Specifically Europcar. Is it worth taking their own upgraded insurance policy to reduce the cost paid on the excess in the event of an accident? Or is it better to go with a standalone policy from an independent provider? The cost of the standalone is far cheaper than Europcars own. Any experiences on what is the best cover to go for?

Did the independant cover recently on a hire inthe us. With avis

The guy was adament we wouldnt have breakdown cover unless we took his cover at 20dollars a day ( for 3 weeks)

He backed down quite quickly when i asked if his rentals frequently broke down as this didnt sound like a very good company to hire from if their cars frequently need recovered for break downs.

His backpedaling was quality!

trail_rat

Can you give me more details of who you used? We’ve got a NY – New Hampshire trip lined up soon which is probably going to end up at around 1500 miles of driving.

You can probably rent Carl in Soho while on holliday, but I’m not sure its really something to be discussing on STW?

I rented in Spain with Europcar and had separate insurance through the booking agent. The Europcar desk still tried to persuade me to take out their insurance and weren’t very happy when i declined it. They still take a big amount of deposit with your credit card.
If you feel confident with the separate insurance then it is a big saving over Europcars.
If its the same as Spain then Europcar will give you a small template to measure the marks on the body.Anything less in length and and its no problem but its best to go round the car and check the length of any dodgy marks and point them out before you drive away.

Only down side is you’ll need to fork out what ever the hire companies excess from the off and claim it back. Provide you’ve got the cash to cover the upfront cost, it can definitely save you some cash in the event you need to claim.

It’s been a while since I hired a car so have not done it myself however, if/when I do I’ll be going down the separate excess cover insurance. I’ll just make sure I go over the hire car with a fine tooth comb. In the past when I’ve taken the hire car companies excess waiver and have been a little more care free when collecting/returning.

i’ve used holiday autos a few times now and can recommend them. good saving over going direct.

I hire a lot of cars around the world and never use the hire co excess insurance as it is a complete rip off. You can get a stand alone policy that covers much more than the hire co policy and a years cover is less than a few days cover from any hire co.
For a global policy I pay £50 a year. You only find out how good your insurance is when you make a claim and yes you have to pay the excess charge yourself in the event of any damage. Both of my claims were settled before my credit card bill arrived.
I used Questor but there are lots of other companies out there.

I also have a Questor policy.

The dance at the rental desks is really tedious though, I get that they have an incentive to sell the insurance as it is such a moneyspinner, but you would think they would get the message after the third time you have declined their excess waiver, “ooh but maybe it won’t pay out if you are on a dirt road”. 🙄

Other UK Car Hire top tips are to use a broker like Holiday Autos or Auto Europe rather going direct to Avis etc. Do make sure that you are comparing like with like as often they limit mileage and increase the excess etc on the comparison web sites.
If you live close to an airport compare collecting from the airport to a local pick up.
I’m a £6 public transport ride from Gatwick and Europcar was £12 a day less picking it up from there rather than my nearest outlet. That’s a 70 quid weekly saving even after taking into account train fares.

ALso – try booking through a “foreign” website (e.g. try http://www.avis.de rather than http://www.avis.co.uk).