# Car Rental and Collision Damage Waiver



## roker (6 Jul 2016)

I am hiring a car in the UK next month, the booking say it includes Collision damage Waiver, and lower down under Additional cost £1,000 Collition Damage Waiver, I am confused. I do not want a deduction from my credit card a couple of months down the road because some idiot scratched the paintwork. Do I need more than Collision Damage Waiver? Please advise.


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## Steven Barrett (7 Jul 2016)

Whether you want additional insurance depends on what type of person you are. Some don't like taking risk. 

We hired a car yesterday for our holidays next week. We got a deal off a woman we know who's involved in the business. She said don't buy any insurance off a hire car firm. She also said point out every little scratch or mark on the car, even if it seems insignificant as the car hire company will look to pin it on you.


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## Boyd (7 Jul 2016)

Get the minimum insurance from car hire company and get a policy from http://www.insurance4carhire.com (or similar). Car hire insurance from the hire company generally cover very little (even with super super CDW).


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## RichInSpirit (7 Jul 2016)

username123 said:


> Get the minimum insurance from car hire company and get a policy from http://www.insurance4carhire.com (or similar). Car hire insurance from the hire company generally cover very little (even with super super CDW).


I'm looking up collision damage waver insurance as well at the moment and  http://www.insurance4carhire.com doesn't seem to cover Irish residents. From their websire - "Our policies are currently only available to persons resident in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy or the Netherlands. We apologise for any inconvenience that this might cause."


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## peteb (7 Jul 2016)

Google is your friend.  But here's a hint, try blue insurance or aig.


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## roker (8 Jul 2016)

So what does €1000 waver cover?


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## peteb (8 Jul 2016)

The first 1,000 of any claim you have.


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## Boyd (8 Jul 2016)

RichInSpirit said:


> I'm looking up collision damage waver insurance as well at the moment and  http://www.insurance4carhire.com doesn't seem to cover Irish residents. From their websire - "Our policies are currently only available to persons resident in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy or the Netherlands. We apologise for any inconvenience that this might cause."



Thats weird! They used to allow purchase in Ireland as I bought a policy two months ago. I wonder what changed.....


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## Ihana (8 Jul 2016)

We used carhireexcess.ie recently.

Two years ago we also took out a policy with them before a trip to NZ and when the windscreen got a massive chip, we got it fixed and they refunded the invoiced amount with no problems.


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## Boyd (8 Jul 2016)

username123 said:


> Thats weird! They used to allow purchase in Ireland as I bought a policy two months ago. I wonder what changed.....


Emailed them earlier and they replied saying from July 1st they no longer sell to residents of ROI, no reason given. Very strange!


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## riya99 (10 Jul 2016)

username123 said:


> Thats weird! They used to allow purchase in Ireland as I bought a policy two months ago. I wonder what changed.....


*Try questor-insurance.co.uk*


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## roker (24 Jul 2016)

peteb said:


> The first 1,000 of any claim you have.


So if I write off the car the claim is for a new car minus 1,000 about €22,000 to pay


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## Branz (24 Jul 2016)

roker said:


> So if I write off the car the claim is for a new car minus 1,000 about €22,000 to pay


Actually sterling, I don't follow your logic.


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## roker (25 Jul 2016)

Sterling or Euro, if I have a massive accident, will it cost me the price of the car minus the 1,000 waver? £22,000 minus a £1,000 = £21,000 to pay or deducted from my card


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## RichInSpirit (25 Jul 2016)

Roker, it's my understanding that there is basic insurance included with most rentals but in an accident etc. you would have to pay the first €1000 or maybe more depending on car size of the claim. It's called the excess.
Excess insurance will pay this but maybe not immediately.
So you may need to have financial reserves of a thousand or more to comfortably hire a car. 
You can buy super duper collision damage waver off the hire companies but it's rather expensive. But might be very cheap in the case of an accident.


