Rental Car Travel Insurance & Car Hire Excess Coverage (2024)

FAQs

Does travel insurance include car hire excess? ›

Travel insurance usually doesn't include car rental excess as standard, so if your hire car is damaged or stolen you may have to pay a lot of money towards repairing or replacing it. But it's easy to get cover for rental excess with RAC Car Hire Excess Insurance.

Excess (known as deductible or franchise in the US and Europe respectively) is what you're liable to pay in the event of an accident or damage is caused to your rental vehicle. Excess Cover is the protection that you can purchase to help cover the excess.

Travel insurance excess (also sometimes called a deductible) is the amount you may need to pay towards a claim that you make on your travel insurance policy. So you don't have to pay the excess when you first purchase your policy – only if you have to make a claim.

Is Car Hire Excess Insurance Worthwhile? If you don't want to spend up to €1,000 of your holiday budget on car hire excess fees, then yes, car hire excess insurance is worthwhile. Excess insurance is relatively cheap and could save you from a big pay out.

'Excess', when we're talking about any sort of insurance policy, is the amount of money you must contribute before your travel insurance provider will pay towards your claim.

According to Allianz Global Assistance, a travel insurance provider, "Trip cancellations and trip interruptions due to known, foreseeable, or expected events, epidemics, or fear of travel are generally not covered."

Most comprehensive travel insurance policies (both domestic and international) cover car hire excess either automatically or for an additional premium. However, keep in mind that there'll likely be a limit on how much your travel insurer will pay towards the hire car excess, and these limits can vary by insurer.

Car hire excess insurance is a policy that covers you against the cost of making a claim on an insurance policy for a hired car if it's damaged or stolen. The cost of making a claim is known as the excess - it's what you pay towards the claim before the insurer covers the rest.

Excess liability insurance covers claims that exceed the limits of a primary insurance policy. If a business hits the per-claim or aggregate coverage limit on a particular primary policy, excess liability insurance will kick in to cover the amount in excess of the underlying policy limit.

While not all travel insurance plans have coverage for car rentals, some comprehensive travel insurance plans have an add-on option for rental car collision coverage, if the rental car is damaged in an accident.

Is excess travel insurance worth it? ›

Having the right amount of insurance is hassle enough. Here's the thing, though: Excess insurance is not a bad thing when it comes to travel medical insurance. In fact, excess travel medical insurance as included in a Generali travel protection plan is something you should definitely consider for your next vacation.

In most scenarios, travel insurance reimburses you for your covered financial losses after you file a claim and the claim is approved. Filing a claim means submitting proof of your loss to Allianz Global Assistance, so that we can verify what happened and reimburse you for your covered losses.

When you take out car insurance excess protection you have peace of mind that you won't need to find a lump sum of cash to pay for the excess if you make a claim. You can take advantage of cheaper car insurance premiums, but if you do have an accident, you won't be faced with any big bills.

Should I pay for extra car hire insurance is a question many vehicle hire customers ask. We always suggest taking out the Full Protection cover when booking your vehicle. Usually a car hire customer will be given a quote and then when ready to book there is the option to either select basic cover or Full Protection.

Whichever car hire company you go with, they will provide you with basic insurance – but you'll need to check the small print to see what this covers. Some hire companies will provide you with a damage waiver, which is included in the cost of the car hire.

Travel Expenses: This is the most likely category for rental cars, as they are generally used for business travel. If the business has a travel expenses category, then rental cars should be included in this. Vehicle Expenses: Rental cars could also be included in a vehicle expenses category, if the business has one.

Rental car insurance can be expensive — it can easily double your rental costs if you purchase a full coverage package. You also technically don't need to purchase insurance since rental cars are automatically covered for the minimum requirements in their state. However, it can still be worth it in some situations.