Hi toastedmallow ... I think that the problem which you highlight is not just specific to the continent, but to car hire in general. Even when renting a car in the UK or Ireland, you may find policy exclusions on cover for windscreen, tyre, upholstery or undercarriage damage.

I have no personal experience of companies such as the one you mention, but I think their main aim is to cover you personally (not the car) for the cost of those uninsured damages, and the cost of excess charges in relation to any insured damage. But I imagine that if you decline the rental company's optional excess waiver charge, you will have to pay a substantial deposit up front to cover the cost of any possible damages. That could be up to £500, perhaps even more depending on the group of vehicle, the age of the drivers, the country which you are hiring in, etc. Any damage costs would then be deducted from that deposit, which you would have to reclaim separately from your own insurer when you come home. So you would still need an acceptable debit/credit card to cover the hefty deposit at the time of rental.

There are no doubt pros and cons with such a scheme, and it's probably a case of reading that all important small print.

David

Thanks for that David.
Reading the printout it seems they are covering damage to the car/undercarriage/ windows etc. In fact the bit the others leave out. So maybe it is a good deal..........i suppose you need to be hiring a few times during the year to make it worth while, but it seems a reasonable enough way to get peace of mind. Will investigate further!

Hi toastedmallow

This company has been recommended to me by people on other travel sites.To be fair I havent heard of anyone who has had to claim,so dont know what they are like that way but on the face of it seems to be a good idea.Will post if i find out any more

I have had a look at their website. It is insurance for the excess applicable when you hire a car. It does not replace CDW which as I read it you still need to take out. I would describe it as insurance against uninsured losses.

My reading is that the insurance cover is for the named driver - additional premiums seem applicable for a second driver.

You are required to pay any charges prior to the claim.

They will check that any insurance cover applicable to the vehicle does not cover what you are claiming. Should that be the case and you have paid up then you will need to try to get your money back.

I do think, as we often say on HT you need to read the terms and conditions fully before you sign up.

They claim that CDW does not cover everything, and in certain cases that can be correct. I do wonder if it is as good as claimed.

If you deal with a reputable company then you do not get "hidden extras"

In all my years in the motor trade and involvement with vehicle hire, tyres were always the responsibility of the driver.

They claim they are covered, but then how many people have tyre problems. In a two year period of vehicle hire we had one puncture on the fleet.

Damage caused to the underside would indicate to me that someone was taking a vehicle over an unsuitable surface. Funny how many think a RAV4 is an "all terrain vehicle?"

And there is the problem. ALL insurance cover has a duty of care - I rather think that you would need to prove that you had not been driving in an inappropriate way.

If it gives you peace of mind then fine. From a personal point - and accepting that I do have some specialist knowledge of insurance of hire vehicles. I would not bother.

fwh

I tend to agree. I considered taking out this insurance with the same company a couple of years ago for my car hire in Portugal because I couldn't find a hire car company that offered fully comprehensive, excess-free insurance. In the end I didn't bother after finding a hire car company that offered comprehensive insurance with a low excess of €150. For me, the risk was outweighed by the cost and I figured that the money was probably more usefully spent on fuel rather than additional insurance that I would probably never need (and didn't). That was Portugal of course where excess-free insurance is rare. In Spain and it's islands where you are going, most car hire companies offer excess-free comprehensive insurance anyway (with the usual exceptions of lost keys, windscreen, undercarriage and tyre damage) so there is even less need for additional cover IMO.

Unless you are someone who would worry too much about driving if you weren't completely covered for all eventualities, I too wouldn't bother. At the end of the day though, it's entirely your choice.

Thanks for you input. I suppose my main worry is that the car would get damaged when it was parked as can happen easily & then you are liable for body repairs or whatever.
This company seems to solve this problem. I'm still debating the issue, but don't think £49 is excessive as we usually are abroad 3 times a year.

