Self-drive hire insurance

The team at Sentinel continue to offer their specialist expertise. If you need more information or have any concerns you can contact the Sentinel team by calling 0118 931 1008 or sending an email to info@sentinel-solutions.co.uk.

The key issue that you need to think about before going down this path, is whether your balance sheet is strong enough to cope with the business paying what may typically be something between the first £10,000 and the first £100,000 of every incident. Ask an experienced self-drive hire insurance broker for their advice.

Thoroughly checking the customer’s driving licence is a vital first step. However, make sure you also validate the licence using the DVLA’s licence validation service, obtain further proof of identity in an insurance-approved format and always take a photograph of the hirer – and never accept cash.

Not always an easy issue to manage. A good start though is to make sure your hire terms include an appropriate clause making it clear that the hirer must not use a mobile phone (even if hands-free) whilst driving – and draw this clause to your customer’s attention. If you are unsure about your legal position, ask a lawyer specialising in transport-related matters for advice.

Have you thought about introducing a telematics-backed hirer incentive scheme that rewards the safest and most fuel-efficient hirer? Talk to us about how an incentive scheme might best be introduced. Your terms of hire may need to disclose the fact that driving style and behaviour will be monitored. We recommend you take advice on this point from an appropriate lawyer.

Most self-drive hire insurance policies are worded in such a way that the excess will be applied to the loss or damage relating to each vehicle involved in the same event. If you have, say, a £500 excess and twelve vehicles were damaged, the total excess is likely to be £6,000.

Exclusions include hire must meet the acceptable criteria and have a valid hire agreement. See your policy documents for full details.

If you prefer to spread the cost of your annual premium, we offer a quick and easy direct debit scheme. When you choose to pay premiums in instalments, you will be paying under a Premium Finance plan. We will give you full details of the finance provider, and the additional cost of finance, when we provide you with your payment plan quotation. This will include the total payable, the number of monthly instalments and the cost of each, as well as the representative APR.

If you would like to know more about our monthly payment option, please visit our dedicated Direct Debit page.