Lidl Car Park, Ferraguedo

[EMM]

We have been put off taking out the annual insurance by reports that some hire companies " discover and inflate " the costs of damage on return of the car.
Not having taken out the additional cover the hirer has to pay out and then claim back from the annual cover provider.
If your insurer queries the " inflated " charges we are stuck as piggy in the middle having already paid out to the hire car company.

[logicbob]

If I take cover with insurance4carhire.com, can I then decline the cover offered by the hire company when I am renting the car?

Only the excess which is normally about 6 to 12 euros a day depending on the size of car that you rent.

[TomUK]

Sorry Steen - now I understand. Insurance4car hire's cover is instead of the extra cover the rental company provides if you want to add it to the basic insurance they provide, which is typically €6 to €8 per day. We make two trips every year so the €49 annual cost would be far cheaper than paying €60-80 twice a year for our 10 day hire. Thanks for the tip.

Although EMM has put a new spin on things.

[ron5000]

Happened to me but the other way round, a few years ago in the old YUK I hired a car from Hertz, heathrow. Booked on line and when picking the car up was told there was a compulsory excess insurance, I argued the toss but was going nowhere. Deep joy of joy in my hurry the next day to find my favourite chip shop got lost and did a 3 point turn and reversed into a concrete bollard. Didn't cost me a penny

[joeysoap]

I take our yearly insurance from atlasdirect.com
they cover all the missing bits. governed by uk laws but oddly enough the insurance underwriter is in Dublin.

I am changing hire companies in october to travelrent as friends of mine have very good experiences of them and they are much cheaper than the company I have used so far.

I also notice on their conditions that the 'extra' cover costs only €15 per week, though it does not cover windscreens etc. I think economy also use them but could stand corrected on that one. they don't charge extra for a 2nd driver and afaik for Spain.

[Satsuma]

Sorry to hear of your trouble Geoff.
To carry on from later posts for the past 5 rentals we have used economy car hire, mainly using travel rent or drive 4 fun through them. I always shop around & have found them to be the cheapest & the cars have always been very good. There is no excess to pay included & we also take out the cover for windscreens etc which I think in September cost us about £6 for 5 days. Also included is second driver & Spain exit.
It has also been hassle free on collection & drop off. In future I will still compare prices as I always think it's worthwhile but I have been very happy with economy car hire.

[DaveK]

Just checked our account with Economy Car Hire and we have had 16 rentals since late 2009, all of which have been with Travel Rent or Drive 4 Fun. Never had a single problem although some of the cars are getting a bit rough around the edges. I suppose that they, like other operators, are finding it more difficult these days to raise finance to renew their fleets of vehicles. We also take out the extra insurance with ECH to cover glass, tyres, loss of keys etc. which are not covered under the normal full insurance. Good peace of mind for just over £1 per day.

[gavinhenson]

This year for the first time ever I am going to have to use the excess insurance we purchased after returning our cars at Faro airport only for the attendant to find 'extra damage' to BOTH cars! The scratches and dents weren't marked on the original rental agreement and we both checked our cars before driving them away so they must have happened when they were parked up in CVO. So we didn't have a leg to stand on basically!

The cost..... 275 euros!

When I rang the claims company the very nice lady asked me what country it was in, I replied "Portugal..." and before I could say anything else she asked "Faro airport, Car Park 4 by any chance? - We get a lot of claims for them!"

[gavinhenson]

.... also, our excess insurance is with carhireexcess.com and cost about £30 per car for 2 weeks... although I'm not recommending them just yet since our claim isn't settled

[EMM]

So it does sound as if what I have been told does have some substance !

[Geoff]

Thanks for the commiserations....I didn't tell the Lidl people, didn't see the point. Will stay with Pingo Doce in future!
I have had car excess insurance through both "insuranceforcarhire" and "carhireexcess.com".....both good value ( compared to the daily payments mentioned above) and both cover everything, it seems.....the latter covers hires up to 62 days though, I think the limit on the former is 30...my annual premium was £40 and I was reimbursed for damage to the car back in February ( not my fault) very promptly...will hope this claim is dealt with as well too!
Never had a problem with the P4 car hire people inflating claims/imagining new damage...more than I could say about the " expensive" carhire companies used in the distant past!
I would add that MasterKings brought a replacement vehicle for me from Faro to Sesmarias on saturday evening , excellent service.
Geoff

[maccasa]

Thats one of the reasons I like Pingo - apart from being much cheaper and less crowded than Intermarche - the car park is small and there are always people at the cafe tables outside, who can see all of the car park.

[joeysoap]

apologies Geoff, I meant to say how awful that was and to sympathise with you, instead I went off on a 'ramble' about car hire companies. hope your insurance ponies up and it's a good warning to the rest of us to have a look around the car park before going into the supermarket and perhaps try to park closer to the main door.

[pato]

apologies Geoff, I meant to say how awful that was and to sympathise with you, instead I went off on a 'ramble' about car hire companies. hope your insurance ponies up and it's a good warning to the rest of us to have a look around the car park before going into the supermarket and perhaps try to park closer to the main door.

I've learned that lesson also, I hired a car last year from YOR through Steen, and a window was smashed at the supermarket, the most disappointing part of the incident was the arrogance of the hire rep who called to the villa to collect the exhorbitant ammount of cash for the damage, he insisted that I must have left something in view, even though I explained I've had 25 years of experience driving in the Algarve. I now always remove the inside boot cover and leave the car open wherever I go, if they pinch it so what!

[Geoff]

Part of the irony of all this is that I usually park away from other cars in carparks, so that the car doesn't get hit by supermarket trolleys, carelessly opened doors etc.....not that, in this case, it was very remote....guess I'll be safer with the herd in future!
Leaving the rear shelf open ( with nothing in boot) sounds a good idea. Don't like the idea of leaving the car unlocked though....think that would invalidate any insurance if car was stolen.