How Expensive Will Your Car Hire Be?

There are a number of factors likely to determine the cost of hiring a car:

• The make and model you choose.
• The period – both the time of year and the duration – for which you want to hire the vehicle.
• The country in which you are going to be driving it.
• The amount you are paying for car hire insurance – and especially the additional sum you are likely to pay in excess insurance in order to guard against the potentially high contribution you may typically need to make if the vehicle is stolen or damaged.

The type of car you choose and when you need to hire it may be more or less self-evident factors when it comes to determining the cost. But the other two factors might bear closer comment.

Car Hire Excess Insurance

Practically everywhere in the world, you need a basic level of third party cover to drive any vehicle on the roads. What you pay for the insurance of your hire car, is typically included in the rental package, so your only option of lowering that cost is to shop around for a suitable overall package.

What the insurance is almost certain to include, however, is such a hefty excess charge in the event of loss or damage that the majority of customers are likely to turn to excess insurance.

This may be bought as a simple, standalone add-on to your hire car insurance and – if you buy from a UK-based specialist such as ourselves here at Bettersafe it may typically be likely to prove a significantly cost-effective way of protecting the excess (any amount you need to pay is promptly reimbursed).

This comprehensive protection of the excess is likely to prove considerably more economical than any you buy directly from the car rental company once you get there.

Where You Are Hiring The Car

Where you get to is also likely to be one of the important factors determining just how much you need to pay for your hire car – just within Europe, for example, there is considerable variation in the cost of car rental.

According to a report in the Telegraph newspaper recently, hire car costs in Portugal or France might be approximately double those in Denmark, Germany or the Netherlands.

With one in five British holidaymakers expecting to hire a car in Europe, says the report, the temptation may be to try to cut costs by skimping on some of the add-ons, such as hire car excess insurance.

The temptation may be even greater when the cost of buying it from your car rental company is at such a relatively high daily rate (potentially doubling your car hire costs). On the other hand, however, doing without such cover leaves you exposed to the liability of having to pay £1,000 or more in excess charges if something untoward happens to the vehicle you have hired.

This lends still further weight, therefore, to the prudence of arranging your excess insurance from a UK-based specialist before you set off on holiday.