Car hire excess insurance

A car rental agreement usually includes some standard motor insurance cover, such as a collision damage waiver (CDW) and third-party liability insurance. However, this standard cover may not protect you fully. Should the car be damaged or stolen, the renter is still nearly always liable for the first portion of the loss (the ‘excess’), and windows, tyres, undercarriage, roof and headlights may not even be covered by the policy.

Therefore, ask yourself:

1. Can I afford to pay a potentially sizeable bill if something goes wrong?

2. Do I find the excess cover offered by car hire firms expensive?

It can make your holiday easier and more relaxing if you have car hire excess insurance. You have less worry over issues such as where to park your car; being on unknown roads; or if any less well-maintained roads will cause damage to the vehicle.

If you purchase stand-alone car hire excess insurance in advance of travelling, you can gain a reasonable daily or annual rate and get a policy suited to you to cover trips of varying length.

The key benefit is that car hire excess insurance policies will provide protection for the most vulnerable parts of the vehicle - such as the wheels, tyres, windscreen, roof and undercarriage - which are most likely to get damaged. As stated above, these are not usually included in car rental companies' own cover, even if you purchase additional waivers.

Policies can also cover other potential mishaps, such as loss of the vehicle keys, or accidentally misfuelling the car.

Remember, before leaving the car rental pick-up, always inspect the vehicle carefully and try to take photos. Otherwise, if you have excess insurance rather than their own, there can be a dispute, and it’s crucial to report back any problems they haven't listed to your car hire excess company to insure you will be fully covered on your excess insurance.

No, if you are driving a hired vehicle you do not require a Green Card. Green Cards are only required if you are driving your own vehicle.

If you’re hiring a car in this country and intend to drive the car to and in the European Economic Area, you will still need a Green Card. You will need to speak to the rental company to request one from their insurance provider.

The EEA includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It allows them to be part of the EU’s single market.

Switzerland is neither an EU nor EEA member but is part of the single market.

With insurance4carhire's annual car hire excess insurance policies, you can hire a car as many times as you like in the 12 month period of your policy, providing you don’t exceed 60 continuous days per rental.

As long as you’re a resident of the UK or Isle of Man, you can purchase a policy with insurance4carhire.

Yes. Cover is provided up to £500 per claim and up to £2,000 per year.

Yes, these things happen – the policy can cover you up to £500 per claim and up to £2,000 per year.

Some U.N. sanctioned nations are not covered such as Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Congo, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Liberia, North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe. A full list is available from the GOV.UK sanctions, embargoes and restrictions page.

If you take out separate car hire excess insurance, vehicle hire firms will often require a credit card deposit to cover any potential damage. Although you can claim this back from your insurance company if there is an incident and you lose your deposit, you'll need to budget for this. Furthermore, this will usually need to be on the credit card of the lead driver, as many care hire companies do not accept debit cards.

Note that while most vehicle hire companies just ring-fence the deposit, some may withdraw it and refund you later. This means that if there are significant currency fluctuations during your car rental period you could see a different value in the money that is returned to your card.

Restrictions sometimes seen on car hire excess insurance policies include:

• Losses from accidental damage to the interior or contents of the rental vehicle, caused by wear and tear or carriage of animals, will not be covered

• Minimum and maximum ages for drivers (21-85 inclusive)

• Vehicles more than 10 years old or vehicles with more than nine seats