I have purchased this insurance in one of my trips. Unfortunately, on that trip I returned the car with a scratch on the driver door. I was charged 227Euro by the rental company for the repair. I filed all the necessary documents to insurance4carhire. The correspondence was good and quick and i was quite satisfied until i got their final response:

"In relation to your query regarding the calculations please note this is based on the document received from Auto Europcar which states Total Euro is €227.21 :
damage to vehicle = €88.50
damage report fee = €35.00 - not covered
Loss of profit fee = €60.00 not covered
Total £183.51
20% VAT £36.70 - not covered
Postal fee 7.00 - not covered
Total as per invoice = €227.21
If you could provide me with the requested bank details your claim will be settled for €88.50.".

Of course the policy doesn't disclose that almost everything is not included.
If you are looking for peace of mind when hiring a car i surely don't recommand this company. For a around 25% more you get a CDW that actully covers that excess fee.

Interesting........... and very disappointing. We've taken out their cover most years to cover car rentals. Fortunately have never needed to claim, but your experience has made me think. I will definitely be scanning the small print before I use this company again.

Thanks for the update, nussinson

Many thanks for the feedback. Whilst I am now retired I do like to keep up to date where possible.

damage to vehicle = €88.50 - Sounds about right. A Dings & Dents repair in the UK would have been a lot less.
damage report fee = €35.00 - not covered. Profit Maker.
Loss of profit fee = €60.00 not covered. Well yes I could understand that if they actually repaired it but they will simply note it on the next hire as a defect. Or Not - and charge some other poor mug.
Total £183.51
20% VAT £36.70 - not covered = Rubbish - They can reclaim VAT.
Postal fee 7.00 - not covered = What postal fee?

I have put my observations against each item. I still hold to my view back in 2006. I would not waste my money. Rather pay the excess but in recent years the companies I have hired from have always had a reasonable CDW charge.

Would be interesting to see what other companies offer the same insurance cover.

fwh

I am writing on behalf of Insurance4carhire. We were very concerned to be made aware of this post as we do always make an effort to treat our customers as fairly as possible. Having looked into the claim I can confirm that it was settled at the end of August, for the full amount, and we have had confirmation from the client that he is happy with the swift response he received once we were made aware of the issue. It appears in this unusual case that there was a breakdown in communication between the car rental company and the insurer which has now been resolved.

Over the past 12 months we have settled more than 99% of all claims made and are committed to maintaining this in the coming year.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch on info@insurance4carhire.com or call our UK call centre any time from 9-5.30 Mon-Fri 0844 892 1770.

Thank you for joining us to provide this update. It is unfortunate and disappointing that your client could not have returned to the topic to confirm this progress made in reaching a satisfactory outcome. Perhaps he may yet do so, here and on the other site(s) where the complaint was posted.

David

UPDATE: After contacting the costumer complaints department, and a short email correspondences, I was reimbursed for full amount and the claim was settled to my satisfaction. It took a while until I actually got the money (and hence the late update here - I needed a proof of payment for my bank and only got it today), but that was probably due to a bank mistake, and not the fault of Insurane4carhire.
Dan

Very pleased to read this update that the full excess damage costs were eventually refunded by Insurance4carhire.com as since my original post 6 years ago, I had changed my mind and bought an annual European policy with this company for the last 3 years. The main reason was that most of suppliers I have hired cars from in the last few years have had quite large excesses in the event of damage and as I now generally have 3 holidays abroad a year and normally hire a car for the whole duration, it made more sense to be covered than before.

Thankfully, I have never had to make a claim but if I ever had to, I would hope not to experience this type of cover kop-out issue from I4CH's underwriters. However, it does sound like it was down to a mix-up and it's good to see that their customer services were concerned enough to post on this thread, so I will renew my policy again this year and trust that the claim on their website that they cover you against the entire excess fee means exactly that.

I'm always sceptical about any kind of insurance because often the underwriters have many ways to wangle their way out of paying. (Have you ever read the policies for smartphone insurance? Complete waste of time having it).
However, the fact that insurance4carhire actually got involved in this discussion prompted me to go ahead and buy their insurance. If I'm unlucky enough to need it I'll report back!