Domestic car hire excess insurance

[Jleno]

Actually - back to topic, after much searching around I did finally find an Australian based company that specifically covers car rental excess. So I went with that and paid about $30 in total ($4,000 excess cover) instead of the ridiculous $25 per day charged by the rental car companies. As I said before, you never know if you really got a good deal with insurance until you need to claim on it but it looked fine to me. Quite happy I found this actually as I'm sick of being ripped off by rental car companies. (The other ripoff is the e-toll charges - but there's nothing you can do about that but bend over and take it).

The other problem I had was that general domestic travel insurance (with car rental excess cover) as well as credit card insurance does not work for me as I am hiring in the same city as my place of residence, and those insurances do not cover within 200-250km of your place of residence.

 

[lovestotravel]

It doesn't! Nor does it say that the 3.5% admin fee applies to the excess as well! That's one of the biggest annoyances with all of the rental car companies - their lack of disclosure! Even if you ring them and ask, they don't tell you the correct amount! They quote the $5,500 and only quote the actual amount when queried/pushed! Very annoying! I've had many an argument with rental car company staff about quoting me the incorrect excess amount! I now ask what the actual amount that will be charged to my credit card to get my point across! When I rang Thrifty about a Caprice res for this weekend in SYD, they couldn't even tell me!

Hmmmm that's interesting, but at the end of the day the contract is what is enforceable, not these extra fees and charges!

If Hertz ever try to charge me more than the "maximum of AUD $5500.00 (inclusive of GST)." I wish them luck as the contract clearly states that is the MAXIMUM payable!!!!!!!!

Europcar scares me though, all the liablity/excess options make no sense to me and it is NOT clearly explained on the website, at least Hertz is pretty clear!

 

[lovestotravel]

If you do have an accident and rely upon your credit card provider to provide vehicle excess reducation cover, companies such as Hertz will still dock your credit the excess rate depending upon the class of vehicle you hired, and it's up to you to chase it up with your credit card company. $35 a day for peace of mind comprehensive insurance is worth it in my opinion. Otherwise it's the shuttle bus for you!

$35 a day over say 100 days...............

But yes I agree, it's easy sometimes just to pay the extra $35 and day and not worry about any scratches/dints/accidents etc

On some of my rentals, I still do that, just depends where/when I am driving!

 

[Jleno]

Well the A4, A6 and C200 are not that bad cars really, we are "lucky" there is anything nice to rent!

As for nicer models here, it's the cost of the cars to purchase here that is the problem.... EG $60k for a Merc GL450 in the USA or $180k here

The cost for the rental would be far too high for most people, so they would never get rented

The contracts, especially with Europcar, are a nightmare! I have had one rental with them but even though I have a very good deal on the Audi's I am tempted to cancel the rest of the bookings as I don't like the contract/liability/T&C's

Actually I was probably being a bit harsh and you're right about European contracts. I was just reminiscing about the Hertz prestige collection in the US (Mustang GT, Camaro SS and Dodge Challengers for about US$150 a day!) and the Avis Prestige range in Europe (although they are expensive, but probably no where near how much they would be in Oz).

 

[lovestotravel]

Actually I was probably being a bit harsh and you're right about European contracts. I was just reminiscing about the Hertz prestige collection in the US (Mustang GT, Camaro SS and Dodge Challengers for about US$150 a day!) and the Avis Prestige range in Europe (although they are expensive, but probably no where near how much they would be in Oz).

Yep the USA range is great, but so many tourists go there and happily rent those muscle cars! I do that on most USA trips, just because, and yes about $110-$150 per day!

Here, the Asian tourists (and others) are happy driving around in a Corolla and Hyundai's

Oh and in the USA ALWAYS get all insurances!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[red_86]

Actually - back to topic, after much searching around I did finally find an Australian based company that specifically covers car rental excess. So I went with that and paid about $30 in total ($4,000 excess cover) instead of the ridiculous $25 per day charged by the rental car companies. As I said before, you never know if you really got a good deal with insurance until you need to claim on it but it looked fine to me. Quite happy I found this actually as I'm sick of being ripped off by rental car companies. (The other ripoff is the e-toll charges - but there's nothing you can do about that but bend over and take it).

The other problem I had was that general domestic travel insurance (with car rental excess cover) as well as credit card insurance does not work for me as I am hiring in the same city as my place of residence, and those insurances do not cover within 200-250km of your place of residence.

sorry to review a old topic but I'm in the same predicament I'm away more than I'm home and I only want to hire a car at home. What was the company you found that does this excess cover.

 

[chianshuin]

Does anyone know if the insurance covered by Amex platinum charge card would be sufficiency for sporadic car rental in Australia?

