Rental Car Insurance
More and more these days we are leaving the car at home and are picking up a rental when we arrive at our holiday destination. If this is exactly what you are planning on doing, and you have never rented a car before, then the following are a couple of hints you should keep in mind when arranging your rental car insurance:
Third party liability insurance
Unless you specifically arrange otherwise, there’s a very good chance that rental car insurance you’ll be given will be the bare minimum required under the law – namely, third party liability insurance. As you’ll no doubt know from arranging your own car insurance, third party liability insurance protects you against claims made by third parties (hence the name) in the unfortunate event that you have an accident, but that will be it. In most cases this is the type of rental car insurance is included in your rental car price, as this keeps the advertised rental car cost down. Any excess insurance above and beyond this is for you to arrange with the rental car company either at the time you rent the car or when you make your rental car booking.
Damage excess insurance
Given that most rental cars are new, or newish, it is highly recommended that you also take out damage excess insurance when arranging to rent your holiday rental car. In addition to the usual motor insurance coverage you’d expect from a fully comprehensive insurance package, damage excess insurance can also cover you for the following:
- loss of baggage from the motor car
- loss of vital documents, such as your passport or travellers’ cheques
- roadside breakdown recovery
- missed or delayed departure due to breakdown
- accommodation costs, due to breakdown
- personal accident insurance
Note, however, that each rental car insurance provider will vary their damage excess insurance package, so make sure you read the terms of the policy carefully.
Also, be careful, some less scrupulous rental car companies will try to advise you to take out both damage excess insurance and damage waiver insurance. As, fundamentally, they should both be covering the same thing, namely insuring you against damage or loss to the car in the same way as fully comprehensive car insurance does, this is one way to make you pay twice for the same service. So do read the policy carefully.
Personal accident insurance
Not all damage excess insurance policies include personal accident insurance events. Given that you are going to be driving your rental car in strange territory, if your damage excess insurance package does not include provisions for personal accident insurance, then it is highly recommended that you take out personal accident insurance as well. In short, personal accident insurance will insure you (as the driver) and your passengers for any death, disability and/or medical expenses as a result of a car accident.
Claiming on your rental car insurance
Finally, before agreeing to your desired rental car insurance policy, make sure you read the provisions about claiming on the motor insurance carefully. In most cases what will happen is the rental car company will charge you for the damage done to the rental car, and it’s then up to you to claim against the insurance (as a reimbursement). If possible, try to avoid this by having the insurance policy provider pay the costs, etc. directly to the rental car insurance company and not you.
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