Taking Out Rental Car Insurance
Just like any other car your rental car is subject to the same risks.. While the insurance you need will be similar, you may find that the terms used to describe rental car insurance are unfamiliar.
Here are the basics of car rental insurance that you may wish to consider:
Third party cover
If you damage someone’s property or cause them physical injury that is shown to be a result of your negligence with the hire car, then they may typically sue you.
If you are renting a car in the UK and in some other European countries, your third party cover will usually be unlimited. That means no matter how much the court awards to the injured party, your third party rental car cover will cover the cost.
Gaps in third party cover
However this may not be the case is some parts of the word, you cover may be limited.
Just because you don’t have enough insurance doesn’t mean that people won’t sue you - it just means that you would have to find any shortfall from your own personal finances.
In such cases, Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI) may be advisable to increase your third party insurance.
Collision Damage Waiver
You may be able to take out what is known as collision damage waiver to protect you from this.
This waiver tends to not to remove all responsibility from you, as it usually carries an excess. This means that the rental company will only cover the repair or replacement costs after you have paid your contribution in the form of the excess.
In addition; you could find that certain parts of the car are not covered by the CDW at all. So damage to any of these may comes out of your pocket
You can buy additional optional insurance to top-up your levels of CDW cover. This can be referred to as excess insurance or Super CDW and it can also include cover for the excluded parts of the car.
When deciding on your car hire excess cover remember that exclusions and limitations will apply within the policy terms and conditions and you should read these carefully and ensure you understand them.
Where to buy
The car hire companies can typically provide all of the additional or top-up insurance that you may need.
They may not, however, provide this at the most competitive price around, as you may find out for yourself if you check out the internet sites the online providers of car rental insurance cover.
When you choose insurance online you are able to check out the terms and conditions of the insurance beforehand