While hiring cars, we often obtain our car rental excess insurance from a car hiring company, simply because it is expensive. This is okay and quite logical. However, it will surprise you to know that Car Hire Excess insurance could reduce your car rental costs.
Holidaying can be fun, the thrill of meeting new people, seeing new places and eating new food is priceless, however, this amazing experience can be spoilt if your rented vehicle gets, scratched, dent, or damaged, especially If you are not covered by an insurance policy, you’ll be forced to pay for damage. On the other hand, if you are adequately insured, you will have nothing to worry about; your policy will protect you from the huge bill at the end of the holiday.
If you don’t have an insurance policy or your policy doesn’t cover rental cars, then you need a car rental excess insurance. Don’t even think of driving a rented car uninsured, buying car rental excess insurance from a car hiring company or a third-party agent might seem expensive or unnecessary, but it will save you major costs in the long run.
Before we proceed further, let’s first understand what car hire excess insurance is.
What is car hire excess insurance?
If you’ve ever rented a car before, you already might be familiar with the term “excess”. In some countries, excess is also referred to as a deductible, so if you are holidaying in a different continent and you hear ‘deductible’, it simply means excess.
Excess is a sum of money usually collected by car rental companies to cover the rental vehicle in case the vehicle gets damaged. It is the sum you pay to insure your rental vehicle, all through the period the car is with you.
The amount that car hiring companies charge as excess is not fixed, different factors determine the amount, and some of the factors include Country, customer’s age, destination and vehicle type. Here’s how Car Hire Excess insurance works; if your vehicle gets damaged while under your custody, the excess you deposited before hiring the car will be used to fix the damage, but if you already have a car rental excess insurance either through the insurance company or through a third party car rental insurance, you can get the money you deposited as excess back.
Is car hire excess insurance compulsory?
Remember, there’s really no compulsion in getting a car rental excess insurance from a car hiring company; it is optional, so when a staff at a car hiring company is trying to woo you into buying an extra policy, you can politely turn the offer down, especially if you are already insured.
However, if something gets wrong along the line and you are not properly insured, you will end up spending a huge amount of money. Another option is to buy a third-party car rental insurance; they offer the same coverage at more affordable rates.
How car hire excess insurance can help you save money
The amount most car hire companies charge for excess is ridiculously high, sometimes they charge as much as $4,500. The frustrating part is that the money charged as excess doesn’t always reflect the true damage cost. This is where Car Hire Excess insurance comes in, it will help you reduce cost by allowing you to recover the sum deposited as excess. If you already have a car hire excess insurance policy, you will be saved from spending a huge amount of money when there’s an accident and you want to claim damages to the rental car.
Buying insurance from a third party
We all know car hiring companies sell car rental excess insurance, most car hire companies charge users for car rental excess insurance right there before you pay for your rented car, however you can get the same coverage from a third party. If you are insured by a third party, you will pay the excess and get reimbursed by this third party insurance company accordingly.
Conclusion
That huge sum deposited at the desk (excess) shouldn’t be irrecoverably lost after renting a car. Buying a car rental excess insurance is a good way to reduce the total cost of car rental. Trying to recover your excess without car rental excess insurance is somewhere between hard and impossible, so it’s better to play safe and buy coverage, either from the car hiring company or through a third party car rental insurance.
Thanks for reading.