Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

One of those perennial questions....anyone have any good alternates to the loss/damage waivers, personal accident etc insurance options that car rental companies provide ?

Am going back on a holiday/vacation to the UK in a month or so. For the last few years used American Express to charge for rental, which had an explicit primary rental car coverage. Have dropped my Amex card (couldn't justify its cost when the customer service was crap), so wondered if anyone has found decent independent car rental insurance.

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

Why do you want Personal Accident Insurance when renting a car?

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

For like $3 you can add a 'rental car' rider on your US car insurance (assuming you have a car in the US). It pays for itself in about a day of renting a car as all those stupid insurances they offer are really expensive.

Might need to check if it is valid everywher.

The other thing about car hire in the UK is that they often slap a $1,000 deposit/hold on your credit card when you rent. Really annoying.

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

Sorry, I typically don't - I was just listing off the top of my head the type of things that I get offered when I rent a car. Although that's an interesting refinement of the question....as a US resident, what set of insurance policies should I purchase for the duration of a car rental in the UK ?

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

Covers renting a car in the US, not the UK.

And it only gives you the same level of cover as you have on your own vehicle.

Not normally a cost option, but that might vary by State.

I never have bought down, but then I tend not to buy warranties etc.

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

some of the other credit card companies offer the same as Amex - so might be worth checking.

In the UK the third party bit is covered in the rental by law - so you just add the fully comp bit - and its fairly pricey. Some of the rental companies wont allow you to quote without insurance and bundle in all in so its worth checking.

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

Not unless the law has changed in the last couple of years. Companies often use their own insurance rather than 'buy' the rental companies cover.

Unlike the US, most UK Policyholders do not have cover that would include rental cars.

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

That is just the fully comp bit - third party is included to ensure that it is in place. Large companies use their own fully comp bit - the only bit you can buy is fully comp. Many large companies self insure anyway rather than pay huge premiums.

I agree - personal car insurance in the UK doesnt cover rental cars unless after an accident (i.e. courtesy car) and then it usually has to be specifically added.

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

We have been checking car rental for UK and found that 1car1.com includes VAT and fully comprehensive in its price.

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

The UK sites tend to include the insurance and VAT in as standard - trying to get them to quote WITHOUT insurance is quite a challenge!! Then of course they try and sell the policy so you dont have to pay the excess if you need to claim....:sneaky:

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

You can self insure Third Party, actually RTA, as well. The Rental Company needs a copy of your Certificate on file.

But we are moving off subject.

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

self insure means you dont have a policy - large companies cover the risk themselves....well off topic now!:D

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

Actually I was refering to a Bond in lieu of Insurance, an option under the RTA.

Self Insurance is actually well on topic, we all do it, sometimes we do not do it knowingly. Policy deductibles being a classic example in this case.

But with Auto Insurance most peoples biggest self insured exposure is above their limits of liability which in the US can be very low, they just do not think about it that way.

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

You are absolutely right - although I always think of that as under insurance, but technically self insurance would be correct. Car insurance is a mine field over here, espcially with default limits being pretty low. We took out an umbrella to increase some of our coverage too. At least its pretty simple in the UK comparitively!

Re: Car Rental Insurance in UK
 

I could use my Visa, but reading this, or at least some of the comments, make me a bit undecided about how good the coverage is. Amex had an explicit primary coverage that was billed at $25 per rental, complete with documentation to use at the rental counter, rather than the secondary coverage that Visa seem to provide.

There are also products like this, but it is difficult to judge them.