UKC

Hi,

On a recent trip abroad, when hiring a car, I had the choice of either paying the excess insurance (about €180 up front, non-refundable), or having a potential excess of €1500 if I had a crash etc...

I wanted to choose the latter as we were only in Lanzarote, so no major roads etc to navigate..

However, as I didn't have a Credit Card (Mastercard) - I only has Visa Credit or Amex - I had to pay the former via Credit Card..

At the counter, the assistant took great glee in telling me that it was in the small print/ e-mail that was sent..(which it was)..Even if I had read the small print, I am not too sure I would have clocked the implications...

I am not too sure this has happened before - is it normal?

Thanks

I think that's pretty normal. I always take out excess insurance before going (I used insurance4carhire a couple of years ago for my trip to Italy, it cost £26 for about 5 days) and always take a credit card and refuse the car hire companies insurance

Can recomnend Zest Car Rental, have used a few times (tho not made a claim yet)
Their fully comp insurance you take out as part of booking, you are covered but would have to pay any costs upfront and then claim back in UK. https://www.zestcarrental.com/ 

Pretty normal, I think that's where they make the most money in commission. We always take out an annual excess insurance which costs about 30 pounds and covers all car hire we might do in a year.

As said above take out additional insurance which only covers the excess with an insurance company. It's vastly cheaper than any car hire firm, you can do it by the day, or even annual cover. Some companies are starting to offer travel insurance which cover this, flight delays, lost luggage etc.. 

TBH I am surprised that you are surprised by this turn of events. Car hire threads are one of the perennials of UKC and letters from.aggrieved people often appear in the media.

May i comend to you the website of the annoying Martin Lewis, moneysavingexpert.com , well worth a read.

Not at all surprised. The hire car company need to be able to recoup some money if you crash it or someone else crashes into you. They do this by adding on a large amount in extra insurance or by taking an excess from your credit card if you return the car damaged.

Best plan is buy annual excess cover (~£40 a year in Europe) and get a credit card (not Amex as they aren't accepted everywhere, Visa or Mastercard should be ok though) so the excess can be held against this (it won't be debited to the card unless you crash). That way you don't pay silly money every rental for additional insurance and if you do have a prang the excess cover insurance should reimburse you.  

When picking a rental car up make sure that the name on the credit card matches that of the named driver or they'll probably decline it. Most won't accept debit cards and, as others have said, some don't accept Amex.

Be careful recording any damage on the car when you pick it up, casually videoing it with your phone may not pick up everything.

A credit rather than debit card is normally* required to hire a car because they are more likely to be able to charge it for damage or theft.  Very unusual in my experience for a specific type of credit card to be required, though.  You'd think Amex would "do nicely" for that given that Amex charge cards don't tend to have a credit limit (or if they do it's very high) as they have to be paid each month.

On the other hand, unless I had other cover (as many do, sometimes through banks for example) I wouldn't in a million years be willing to hire a car with a high excess.  And taking their policy can while expensive have benefits - did this on a trip to Italy where the car was damaged, and when I returned it they just said "yes, you've taken the insurance, that's fine, nothing else to do".

* But not always.  Enterprise in the UK seem happy with a debit card but do charge a £200 deposit which is refunded on return, with a credit card this is just done as an authorisation.

It's often in the Ts&Cs if you book your car online "credit card in driver's name needed"

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire/#excess

CarHireExcess.co.uk are good - i have used for about five yrs and just had to claim and they paid out well. Got the full money back. Can get euro cover for about a wk, will always work out cheaper than the excess insurance cover from the hire company. 

Indeed, but I never heard of it having to be a MasterCard and not a Visa card.  The only time I ever heard of such a stipulation was the controversial Olympics sponsorship deal.  AmEx is often not accepted, though.