What you might be overlooking, however, are some of the following drawbacks:

• In most cases, the cover you are buying may exclude damage to certain areas of the vehicle, typically the windows, roof, undercarriage, wheels and tyres – so that any damage to these parts of the vehicle you may still have to pay for yourself.
• If you are hiring a car in North America, South America or the Caribbean, moreover, the cover you are offered may be even more limited – some so-called Collision Damage Waivers (CDWs) might only cover damage caused in an accident when the vehicle is moving, do not necessarily cover the theft of the vehicle, and might offer such insubstantial third party cover that extra Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI) is necessary.
• On top of all of this, the cover you might be buying from the rental company in any part of the world is almost certain to attract a very hefty excess – amounting to some £1,000 to £1,500, or more, depending on the type of vehicle you are renting and where in the world you are renting it.
• Protection against liabilities such as these may be arranged in the form of car hire excess insurance.

Car Hire Excess Insurance

If you are looking for car hire excess insurance, your car rental firm is almost certain to say that you need to look no further – for an additional daily charge, you may buy such excess insurance.

What is unlikely to be spelt out by the hire car company, however, is the considerable cost that such daily charges are likely to add to your total bill or the fact that you probably still do not have coverage for damage to all parts of the vehicle – damage to the wheels, tyres, roof, underside and windows, for example, might still be excluded.

Little wonder, therefore, that Auto Express describes the sale of this type of insurance by car rental companies as a “scam”.

The Alternative

If you are looking for car hire excess insurance that is cost-effective and offers comprehensive cover, you might instead look no further than us here at Bettersafe.

In return for the payment of a single premium, our standalone excess insurance gives you protection for your entire trip (up to a generous maximum of 60 days), so you know exactly the cost, without having to tot up every daily charge.

You may buy the cover before you even set out on your holiday or business trip, confident in the security provided by a UK-based, entirely independent excess insurance provider.

If you are a frequent traveller, you might even consider annual, multi-trip excess insurance cover, which gives you protection year-round – at an even more competitive price – however many trips you choose to make.