Car Rental Insurance Guide

This is a subject which causes a great deal of confusion with customers who are hiring cars in the UK.

As a result of the various choices available to you are never confident what you can afford to refuse decline and what you need .

Even the most seasoned traveller can get confused with it.

The part I am going to cover relates more to customers arriving in the UK from North America. North American credit card companies offer additional advantages with their card . One of these is car rental insurance. North American customers when booking a rental car will request that the car rental insurance is not included in the price as they have it already through their credit card company insurance.

The car rental company would only consider this if the credit card was a Gold card or a Platinum card, as these cards can cover, the whole cost of the car.

The customer should be aware of this. If you choose to use a Gold credit card to cover the insurance cost and you are involved in an accident. In the unfortunate event that the car was extensively damaged beyond repair, the car hire company would charge the complete cost of replacing the car from the credit card of the renter.

The customer would have to contact his credit card company and hope they pay out .

If you have an ordinary credit card, not the Gold or Platinum card, you can still reduce insurance cost by using the credit card cover on your credit card . The insurance cost I am referring to is for the damage excess. In North America the damage excess could be referred to as the deductible. If the car is damaged this is sum of money that the car rental company will make you responsible for. The sum is likely to be in the region of GBP 600.00.

In this situation you cannot directly use your credit card to cover the excess amount . You would decline the optional insurance that would be offered by the car rental company representative. The member of staff will authorise your card for the total excess amount. If the car was returned damaged they would deduct the cost of the repair from your card up to the maximum amount of the excess. You would then use your card cover to claim the deductible amount back.

Various local independent car rental companies will offer you cheaper insurance deals.

All of the car rental companies will offer you an insurance package. Car rental companies make most of their profit as a result of the insurance packages they sell you and can be quite aggressive in their tactics. Often the company representative who is dealing with you at the desk at car rental location will be receiving a commission if you purchase a insurance package although they will not be up front and tell you this. You can save money by shopping around for independent companies selling insurance packages specifically for car hire.

Author Bio: John Joseph enjoys writing for bluewheels.com which offers car hire Heathrow, car hire Edinburgh airport and car hire UK

Category: Travel
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