 

[Neverlate]

This post has been very interesting, I have been using Alianze domestic insurance, it has insurance car hire excess payable $6000. I to use hertz most of the time. Am I doing the right thing having separate insurance or should I pay the hire a car companies high premiums.

NL

 

[moa999]

Neverlate,
I suspect you are doing the right thing, at least from an overall cost perspective,
so long as you don't go over your limits (eg. buy being given a free upgrade to a class with a higher excess)

The disadvantage is if you have an accident Hertz will charge say a $5k excess to your credit card, and then you need to claim it back through Allianz etc.
As with any insurance, the paperwork etc could take some time.

 

[AdMEL]

Hmmmm that's interesting, but at the end of the day the contract is what is enforceable, not these extra fees and charges!

If Hertz ever try to charge me more than the "maximum of AUD $5500.00 (inclusive of GST)." I wish them luck as the contract clearly states that is the MAXIMUM payable!!!!!!!!

Europcar scares me though, all the liablity/excess options make no sense to me and it is NOT clearly explained on the website, at least Hertz is pretty clear!

The problem is the contract allows them to charge the extras, but you don't find that out until either you pick the car up or you damage it!

Hertz contract definitely allows them to add their admin. fee and the airport fee .. Have a good look! If you damage one of their Mercs, the max amount you will liable for is $5,500 + 3.5% admin fee + airport recovery fee + SVA if applicable - potentially approx. $10k!

To clarify,Hertz rental agreements have letters after each amount to show you what taxes and charges apply .. My understanding is this specifies what I am referring to.

 

[Jleno]

red_86 - I used Tripcover.com.au . While I have used them, I can neither discourage nor endorse them, since the trouble with insurance is that you never know if they're any good until you actually need to claim, which is something you hope you never have to do.

I have since found out that my work travel insurance includes rental car excess insurance, so I don't need to get separate cover anymore.

The problems with this area though is always the different insurance policies and what the detailed terms and conditions are. I bet even the lawyers can't properly interpret what is covered and not covered, as I've read many policies which just don't adequately define terms used in their contracts. For example, some insurance will say that they cover "damage caused by a collision" or "damage caused by accident" which doesn't make it clear what happens if, for example, the car was vandalised? There are so many different things that can happen and I have yet come across an insurance policy (that includes third party or credit card included policies) where it was absolutely clear that ALL damage is covered.

And nowadays with the increasing popularity of car share programs (like hertz on demand or goget) you don't even know if that is covered.

The alternative of paying the extra $25 a day to the rental company however is still too high to be acceptable however. So there's no much you can do but hope that your third party / credit card policy is good enough.

I'm actually contemplating getting a credit card with a low limit on it and using it for situations where companies (like car rental companies) have the ability to deduct all sorts of sums out of it. I'd rather fight them on proposed charges than have a huge amount taken out and fighting to get it back.

KC

 

[PLANT]

So basically 4 pages and the only options listed are:

Covermore.com.au
Tripcover.com.au
icarinsurance.com.au
Some one paying $30 for yearly cover with some insurance company to get $4000 excess paid?????
and pay the insurance company to reduce excess.

What happened to the $25 fee on ANZ card for insurance cover?

Any further input developments please

 

[ric_melb]

ANZ excess cover for car rental is still there if you have an ANZ card. $24 per annum. Details on their website.

 

[burmans]

ANZ excess cover for car rental is still there if you have an ANZ card. $24 per annum. Details on their website.

Agreed, and its great value but aside from that the only possible reason I can see for having an ANZ FF card! I gave my ANZ card away.

 

[Moopere]

I'm actually contemplating getting a credit card with a low limit on it and using it for situations where companies (like car rental companies) have the ability to deduct all sorts of sums out of it. I'd rather fight them on proposed charges than have a huge amount taken out and fighting to get it back.

This is not a bad plan at all. Once the hire company goes 'ka-ching', it could conceivably take months of stress to work out the right and the wrong of it all, and all the time you're paying 20% interest on the card or at the very least have to pay the card off whilst everyone works out whats what. Good chance you'd not see a refund of interest/costs even if you win.

Still, I had the idea that many credit cards will allow pretty serious overdrawing and in fact many will try to impose their own fee for posting transactions above the limit. I don't think CC credit limits are a solid steel shield from overzealous merchants charges.

 

[markis10]

I don't think CC credit limits are a solid steel shield from overzealous merchants charges.

Debit cards are pretty good.

 

[Moopere]

Debit cards are pretty good.

Yes, this idea came to my mind as well. I've got a thought floating about though that hire companies won't accept debit cards as security. I must admit, I've not pursued this line of thought and may be confusing myself with something else I've read recently.