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iCarhireinsurance received great media coverage last Friday in an article in The Daily Telegraph. - Avoid overpaying for insurance at the car hire desk - Check out these iCarhireinsurance tips and start your holiday safe in the knowledge that you haven't been overcharged for your insurance when hiring a car.
It looks like they had re-published an article on the iCarhireinsurance blog website from last December written by Ross Callander
With the main holiday season just around the corner it contains some very useful suggestions.
When you pick up your holiday vehicle, the staff at the car hire desk will normally try and sell you a number of extras, including excess insurance. However, pay for excess insurance at the car hire desk and you’ll probably pay far more than you should.
Here are the basics of car hire insurance, what excess cover you can buy before you travel and how it compares to the additional cover you’ll be offered at the car hire desk.
Collision/loss damage waiver
A collision damage waiver (CDW) or loss damage waiver (LDW) is probably what you think of as car hire insurance since it protects you financially against damage or loss to your hire car.
When you hire a car in Europe, the majority of car hire companies will provide CDW cover as well as third party insurance as standard. This means that if you’re involved in a car hire incident resulting in damage to or theft of the vehicle, the full cost of the vehicle would be covered minus any excess you’re liable for.
However, most car hire companies charge an excess if the vehicle is damaged or stolen, which ranges from £500 to £2,500.
Buy car hire excess insurance before you travel
The excess fee is set so high by many car hire companies so they can sell you their excess waiver insurance (EWI) as an extra. Many car hire companies also make it difficult for you to find out the cost of this waiver when you make your booking – it makes it easier to sell expensive EWI cover when you pick up your vehicle.
Some car hire companies charge as much as £25 per day for excess insurance – £175 over a seven-day holiday.
However, buy car hire excess insurance from iCarhireinsurance.com before you travel and you can save more than 70pc.
The cover sold by iCarhireinsurance.com is also usually more comprehensive than those sold by car hire companies.
Resist the car hire desk sales patter
Sometimes, less reputable companies may try to tell you that the excess insurance policy you bought before travelling is “invalid”.
But remember, it is not a policy that insures the rental company; it is a policy that insures you against excess charges the rental company may charge you. That’s because it’s actually a personal indemnity against car hire excess insurance charges – the rental company is nothing to do with the contract.
However, you might need to leave a deposit to cover any car hire excess. When you use a stand-alone car hire excess insurance policy you will usually have to leave a security deposit with the rental company up to the value of the excess.
Most rental companies hold this as a pre-authorised amount on a credit card, so make sure you have the money available on your card when you collect the vehicle.
If the car is damaged or stolen when it’s with you, the rental company will withhold some or all of your deposit – all you have to do is submit a claim to iCarhireinsurance.com to recover it.
What a car hire insurance cover policy with iCarhireinsurance.com covers
The car hire excess insurance sold by iCarhireinsurance.com is much more comprehensive than the cover sold by most car hire companies. So if you buy an iCarhireinsurance.com policy, you can turn down other car hire insurance – such as cover for the roof, undercarriage, windows and tyres.
To Go to The Daily Telegraph article follow this link
To find out more about iCarhireinsurance products follow this link
