Products

Car Hire Excess Insurance

Car Hire Excess Insurance covers the excess amount you'd have to pay if your rental vehicle faces any bumps or mishaps. It reduces or eliminates the high excess fee included in basic rental insurance, so by paying a small premium, you could save yourself from substantial extra charges. Car Hire Excess Insurance lets you cruise with worry-free confidence on your journey, knowing that you're protected from those pesky unexpected expenses.

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Easy and straightforward

I've had a policy with Bettersafe with several years and always found they were easy and straightforward to deal with. If you want car hire excess insurance, try them

– Stephen Hargrave

What Is Car Hire Excess?

Car Hire Excess is the amount you agree to pay to a car hire company if there is any damage to the vehicle when it’s returned.

When you hire a car from any rental company, it will often include basic insurance. This should cover the cost of any damages or if the car is written off. However, as a way of keeping the cost of this insurance premium down this will often include a reasonably large excess.

This can be as high as £2,000.

What Is Car Hire Excess Insurance?

Most car rental companies will charge an excess on the vehicle in case of damage or theft. This can be hundreds or thousands of pounds. The Bettersafe Car Hire Excess Insurance is a reimbursement product that will cover you up to £7,500 in the event that you are charged for any damage to your rental car.

Put simply, if you had to pay the excess after returning your rental, Bettersafe.com would refund you that sum (up to £7,500), so you won’t be left out of pocket from the excess charge.

Doesn't My Car Hire Insurance Cover My Excess?

Within Europe, car rental companies are required to provide some kind of insurance policy for their hire cars. However, to keep their costs down they often leave an excess on the policy. There is normally an option to upgrade your insurance policy from the basic cover to one which also covers the excess. However, these are almost always significantly more expensive than purchasing an excess policy through a third party, due to high markups at the car hire desk.

What We Cover:

Our car hire excess covers a number of incidents should you be charged any damage or stolen fees by a car hire company.

• Excess Reimbursement up to £7,500
• Key Cover
• Misfuelling
• Drop off charges up to £300
• Lock-out
• Road Rage or Car Jacking

Are There Any Exclusions?

As with any insurance policy there are some incidences where you are not covered.

• Vehicles rented through any Green Motion branches within the UK or the Isle of Man.
• If your permanent residence is outside of the UK or the Isle of Man.
• Where use of the vehicle is not provided under a valid rental agreement including use that is free of charge or use as a courtesy car by a garage.
• Any rental of a private vehicle or a vehicle that is not both owned and operated by a car rental company or agency. This includes car-sharing or peer-to-peer firms e.g. Hiyacar, Turo, Getaround.
• Where the rental vehicle is being used by you for hire and reward including use as a taxicab, minicab, or Uber.
• We do not cover motor homes, camper vans, trailers or caravans, recreational vehicles (RVs), commercial vehicles, vans or trucks, motorcycles, mopeds, off-road vehicles, passenger vans or other vehicle with more than 9 seats.
• Where the value of the rental vehicle exceeds £65,000 or is more than 10 years old.
• We do not provide insurance in certain countries or where the Foreign Office has issued advice against travel for UK residents. Please check the Policy or the FAQs for the full list (hyperlink).

Would I Be Covered Outside Of The UK?

Bettersafe.com’s Car Hire Excess Insurance policies not only provide cover within the UK and Europe; we can also offer Worldwide coverage. These Worldwide policies can be tailored to exclude CDW & SLI or have them included, depending on whether you require them or not.

What Is CDW & SLI?

CDW stands for Collision Damage Waiver. This policy provides you cover for any amount you become liable for over and above the car hire company. Your own policy will cover you up to US$100,000. This is a form of protection that will limit how much a car hire company will charge for repairs.

SLI stands for Supplementary Liability Insurance. This insures you for injuries to other drivers and their vehicles. This is referred to as ‘Third-party’ insurance. Bettersafe.com offers a secondary SLI policy that will cover you up to $1,000,000 for injury and damage to material property. To make sure you are covered, please ensure your car rental offers primary SLI.

Do I Really Need This?

This is dependent on where you travel to. Rental agreements in certain countries (U.S.A., Canada, The Caribbean, South, and Central America) only offer limited or no third-party liability insurance. If you do travel to one of these countries it is advisable to include CDW & SLI in your policy to ensure that you are protected from significant potential costs. If your car hire insurance covers third parties then normal worldwide cover may be more suitable.

What Is The Benefit Of Car Hire Excess Insurance?

After returning a hire car, be it abroad or within the UK, many people are familiar with the excess charges that they are given. Be it from “damage” to the vehicle, or a legitimate accident. Car Hire Excess Insurance protects you so that if you are ever required to pay the excess to a hire car hire company, you won't be financially worse off.

As well as covering damage or accidents, Bettersafe.com’s policy has the following additional benefits:

• Car Rental Key Cover - up to a maximum of £500, for each and every claim.
• Misfuelling Cover - up to a maximum of £500 for each and every claim.
• Reparation – of £25 per day with a maximum of £300 during the period of insurance.
• Drop Off Charges – up to £300.
• Lock-Out – up to a maximum of £60 if you are unintentionally locked out for physical assault.
• Road Rage – up to £1000 for physical assault.
• Car Jacking – up to £1000 for physical assault.

You can find more information about the additional benefits in the insurance policy document.

How Do I Make A Claim?

In order to make a claim, please contact the claims administrator on +44 (0) 20 3740 4431 or email claims@comandgen.com . You can find more about how to make a claim here