To start 2012 off on the right foot the iCarhireinsurance.com team has come up with Five useful?tips to avoid sales pressure at the car rental desk and also making sure that people hiring a car are not?ripped off when they return a hire car.

Tip One: Take Photographic Evidence – something I have personally done when I have rented when I could not get anyone to sign off my comments when I collected a hire car.

Tip Two:??Audit Trail icarhireinsurance suggests downloading a GPS Tracking app to the renter’s smart phone to create an audit trail of where they have?been.

Tip Three: Check Final Bill for Overcharging – Check the? final bill from the hire car company to ensure that extras have not been added like petrol etc. Also get the car signed off when you return it and check your credit card statement.

Tip Four: Don’t buy insurance from the Car Hire Rental Desk

?- they say a car hire customer can save up to 80% buying car hire excess insurance in advance from iCarhireinsurance.com – Find out more Here

Tip Five: Take Photographic Evidence at the End of the Trip – If someone can’t check your car in, then take photos. Digital photos should be able to show dates if the photo is taken by a digital camera or mobile phone.

So if you are planning on hiring a car in the near future or even later in the year it is worthwhile considering all of these.

The Christmas holiday season is just under a week away and many people throughout the world will be hiring a car.


Did you know that if you buy your car hire excess insurance from an independent car hire excess insurance company it will usually be a lot cheaper than if you buy the product from the car hire company?


It can cost a small fortune and at this time of year when every penny / cent (or whatever your currency)counts, you don’t want to be wasting money.


With many car hire excess insurance policies you can buy these well in advance and not have them coming into operation for a couple of months.


Annual policies will save even more money, particularly if you hire a car more than once a year, or your initial hire is over ten days (approximately depending on the company).


Remember to take the polict documenation with you so you have contact info or can prove to the car hire company that you have your OWN insurance. Unfortunately there are still car hire company representatives who will tell you your policy is not valid or you cannot have the vehicle unless you buy their expensive insurance, so stand your ground and and don’t be afraid to compain.

In the UK and Ireland this year as Christmas falls on a Sunday there is an extended apres Christmas public holiday – Monday and Tuesday so this means as normal the hard working retailers who have worked hard with the build up to Christmas, have a day off and then have to open up for the sales (if they are not already running one before Christmas) so you might want to take advantage if some of the bargains about and visit your nearest furnishing store.


The only problem is it is going to be difficult getting all those rather large bargains home, so what do you do – hire a van. Just like when you hire a car, you will have to pay for van hire excess insurance and again it will work out cheaper at a specialist insurance company.

After all of the festive? excitement you might feel like a brief holiday to get over it. What about a few days touring the south of Spain in a motorhome? Not a bad idea, however just like with car hire and van hire you also have to have excess insurance when you hire a motorhome. Motorhomes are costly vehicles to buy for the hire company and unlike a car or van when they are only kept for a couple of years, many companies are now keeping them for up to ten years.

So where do you find a very good selection of competively priced Car Hire Excess Insurance – Van Hire Excess Insurance and Motorhome Hire Excess Insurance companies?

You will find a great choice at the insurance4carrental.com marketing site. Just Click Here and then ?find the approprate section just below the words car hire excess insurance

Have a great Christmas break and remember the drink drive laws in whatever country you live in. In some countries the legal limit is still a glass of wine or pint of beer in others absolutely no drinking if you intend to drive.??

Don’t Lose Your Christmas Cheer with the Hire Car says iCarhireinsurance.com’s Press Release of the 14th December 2011.

iCarhireinsurance.com, is a leading car hire excess insurance provider (and van hire excess insurance provider), is urging people renting a car this Christmas to make sure that they don’t fall victim to a loophole in many excess insurance policies which fails to cover vehicles damaged within 150kms of the customer’s home, even if the car was hired from within that distance.

Hiring a car for short periods is an increasingly attractive option in the current economic downturn, but many people will be ignorant to the fact that their excess insurance policies may not include claims within this distance range even if the car is stolen or involved in an accident that wasn’t the customer’s fault.


“A good car hire excess insurance policy should provide you with full cover from home as well as covering you for the vulnerable parts of the vehicle like the windows, tyres, roof or undercarriage,” said Ernesto Suarez, founder and CEO of iCarhireinsurance.com. “We have found that the majority of policies bought direct from car hire excess specialists fail consumers in this area. We are urging people to read the small print in their excess policies to ensure their spirits are not dampened this Christmas.”

A 2011 survey* conducted by YouGov, on behalf of iCarhireinsurance.com, revealed that there was widespread ignorance about what excess insurance did and did not cover with eight out of ten people (85%) not knowing that some excess insurance doesn’t include damage to windows, tyres, roof or undercarriage or driving within 150 km of home.


iCarhireinsurance.com is one of the few providers that covers drivers wanting to hire cars near their home. It also includes cover for damage to the windows, tyres, roof and undercarriage – vulnerable parts of the car excluded by many providers.

?iCarhireinsurance.com’s policies start at just £2.99 a day, compared with approximately £18 a day (see Table 1) if bought direct from the rental company. Annual polices start from £39.99.

