31 May 2022

Discover Just How Much Can Be Covered By Car Hire Excess Insurance. You May Be Surprised!

We reveal all the extra cover that can be provided through car rental excess insurance

Usually when you purchase a car hire excess insurance policy you are looking to cover the excess on the CDW and theft waiver parts of your car hire insurance. But were you aware of all the other amazing things these policies can do?

Car Hire Excess Insurance can cover so much more than you think

CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) covers the majority of the cost of damage to the car itself. The CDW means that, providing you have abided by the rules of your car hire, if you should damage the car or even write it off you would only be liable for the excess amount. However, you may be surprised to hear that parts of the vehicle are often excluded from the CDW. These areas include:

• The wheels and tyres
• The glass and mirrors
• The underneath of the car
• The roof

This means that some of the more obvious forms of damage are not covered with your CDW. Punctures are a fairly common occurrence but with the majority of rental car agreements, a puncture would not be covered by the CDW and therefore you would be liable for the whole cost. Likewise, you could be driving along a motorway and a stray stone flies up and cracks the windscreen, or a pothole in a road could cause you to scrape the underside of the car. None of these incidents are likely to be covered by your CDW. However, these are all covered by all the excess policies available through MoneyMaxim.

What you may not know…

There are numerous other areas which can also be covered by an excess policy. Many of them come as standard whilst some car hire excess insurance companies offer the opportunity to add them as an upgrade.

• Misfuelling
• Lost keys
• Towing charges
• Lock out
• Curtailment
• Drop off
• Battery cover
• Baggage
• Loss of use
• Personal accident
• Hotel cover
• Out of hours collection
• Cancellation
• Road rage
• Car jacking
• Admin fees
• Volcanic ash

Our filters on the MoneyMaxim Car Hire Excess Insurance comparison service allow you to narrow down your search to those policies which include the cover options that are important to you.

You can also select up to three policies at a time from your results to compare them side by side in more detail. This is a great way of seeing any differences in the level of cover provided.

All the policies via our site can include at least one additional driver free on the lead driver's policy - many of the excess insurance companies will cover more than that. The additional drivers must be included on the actual car hire agreement to be covered.

There are policies available to cover other types of vehicles – not just cars. These include minibuses, campervans and motorhomes, and vans.

It is a good idea to establish what cover you have with your car hire before you purchase any car hire excess policy, particularly if you are travelling to countries outside of Europe. More comprehensive policies are available should your car hire come without the main insurances of CDW, Theft protection or adequate liability insurance.

Once you have the main insurances in place then you can decide which additional areas you wish to cover through a car hire excess insurance policy.

Car Hire Excess Insurance policies through MoneyMaxim cost from around just £2 per day. Not a lot for the cover they offer and much less than you would have to pay at the desk!

Image courtesy of: Pixabay