A common complaint when hiring a car is the size of the car hire insurance excess.

However you choose to hire your car, check the small print to see what the excess or deductible is. This is the amount you will have to pay in the event on an accident. The hire company will often deduct it straight from your credit card even if the accident was not your fault. These numbers can be very hefty and a $3000 excess is not unheard of.

If you are unwilling to bear the risk of a large car hire insurance excess, you normally have 3 options:

Consolidator packages – If you are looking at consolidator packages you can often buy an upgraded package with a smaller or nil excess for an additional fee.

Stand alone insurance policy before you travel – You can buy stand alone insurance to cover car hire insurance excesses. You can buy cover for a specific period or annually, so think about whether you are likely to hire more than one car over the next 12 months. This tends to be a much better deal than buying at the counter when you collect the car.

Worldwide Insure offer car hire excess insurance as well as specific policy for the US with combined SLI and excess reduction insurance.

Insurance4carhire.com also offer a range of car hire excess insurance on a daily and an annual basis. They have worldwide policies and a specific policy for the USA and Canada offering additional SLI and CDW insurance.

 
Additional insurance at collection of the car- When you pick up the car you can buy extra insurance and pay it straight to the hire company. This tends to be the most expensive option and is where you could end up spending a lot of extra money if you haven’t done your homework.

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Do your homework before you travel and don’t be caught out at the car rental counter travel weary and jet lagged being faced with the decision between paying a lot of money to reduce the size of your car hire excess or taking the chance that you will return the car undamaged.