Reasons To Buy Standalone Car Hire Excess Insurance

A case in point is car hire excess insurance protection – the whole question of hire car insurance may become thoroughly confusing if you are buying it abroad and it might also prove very expensive.

Why Buy Excess insurance For Your Hire Car?

When you discover just how much is the excess that attaches to your hire car insurance, the answer is likely to be quite clear. With the excess commonly costing £1,500 or more (depending on the car you have chosen to rent and the country in which you are driving it), excess insurance probably seems a very wise precaution.

Grounds For Confusion

You might find some car rental agents less than helpful when it comes to explaining the ins and outs of the insurance you may need for your hire car – and the scope for confusion only increases where many of the terms may be unfamiliar.

This is likely to be the case in North America, for example, where the cover you may arrange to protect against accidental damage is commonly described as a Collision Damage Waiver (CDW). In the event that this cover is limited only to damage arising from a collision in your hire car, you might instead consider something called a Loss Damage Waiver (LDW), which generally covers more extensive risks – but may still leave certain kinds of damage and damage to certain parts of the vehicle uncovered.

On top of that, you might need a further separate form of cover, Theft Protection (TP) to guard against the risk of the car being stolen.

Your CDW, LDW or TP are all likely to come with an excess – which, confusingly perhaps, is likely to be called a deductible in North America.

Cover against your liability for paying this excess or deductible may take the form of a Damage Excess Waiver, which is also known as a Super Collision Damage Waiver (SCDW) or simply Super Cover – as described in a short guide published by the Consumer Association’s Which? magazine.

The Familiar

You may avoid any of this kind of confusion, however, just by arranging a simple, straight forward and immediately recognisable type of standalone excess insurance from an independent insurance provider in the UK.
 
Here at Bettersafe, we specialise in just that car hire excess insurance, which you may arrange on an entirely standalone basis and take with you just about wherever in the world you are planning to hire a car (some countries are excluded due to war etc).

The Cost

For many British car rental customers, however, the principal reason for arranging standalone excess insurance from an independent recognised UK-based specialist is a straightforward question of cost.
 
However long your trip (up to a typical limit of 60 days) and wherever in the world you are travelling, payment of a single premium may keep you comprehensively and safely covered against paying any excess or deductible.
 
This is typically more cost-effective than paying the daily rate charged by car rental companies who offer excess protection which is likely to be considerably less comprehensive in scope.