UKC

Hi all, I've not been directly involved in hiring a car abroad for quite some time now. Reading through a few threads here it seems that the thing to do is to just hire at the company's (or broker's) base rate, and deal with the insurance (excess waiver stuff) via a separate company as discussed for example on threads like this
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=459325&v=1#x6397488

Is that about right?

(if anyone is interested, we are looking at car hire in Sardinia, best seems to be holidayautos, £196 for 8 days - plus whatever extras - seems pretty steep though!)

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Have you tried economy car hire? Just a broker but their prices include the excess waiver. It's always worked out cheaper for us than buying separately. If you're likely to hire more than once per year the separate route is probably the way to go.

In reply to ebygomm:

I haven't - ta. Will look. was about to contact you actually as you are always good on this sort of thing

In reply to ebygomm:

Aha, yes it looks like the "list price" seems higher but not if you factor in additional driver and the waiver. Thanks. I will study small print tonight.
Galling to search through old threads and find people who've had cars for about £60 for a week in Alicante in 2011, when it looks like we'll be paying well over £200! Bah

Thanks again!

In reply to ebygomm:

Looks about equivalent for the same car, and I may be hiring abroad again within 12 months so I will look into the costs of separate CDW.
Now I can start fretting about to how to fill up the car with fuel in Sardinia early on a Sunday morning for return (Holiday Autos might sting us for a bit less than Economy Car Hire if we can't fill it!)

In reply to Blue Straggler: The fact that the hire includes excess waiver does not mean that you will not be faced with a huge bill if the car gets damaged. If you read the small print you will be expected to pay for the first x number of pounds. This amount varies but is usually significant. When you pick the car up you will be offered additional cover but this is likely to cost an additonal in the region of £40 to £50. The best bet is to take out separate cover either annually which will cost about the same or for the trip which is typically about £23 or so pounds.

In reply to GridNorth:

No excess with the broker i mentioned.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

It's definitely much cheaper to buy an annual excess insurance from someone like insurance4carhire** in addition to if you are hiring more than once a year either in the UK or abroad, and still worth getting comparative quotes from them for a one off.

* Not only do they cover excess but also tires, glass and underside damage - items often excluded by the car hire companies

In reply to ebygomm: Just checked it out. You are right however I think it's built into the overall car hire quote. I've compared the costs against a company that I'm using for an upcoming trip to Morocco. Mine with separate cover is £128 for the car plus £23 for the excess protection yours is £156.

In reply to Blue Straggler: Italy only take credit cards for car hire - if you take out separate insurance you may have to still have a holding deposit on your credit card which they take in an accident (you then claim that back from the 3rd party insurers) so you need to make sure you have 700 to 1000 euros spare on your card for this excess otherwise it will be rejected.

Avis are the only ones I know that do not have the CC requirement but you need to arrange that prior to Italy visit.

In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

Thanks I had read that, in fact I thought maybe it was Europe-wide. Cheers. I have credit spare luckily

In reply to GridNorth:

Is Morocco that much cheaper than Sardinia for car hire or am I just being unlucky with Google? Everything is £220+ for 8 days!

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Not sure if this has been mentioned but 'fully comp with no excess etc.' through the actual car hire company may still not cover you for glass and damage under the car which was the case when we went to El Chorro a while ago.

Small print small print...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Could it be because it's Easter?

We paid £101 for a weeks car hire in Madeira in Feb. That figure does seem a lot for just over a week

In reply to ebygomm:

That might be it. Well we aren't doing too badly on flights and accommodation so I suppose I'll have to take it on the chin!

In reply to ebygomm:

Just ran a quote through holidayautos (which had £196 for our trip) for 13-21 April instead - came out as £143 so yes there is an Easter surcharge. I want to add an extra driver and your broker seems to throw that in for free so that is probably the best for me, thanks again

In reply to ebygomm:

Just to check - do you mean Economy Car Hire and not Economy Car Rental ? Two apparently different brokers, with the second of which Google has decided to confuse me

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Scrub that. The latter is £70 extra for additional driver...

In reply to JH74:

....which is another reason to insure the excess with another insurer as these are usually covered.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

From what I have seen Sardinia is a fair bit more expensive than anywhere on the mainland. I work for one of the large car rental companies and am still struggling to find anything under 150 quid for a week for a Golf sized car. I would always be wary of the 3rd party insurance, just make sure it covers the Glass, Tyres and underside of the car as a fair few of them do not and is by far and away the most common damage. Some of the major rental companies do not cover this either so make sure you read all of the small print. As for the refuelling I doubt that any company will be great if you haven't refuelled - normally about a pound a litre more expensive so fill up the night before if you can and then it won't be the end of the world if you are 5 litres short. Also make sure that the additional driver is prepaid or there is an agreement as quite often it is a request and will be added on when you pick up the car.


Hope that helps and is coherent, any questions feel free to send me a message.

In reply to D_Wills:

Thanks for your advice. I will read the small print on the Economy Car Hire broker but I know ebygomm and I know she knows her stuff so I have some faith
Filling up the night before is certainly a good idea, but Cala Gonone is still 2.5 hours' drive from Cagliari so we'll possibly burn more than 5l! Will do it anyway though.

Great, thanks all, think I'm sorted now

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I think from memory there are some exclusions to the policy, e.g. losing keys and misfuelling and you can pay a further fee to include them.

In reply to ebygomm:

FYI with Economy Car Hire the "included" bit may now include less than when you have booked with them; it is an additional £16 for "Worry-free car rental with our enhanced top-up insurance provides cover against any loss or damage to the vehicle not covered by the car rental insurance including wheels, tyres, glass, under body, roof, interior, keys, locks and misfuelling. In the event of a loss you will have to pay our car rental partner directly and then claim the amount back from our insurance provider. The car hire supplier may offer their own alternative optional insurance product."

So it looks like they've now lumped the tyres, glass, underbody (etc) in with the keys and "misfuelling" whatever that is.
Still probably the best deal for us on this trip so thanks again for the tip.

In reply to Darron:

Well expanded. That's what I meant for the op to consider.