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## RichInSpirit (28 Jul 2016)

I've been reading all t&c's and all the different insurance covers available for my up coming car hire and i'm forming the opinion that I'm not rich enough in money to hire a car in comfort even though I'm Rich in Spirit.
Plus i've found the missing public transport link for the last 50km of my journey. I'll have 4 km of a walk at the very end all right but sure what's 4km


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## shweeney (28 Jul 2016)

taking out excess insurance is generally cheaper than taking the hire company's own super-policy, but the downside is the hire company will make you inspect the car before allowing you to drive it away, which could take a while if the hire desk is a long way from the carpark and you have to go there and come back.  they'll want to inspect it when you hand it back as well.

with the super-policy you're covered for anything so they just give you the keys, and you can drop the car off and dash at the end.


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## Branz (28 Jul 2016)

shweeney said:


> taking out excess insurance is generally cheaper than taking the hire company's own super-policy, but the downside is the hire company will make you inspect the car before allowing you to drive it away, which could take a while if the hire desk is a long way from the carpark and you have to go there and come back.  they'll want to inspect it when you hand it back as well.
> 
> with the super-policy you're covered for anything so they just give you the keys, and you can drop the car off and dash at the end.



There is also the issue that they will make you pay up and make you claim from your insurance, certainly in Spain that is the case, they don't recognise any other insurance.
Yes the super duper walk away one is expensive but at least its their policy so no ifs or buts.

I rented, with friends, a speedboat, with full insurance on the Colorado river upstream from Hoover dam.
The steering wheel was loose so we  brought it back from the dock to the office.
They never batted an eyelid. they had a good laugh when we told them.


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## Leo (28 Jul 2016)

Branz said:


> There is also the issue that they will make you pay up and make you claim from your insurance, certainly in Spain that is the case, they don't recognise any other insurance.



Yeah, that's the way all excess insurance policies I've seen work. You have to pay up to the car-hire company, then initiate a claim with your excess insurance company once you get back. They've include wording along the lines of they 'operate on a pay and reclaim' basis.


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## newirishman (28 Jul 2016)

Leo said:


> Yeah, that's the way all excess insurance policies I've seen work. You have to pay up to the car-hire company, then initiate a claim with your excess insurance company once you get back. They've include wording along the lines of they 'operate on a pay and reclaim' basis.



That is true unfortunately. The one time I did in fact need this, it took the car rental company 4 month to take the money (500 euro excess) out of my CC, and then another 3 months (and several, emails, and calls) to get me the required paperwork so i can claim - and that was with one of the big, global car rental companies (at a very small rental station north of the Arctic circle though).
Took another 3 month of back and forth with the insurance company to get anywhere. Cost me more in time and hassle than the 500 euro's worth. This was one of them cheap / no frills / no recognisable brand / car hire excess only insurance companies though.

So nowadays I just buy the super excess no hassle insurance with whatever car rental company and forget about it, and always include around 15-20 euro per day in my budget on top of whatever the car costs. Never had another accident though.


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## RichInSpirit (28 Jul 2016)

newirishman said:


> So nowadays I just buy the super excess no hassle insurance with whatever car rental company and forget about it, and always include around 15-20 euro per day in my budget on top of whatever the car costs.



I still haven't the rental idea fully given up, but like you I think i'd be going for the super collision damage waiver insurance. There's basic theft insurance too with my hire and an upgrade on that would be another €15 or €20 per day. It's hard to know where to stop. 
You'd nearly have a car bought at that stage


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## roker (31 Jul 2016)

To sum up, If the hire agreement says £1000 collision damage waver, then I have major damage to the car, the hire insurance cover everything except the first £1000. if the damage id less than £1000 it comes out of CDW


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## horusd (9 Sep 2016)

I took a policy with insuranceforcarhire.com earlier in the yr.  At that stage they were quoting ROI residents.  I recently inquired about upping the cover to Worldwide and was told that whilst my cover was still in force the UW are no longer covering all of EEA, but they are in negotiations with them .  This policy is particularly good as it includes a helpline with translators in an accident and up to GBP 6000 cover for the excess.  I hope they come back to IRL. They seem like a decent outfit.


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