Why Buy Standalone Car Hire Excess Insurance?

Doing Without This Type Of Insurance Altogether

The principal problem of doing without this kind of insurance lies in the sheer amount of money for which you might be personally liable in the event of a claim.
 
Car rental companies throughout the UK and Europe, North America and just about anywhere else in the world may provide you with the cover you need to protect you against third party claims, fire, theft and accidental damage, but the amount of excess may range from just a few hundred up to well over a thousand pounds. It might even be well above this figure if the vehicle you are hiring is a higher-end or high-performance model.
 
Doing without excess insurance, therefore, may leave you with a very considerable bill in the event of damage to your hire car.
 
As a largely “hidden” cost as far as the unsuspecting customer is concerned, the practice of imposing a high rate of excess has been widely criticised – and described as a “rip off” by the Telegraph newspaper, for example, in its story in June 2014.

Purchase It From The Car Rental Company When You Pick Up Your Hire Car

Hire car companies are well aware that the excess attached to the insurance cover they typically include in the price of the vehicle rental is enough to frighten many customers into arranging excess insurance cover.
 
Indeed, especially hard-sell tactics have been widely reported by rental companies trying to persuade customers of the need for such cover.
 
Under such pressure – generally at the check-out desk when the customer is eager simply to get the journey underway – it may not be realised that even the hire car company’s excess insurance leaves certain parts of the vehicle unprotected (typically the underside, roof, windows, wheels and tyres). Rubbing further salt into the wound is the likelihood of the cover considerably increasing the daily rate of hiring the vehicle.

Standalone Car Hire Excess Insurance

Any such problems may be avoided simply by arranging your excess cover as a standalone policy offered by a number of specialist providers – such as those of us here at Bettersafe.
 
Typically, this is a cover that is very simple and straightforward to arrange before you even leave home. Buying it online, for example, is likely to take you no more than just a few minutes.
 
In return for the payment of a single premium – rather than the daily charge likely to be applied by any car rental company – you are then protected against any excess damage charge if the vehicle you hire is in an accident.
 
Even greater savings may be made by frequent travellers who opt to arrange annual excess insurance – which typically works out considerably cheaper on a trip by trip basis and gives you the security and peace of mind in knowing that you remain protected against excess charges however often you hire a car, wherever in the world you happen to be driving.
 
Such standalone excess insurance is not only likely to be cheaper than any offered by your car rental company but typically extends to damage to any part of the hire vehicle – in other words, it is likely to be more comprehensive into the bargain.