Car hire insurance

[widge]

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

Hi Kerri

Very good of you to represent ECH on the forum & as a loyal & regular customer of yours I am very pleased to see you reply to the issues raised.

I have just followed Geoff's advice & purchased insurance to cover the excess charge on an annual basis because my understanding is that if i scratch your car e.g. by hitting a gate post,this is not deemed to be a collision & is not covered by your standard insurance ? Please can you confirm if that is the case or have I just wasted £40.00 ?

Thanks in advance.

[Geoff]

....still cheaper to get the insurance if you hire for >20 days pa.......

[economycarhire]

Hello Widge,

This is Kerri from Economy Car Hire again. Apologies for my delayed response to your query.

The insurance cover included within our rental prices is described as a Full Collision Damage Waiver with No Insurance Excess but it does cover for most instances of damage as long as the damage procedure is followed.

Although it is described as Collision Damage Waiver, it isn’t restricted to a serious collision with another vehicle. That term is a standard description in the industry and is the easiest way to describe instances of damage which may occur during your rental, regardless of the severity.

As such, the hypothetical incident you described would usually be covered under the standard insurance, but you would need to follow the damage procedure outlined in the terms and conditions.

As mentioned in my previous post, the only type of damage not covered as standard is damage to the tyres, glass parts and undercarriage of the vehicle as well as additional instances such as mis-fuelling and accidental lock out. Damage to these parts can be covered by purchasing the additional Top Up Insurance we offer.

I do hope that this provides further clarification on the matter but please do let me know if you have any queries.

Kind regards,
Kerri
Economy Car Hire

[widge]

Thanks again Kerri. I have used ECH for 7 years & always favour Drive4Fun who seem to be a fair and reasonable supplier. I did scratch a car when using TravelRent through ECH last year. They demanded €120 on the spot & upon return to UK I was advised that they were within their rights to do this as I hadn't bought the top up insurance & I wasn't covered.

So I have bought an annual policy to cover any excess & always avoid TravelRent when booking through ECH.

[economycarhire]

Hello Widge,

It’s Kerri from Economy Car Hire here again.

As I explained, damage such as a scratch should be covered under the standard insurance however the damage procedure outlined in my previous posts must be followed for the insurance cover to remain valid.

I do hope that we can continue to be of assistance to you in the future.

With kind regards,
Kerri
Economy Car Hire

[Farol]

I think the difficulty that Kerri from Economy Car Hire has in explaining what is or isn't covered under their standard or top up insurance and the procedure to be followed demonstrates exactly why I have a stand alone annual policy from an insurance company.

Reputable standalone policies are well worth the money for anybody that frequently rents cars and on the one occasion that I had cause to claim for a damaged tyre there were no problems with prompt settlement.

I rented cars for over 60 days in total last year so it worked out at less than €1 per day.

[Geoff]

I concur with Farol.....the ECH option looks a lot cheaper than many car hire companies , and is probably ideal for a couple of weeks holiday....last year we hired for over 100 days ( in 3 sessions) so cost was barely €0.40 per day

[EMM]

We too have now taken out an annual policy also renting over 100 days year.
Changes in the company we used made us nervous about their atitude to minor damage, punctures etc.
We have the feeling that there are now some who are going out of their way to find faults with returned vehicles.
We n take photos ( time and date shown ) when we collect and return so that there cannot be any arguement.

[kevinandhilary]

Hello Kerri, glad to see you were moved enough to post a reply, pity you weren't moved enough to give me the 80 euro,s you owe me. However its not about the 80 euro,s, small change, its the principle. I had used you previously 6 times, i had recommended you countless times, i had used you because of you advertising full cover with no excess. This you never honoured, as mentioned previously, you dont say when you have to report the damage, and as it was such minor damage, to report it 3 days later when returning the car didnt seem unreasonable, you also dont say report it by phone or email if you cannot get to the office. your T & C,Ss should say "report immeadiatly, in person by phone or email" if that is what you meant. Also , it depends what your definition of "collision" is, 2 cars colliding on a public road ,needing the attention of the police sounds about right to me, a stationery unoccupied vehicle being slightly wacked by a passing kids bike doesnt do it for me. The fact is this was vey slight damage, reported to travelrent who assured me that my 80 euro,s would be re-imbursed by you. They saw the damage, the vehicle and me, and they expressed total confidence to me that this would be dealt with by you with a minimum of fuss. Wrong. Persnonally, and sad to say, i now know that your offer of full insurance cover with no excess is something to take with a pinch of salt, its a shame because i would have thought that using you as many times as i have to say nothing of the recommendations i have made would have made me business you value but not so. Oh well,it was nice while it lasted but i have moved on, i think you should as well.

[steve53]

We have taken out this insurance via the AA website which then directs you to insurance4carhire.com and it's about £50 for a year.

I made a claim last year for an "alleged" damage tyre which I discovered on arrival at the villa. We rented through Interrent who are cheap but slow and you get what you pay for!

Anyway we made a claim on the policy for €230 for the charge we were made on returning the car and it was settled in about 10days with no quibbles. I would definitely recommend them.

Steve