Car Hire | Car Rental | UK Insurance Guide
This is a subject which causes a great deal of confusion with customers who are hiring cars in the UK.
The reason being there are many options available to you and you’re not quite sure what you need and what you can afford to refuse.
Experienced travellers can often get confused with this.
I am going to cover the section relating to renters arriving from North America to the UK. Often credit card companies in North America make available additional advantages with their credit cards. Car hire insurance is one of these advantages. North American customers when booking a rental car will ask that the car hire insurance isn’t included in the price as they have it already with their credit card company .
The car hire company would only consider a Gold credit card or a Platinum credit card , as these credit cards have sufficient credit to cover the cost of the car.
As a customer you should be aware of this. If you choose to use a Gold card for example to cover the insurance and you are involved in an accident. If the damage to the car was extensive and the car had to be replaced, the car hire company would take the total cost of replacing a car from the credit card.
The customer would have to claim this money back from the credit card companies insurance and hope they pay out.
If you have an ordinary credit card, not the Gold or Platinum card, you can still reduce insurance cost by making use of the credit card insurance on your card. The insurance cost I am referring to is for the damage excess. In North America the damage excess could be referred to as the deductible. If the car is damaged this is amount of money that the car hire company will make you responsible for. The sum is likely to be in the viscinity of £600 .
In this situation you cannot directly make use of your card to cover the deductible. In this situation you would decline the insurance option offered to you at the car hire desk by the car rental company representative. The representative will authorise your card for the total deductible amount. In the event that the car was returned damaged the car hire company would deduct the cost of the repair damage from your card up to the maximum amount of the excess . You would then use your credit card insurance to claim that amount back.
Some independent car rental companies will offer you cheaper insurance packages.
See Car Hire Prestwick Airport
