Sadly, the insurance that comes as 'basic' from the car rental company may not quite cover all the risks. To begin with, in some countries you may find that the rental price actually includes little or no insurance at all and the rental company will offer it to you as a chargeable extra. Even if car rental insurance is included in the rental price, you may find that it contains limitations that you're unhappy with.
It is worth examining closely the third-party liability cover (the insurance that covers claims from others than you have injured them or damaged their property) to make sure that it is not capped at an unrealistically low maximum payout. This does not apply in the UK where cover must be unlimited by law but in some countries the cap could be set at a level far below potential court awards.
It is also likely that the CDW (collision damage waiver that covers damage to the rented car) will have exclusions that mean it will not pay if areas of the car such as the wheels, tyres, roof, windows and undercarriage are damaged. The costs here could be high following an even trivial accident.
Finally, the car rental insurance policies provided by the rental companies will probably contain excess. The excess is an amount of money that you could have to pay towards the cost of an accident and claim. Typically it is set between 500 and 1500 pounds. If you have an accident that costs say 1000 pounds to repair and the policy has 750 pounds excess, then you'll have to pay that 750 pounds.
If you find these things unacceptable, what can you do about it?
The car rental company will offer additional forms of insurance that mean they will increase the amount of third party cover, reduce or remove the excess and possibly increase cover to the excluded areas of the vehicle. When purchased from a car rental company, these forms of insurance can cost several times more than when they are purchased from a specialist insurance provider through the Internet.
The specialist providers sell a range of policies to cover some or all of the above gaps. They work on the basis that if you have to pay the rental company for excess or damage to an excluded area of the vehicle, your direct policy will reimburse you.
A major advantage of car rental insurance purchased from a direct provider is that it is sold to you the policyholder and by the day or year. What this means is that it will cover you against the above risks for any cars rented during the period - subject to certain terms and conditions. If you're renting regularly this could not only save you very significant amounts of money but also lots of time as nobody enjoys the 'extra insurance' debates at the car rental collection desk. It may be a good idea to research the specialist providers further if you're looking for a good and flexible deal.
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