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They go onto to explain that Skiers hiring cars for a New Year break could be paying for their hire car twice after paying for additional 'extras' at the rental desk.
Hiring a medium compact car with Hertz from Geneva, gateway to the Three Valleys and the world-class Swiss resorts, costs £440 for the week's hire, then rental desk 'extras' could add an additional £405, i.e., £71 for an extra driver, £137 for excess car hire insurance, a sat nav for £102, snow chains costing £48 and a child's car seat for £47.
iCarhireinsurance.com, a leading provider of stand-alone car hire excess insurance, researched the six popular ski gateways of Geneva, Turin, Innsbruck, Barcelona, Sophia (Bulgaria) and Inverness to find out the hidden extras when picking up your hire car. (NB. The hire companies of Avis, Sixt, Europcar and Hertz were researched for the hire of a medium compact car from 27 Dec 2012 to 3 Jan 2013 -
Sophia is the best for a bargain where the average car hire cost is only £154, but 'extras' at the rental desk will double this. The same pattern could be seen in the other destinations, with the average price of car hire costing £275 in Barcelona, £290 in Innsbruck, £314 in Inverness, £336 in Turin and £403 in Geneva.
Ernesto Suarez, founder and CEO of iCarhireinsurance.com said, "The complexity of costs at the rental desks are as hard to navigate as a black run. To keep costs down we advise car hirers to keep extra drivers to a minimum, know the country's rules regarding snow chains and winter tyres, take their own sat nav and always buy their excess car hire insurance before they fly."
Without excess insurance a customer could be liable for charges of up to £2300 if the hire car is damaged or stolen, even if it's not the hirer's fault. Turin is the most expensive place to purchase excess insurance, costing £185 from Hertz - over eight times the cost of an iCarhireinsurance.com policy at £21 for the week (or £2.99 a day), which includes vulnerable parts of the vehicle, like tyres and windscreen, which are frequently excluded from rental companies' policies. (Source iCarhireinsurance)
Expect to pay up to £50 for snow chains and Sixt make snow chains a compulsory cost in the destinations of Geneva, Sophia, Innsbruck and Turin Want to find out more about car hire excess insurance from iCarhireinsure? Follow this link..
They also offer van hire excess insurance, essential if you are hiring a van to move before Christmas or you are intending to make some large purchases in the post Christmas sales!
