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Car hire excess insurance |
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Car hire excess insurance: a quick guide
Protect yourself against damage to your hire car with insurance to cover unexpected bumps and scrapes.
Car hire excess insurance covers you against having to pay the excess if you have a scrape in a hire car. It may specifically cover things excluded from the hire company’s standard insurance.
Why choose car hire excess insurance?
When you hire a car, the standard insurance you get from the hire company will cover you for collision damage waiver – that is, damage that you do to other drivers’ cars – and theft.
As with most car insurance policies, there’s also an “excess” – the amount that you agree to pay on any claim you make. You may be offered the option of paying a higher excess to reduce the overall cost of the rental.
You don’t usually get to choose who provides the insurance. However, there’s nothing to stop you taking out a policy in advance with another provider which covers you against having to pay the excess – this is car hire excess insurance.
What does car hire excess insurance cover?
Basically you’re taking out insurance against unexpected bumps or scrapes to your hire car which could otherwise land you with a hefty bill because of the excess.
Many car hire excess insurance policies also cover things that are often excluded from hire companies’ standard policies, such as:
- key replacement
- windscreen and window damage
- damage to the underside or roof of the car
- tyre damage
- cover for all named drivers on the rental
Many insurance providers are now offering car hire excess insurance as a stand-alone product that you can buy in advance, no matter which company provides the insurance to your car hire company.
Key points
- Covers you against having to pay the excess on your standard hire car insurance.
- Typically costs a few pounds a day.
- Protects you against things that may be excluded from standard cover.
- Can be bought in advance from another insurer.
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