On the day The Guardian was running a car hire insurance feature, The Daily Telegraph ran a story "Should I buy car hire excess insurance?"
The Telegraph's car hire expert Nick Trend replied in the article. saying "Excess insurance for hire cars is a notoriously tricky area......."
He then went on to say " You could buy a policy covering the excess from another source: insurance4carhire; questor-insurance; worldwideinsure and icarhireinsurance all sell policies independently. The holidayautos site says that if you do this, the rental agent will take a deposit on your credit card to cover the risk. "
Incidentally talking of deposits on credit cards, Economy Car Hire sent out an email yesterday saying "Shock changes to Spanish car hire industry - Many car rental companies in Spain have started to levy an excess for collision damage or theft of up to €1,000 EUR."