Just looking into getting excess cover as have couple trips over next 12 months to Europe/ home to Ireland and probably hiring cars.
Who do people rate? Is it worth getting? Looking at £40 annual policy Europe wide for both myself and wife with Direct Car Excess Insurance – sound good?
Anything I need to be aware of/ watch for?
Thanks, Niall

Take a credit card with a big limit, the hire co’s have a habit now of charging the full excess on hire when you refuse their excess insurance as you’ve taken a decent moneyspinner off them. Or pre auth it, obviously not ideal when you are going on holiday and 2k gets knocked off what you can put on the credit card.

Whether it’s worth getting is just like regular insurance.. I’ve never taken it. And never had an issue pranging a hire car. Depends on the excess though. I regularly hire out of Geneva and it’s 2000 chf, it used to worry me but I just don’t worry about it now.

Gits, thanks for info – so just avoid the excess policy completely then? or have it and be ready for 2k on card too?

I’ve always used third party excess insurance and never had a problem with car hire companies (perhaps I’ve just been fortunate). £40 sounds pretty reasonable.

I’ve used independent excess insurance before. Now I took one out alongside PedalCover policy – that covers ANY excess, not just hire cars. Worth pricing up.

I used http://www.insurance4carhire.com

Never had to claim, so can’t comment on how good they are apart from buying policy was easy and they did seem to cover everything such as undercar/windows etc.

Oh and the url for this thread has -1 at the end so it’s a duplicate.. remove that -1 and you’ll probably get some more views on the subject.

I understand those words as English Nick but the arrangement confuses me (I do not adhere to the I.T. person of STW 🙂 ) – Does that mean someone else has had the same title for a thread? and how would I go about removing the -1

Thanks for answers – notice the 1st one I mentioned doesn’t cover cars over 60k, probably not an issue normally? but guess something to consider.
I see the one Jamie mentions has 25% back via Quidco, tempting.

I forgot to mention about the Quidco. It paid out fine.

What Nick means is someone asked a similar question to you. 4yrs ago, tho.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/hire-car-excess-insurance

Sorry I should have linked but copying and pasting and deleting bits of url’s is a chore on the phone… I didn’t really explain it very well did I (or actually look to see if the other thread was that relevant..) Jamie put it much better!

There’s been a few threads on here too. Worth a search – gonto advanced search and upto the last year has quite a few results

We always get excess insurance. The level of cover you get for the cost always seems good value

I’ve used independent excess insurance before. Now I took one out alongside PedalCover policy – that covers ANY excess, not just hire cars. Worth pricing up.

Interesting as I’ve just taken a policy with pedal cover too. Need to look at the small print on it I guess.

I used Car hire insurance. For 36 pounds they cover any damage to the hire car for a whole year.
The car hire companies still insist on a large deposit though.

I took one out alongside PedalCover policy – that covers ANY excess, not just hire cars.

Did you specify that as an extra? Mine came with that as standard but only up to £500, which is way under what most car hire companies specify

Depends on the excess though. I regularly hire out of Geneva and it’s 2000 chf, it used to worry me but I just don’t worry about it now.

You might if someone backed into your car?

I just took out the £40 annual cover as its just a bit of peace of mind in case something happens. The car hire co excess is extortion.

I used http://www.insurance4carhire.com

Never had to claim, so can’t comment on how good they are apart from buying policy was easy and they did seem to cover everything such as undercar/windows etc.

same, pretty much to the letter!

But I did feel much happier in the knowledge that at least I wasn’t being stiffed by a car hire company.

Another person who’s used insurance4carhire – again, not claimed but I’ll continue to use them.

It’s a good point about the credit card. We’ve never been in a position where it worried us but yes, having thousands blocked out on a card could cause problems.

I have claimed off one of these policies in the past. I think it was with insurance4carhire but not 100% sure, as I’ve used a few.

Paid out without question. Just asked for copy of the damage report from the hirecar drop off to substantiate.
I’d been careful to point out every scratch on the bodywork at collection but missed the scratches on the alloys (schoolboy error). Glad I had the policy.

Re the Pedalcover excess policy, yes I think these cover an excess against any policy taken out in your name, up to £500. I also suspect most hire car damage reports exceed that figure.

Cheers all, insurance4carhire coming out strongly. Now just need decide if just single policy or family/ different one in case I’m not main hirer when away,like if wife goes home alone.