Excess Insurance

Check out Bettersafe tips to help you understand what the product is, where you can purchase it, and what you might get from it.

Typically, excess car insurance protects against you having to pay out the excess, which may be a large sum, in the event of a claim on rental car insurance for damage, loss or theft. With hire cars abroad, the excess amount can easily exceed £1,000 and over – leaving you with a big hole in your wallet if you do not have hire car excess insurance.

It may be considered vital, if you do not want to be faced with a large amount of money being taken from your credit card, in the event of something happening to the rental car.

Now with that out of the way, here are some tips regarding the insurance:

• The rental company may have you believe that you are only able to take out the insurance with them when renting the car. This isn't true, in fact, it may save you money if you take it from a standalone insurance provider beforehand.
• The rental company may try telling you that any cover is taken out anywhere but with them, isn't going to cover their rental vehicle. Again, in most cases, typically this isn’t true.
• Excess insurance offered by the rental company may in some cases cost up to three times that of the insurance offered by an independent insurance provider such as ourselves at Bettersafe.
• When taking out any excess policy ensure that you have checked just what is covered by the policy.

For instance, you may find that the undercarriage, tyres and the windscreen are not covered by the insurance offered by the rental car company:

• You may be told that the price of the insurance is going to depend on the car that you rent. This also isn't true, excess insurance typically provides you with protection, regardless of the chosen vehicle, when taken with a specialist.
• The tips for car excess insurance may be able to save you money, by understanding how rental companies generally work when trying to persuade you to take out protection with them.

More Tips For Taking Our Excess Insurance

Shopping around and taking out excess insurance with a standalone provider typically ensures that you are offered insurance that is more competitively priced. In some cases, you may be able to save a lot of money this way as opposed to taking out the policy with the rental car provider.

The policy taken out with a standalone provider may typically offer cover that is more comprehensive than the cover you might be offered from the rental vehicle company. The policy with the standalone provider may cover the following:

• All risks
• Vandalism
• Tyres
• Undercarriage
• Roof
• Windows
• Roof

The above may be excluded from the policy offered by the rental company.

Another tip for taking our car excess insurance is for those who travel a lot each year. If you fall into this category you may save money by taking out multi-trip cover or an annual insurance policy. This may work out cheaper than taking out an individual policy each time you travel.