out there who would welcome this information. Economy car hire, competitive pricing but very suspect insurance cover.

[sam]

....It subsequently became obvious that the small print attached to their "no insurance access" waiver was very vaquely written to give them plenty of room to squirm out of their committment.Am down 80 euro,s, annoying, but not enough to be bothered to take it further..... Economy car hire, competitive pricing but very suspect insurance cover.

Thanks for that. I have used Economy car hire for the last few years and take out their top up to cover excess, tyres etc. Never had to make a claim, will bear this in mind. Also, as now self employed I hope to be out there more often , so annual top up may be the way to go.
Regarding your 80 euros loss - any chance of recovering this via ombudsman or small claims court?

[kevinandhilary]

i just think i will put it down to experience, you start chasing these things and you find they eat up all your time, dealing with ombudsmen and the like can be equally frustrating and end up driving you up the wall, have had dealings with them in the past. agree with you and am going to have a look at annual insurance.......

[carolyn]

We too have used Economy Car Hire for many years - but never had to make a claim. In their Ts & Cs for damage to a car it says:

"A damage report must be completed by the driver for any damage to the vehicle, however minor it is. If a collision occurs, a police report and case number must also be provided. Clients must contact the car rental supplier in the event of any damage. If this procedure is not followed, the insurance cover could become invalidated, leaving clients liable for all damage."

So which part of this do they say means you must go to the point of delivery to report the damage?
Thanks.

[kevinandhilary]

hi carolyn,
i didnt want to go into a load of detail, just wanted to give people a heads up, but i will tell you exactly what occured as you use economy car hire already. the T & C is exactly as you quoted, if you read them again you will see that although it says a damage report must be completed it doesnt say when, it doesnt say "immediatly" or within "24 hours" and so as we were leaving 3 days later we reported the minor damage when we handed the car over and at that point made a damage report and handed over 80euro,s. and as you say it also states a police report must be made in the event of any collision......the collins english dictionary definition of collision is "a violent impact of moving objects, a crash" for which of course you would have to involve the police, i dont think a slight impact by what looked like a kids bike/tyre in an off road car park while the vehicle was stationary and unoccupied qualifies and i doubt the local police would be pleased about you trying to take up their time with something so minor. when i rang them at home in England to start the process of retrieving my 80 euro,s the first question i was asked by the girl was did i immediatly report the damage to the rental company and make out a damage report, we then had a 3 minute conversation were i asked did she mean i had to go to the airport , she answered yes that is what i had to do, physically make out a report, i said to her that would be ridiculous as the airport was 40 miles away and i also told her that the T & C,s didnt say you had to make out a report immediatly. a subsequent email from them did say that a phonecall would have been sufficient. the point is all you want out of insurance of any kind is if you need to make a claim they make a judgement on whether your claim is genuine or not and if it is they pay out. you dont need them looking at the small print trying to find a reason to sqirm out of it, this was obviously their policy. However, i am not telling anyone to not use them, their prices are the best around i think, but if you are ever in the situation of having to make a claim on their insurance beware, as in a lot of things its pro,s and cons i think

[Geoff]

We use " www.carhireexcess.co.uk", about £40 pa and gives cover for longer than insure4carhire....have had 2 claims, neither my fault : lot of paperwork to complee, but payment in full ( no excess) made promptly. Thoroughly recommended.

[economycarhire]

Hello,

This is Kerri from Economy Car Hire.

I would just like to clarify where we stand with regards to insurance cover.

Our prices in Portugal always include full collision damage and theft waiver with no insurance excess.

Our terms and conditions state the following in the event of any incident or damage:

"A damage report must be completed by the driver for any damage to the vehicle, however minor it is. If a collision occurs, a police report and case number must also be provided. Clients must contact the car rental supplier in the event of any damage. If this procedure is not followed, the insurance cover could become invalidated, leaving clients liable for all damage."

In this case, the damage was not reported to the local car hire supplier until the vehicle was returned at the end of the hire. Additionally, a police report and case number was not obtained. As a result, the insurance cover was invalidated and the cost of repair was passed on to the client in accordance with the terms and conditions.

Economy Car Hire also offers the option to purchase top up insurance. In this particular case, the additional top up insurance was not purchased. Had the insurance policy been in place for the rental, the client would have been able to submit a claim to recoup the costs incurred.

We are committed to assisting all customer where possible, however we are unable to provide assistance when the damage procedure has not been followed. It is the responsibility of the hirer to adhere to the terms and conditions they have agreed to.

I do hope that this provides some clarification on the matter.

Kind regards,
Kerri
Economy Car Hire

[Geoff]

while shopping in Intermarche somebody ran into us while we were in store causing a small amount of damage.

We had an incident, a year or so ago, which had some similarities....we were parked in a Lidl carpark & someone broke the lock got into the car : nothing in it to steal, fortunately! We reported it to the GNR but they wanted ( I think ) 30€ for a copy of the report! Anyway, we claimed successfully from the insurance excess insurers.....think we had the GNR report number, even if no report!

A damage report must be completed by the driver for any damage to the vehicle, however minor it is. If a collision occurs, a police report and case number must also be provided.

Whilst the GNR may not be particularly interested ( perhaps thats why they charge 30€) the insurers insist!

[Michael Crane]

....... Economy Car Hire also offers the option to purchase top up insurance. .....

I have taken this a few times. I can't remember the actual cost, but, I am tighter than pato when it comes to parting with my money so I reckon it couldn't have been much. Perhaps Kerri (if she continues to follow this topic) could tell us how much/little it is for full cover.

[economycarhire]

Hello,

It's Kerri from Economy Car Hire here again.

For reference, the additional top up insurance costs £2 per rental day and provides refundable cover for the tyres, glass parts and undercarriage of the vehicle as well as additional instances such as mis-fuelling and accidental lock out.

As a stand-alone policy, it provides refundable cover so you would be required to pay for any damage at the time, and then claim for the costs back.

I do hope this information is of use.

Kind regards,
Kerri
Economy Car Hire