Key Benefits of Stand-Alone Car Hire Excess Policies

Annual or Daily cover


Protect yourself against excess charges for damage and theft


Cover for damage to areas usually excluded by the rental company such as windscreens, tyres, roof and undercarriage


European or Worldwide coverage


UK automatically included for UK residents


No distance from home restrictions


Cover for additional drivers named on the rental agreement
?
*The Survey: The research was undertaken for iCarhireinsurance.com by YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2007 adults, of which 1103 had hired a car. Fieldwork was undertaken between 1 – 4 April 2011. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).
?
Excess Europe: Daily from £2.99, Annual from £39.99



Excess Worldwide: Daily from £3.99, Annual from £59.99


USA and Canada: Daily from £6.99, Annual from £119.99


Worldwide Plus: Annual from £139.99

Table 1 (below): Excess Insurance cost for UK resident renting a VW Golf class car in Barcelona (Barcelona Airport) for a three day rental from 29.07.2011 – 01.08.2011

Average daily excess from the rental companies is €21.42 or £18.59.



This compares with iCarhireinsurance.com excess insurance at £2.99 a day, which gives an 83% saving.


For a 14 day hire period, average excess insurance would cost £18 multiplied by 14 = £252. This deducted from an iCarhireinsurance.com 14 day policy costing £41.86, amounts to a saving of £210.14.

Conversion calculated on 26 September 2011: 1 EUR = 0.868053 GBP 1 GBP = 1.15200 EUR

Source iCarhireinsurance.co.uk

Want to find out more about buying iCarhireinsurance Car hire excess insurance and Van hire excess insurance?
Click on logo

With the Christmas holiday season only days away, the The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), the trade body for the UK car rental industry, is again warning customers to take extra care when confronted with cheap deals for Christmas car hire on the Internet or in the press.

In their press release issued on the 13th December they advised: Festive season travellers were caught out by bogus car hire companies this time last year, handing over deposits of hundreds of pounds for cars that never materialised.

The BVRLA believes that similar scams are being planned this year and has already made contact with Police and Trading Standards over one potential threat.

“These companies offer unbeatable prices and free delivery – but they really are too good to be true,” says BVRLA chief executive, John Lewis.

“Unfortunately it is very easy for fraudsters to build a simple website and set up a call centre to pass themselves off as legitimate businesses.

These sham operators are damaging the reputation of car rental and many other industries. We are working with the authorities to help stamp them out.”



In the meantime, the BVRLA is offering five simple tips for customers looking for safe and hassle-free car or van rental:

1. Only use a BVRLA member. Seeing our logo on the front desk or website is a sign that you are dealing with a reputable company that has been vetted and operates to a professional code of conduct. You will also be able to use our conciliation service in the event of any dispute. Find a BVRLA member via the ‘member locator’ on the BVRLA website?


2. Never hand over cash. Most reputable rental companies will only want to accept credit/debit card payment


3. Make sure the company is operating from a bona fide commercial premises, not a PO Box or virtual office, no matter how prestigious the location sounds



4. Make sure the company actually owns and operates the cars it is offering – all BVRLA members operate their own rental fleet.



5. Remember, if the price or service being offered seems too good to be true, it probably is and you may well end up out of pocket and disappointed!

Source BVRLA

Looking for car hire for that Christmas holiday trip? or January holiday?
Click on the image below to find out information abot Holiday Autos – Economy Car Hire and Carrental.co.uk

“The Drum ?Modern Marketing and Media” website has said that Car hire/Van hire/Motorhome hire?firm Holiday Autos has boosted its team with the appointment of Kevin Currie as Global Director of Digital Marketing and Elise Newman as Global Head of Affiliate Marketing and Meta Search.

Kevin Currie joins from hotel website Octopus.com where he was marketing director. Before that he was general managwer of Somewhere2stay and head of web at Virgin Holidays. He has just joined Holiday Autos

Elise Newman has moved? from Affiliate Window where she oversaw client strategy and relationship management in her role as key accounts team leader.

She has previously held senior management roles at LinkShare Corporation and Blue Chip Holidays. She has been with Holiday Autos since September 2011

Isabelle Ratinaud, Managing Director of Holiday Autos, said: “Kevin and Elise bring a wealth of knowledge and experience that will help to develop and shape the growth of Holiday Autos. I’m very excited that they are coming on board at such a pivotal time for the company.”

holiday autos is the world’s largest and leading leisure car hire broker – they offer car hire -? Hybrid Car Hire? – Van Hire and Motorhome Hire in location around the world to find out more Click Here?

Part Source: The Drum.

“The Holmes Report” issued a news release on the 11th December 2011 “Insurance4CarHire Taps Publicasity For UK PR Drive”

Publicasity has been appointed by Insurance4CarHire, the UK’s largest provider of vehicle rental excess protection.


Following a three-way pitch, Publicasity has been selected to deliver an integrated campaign across traditional PR and social media to showcase Insurance4CarHire’s industry leadership, quality of service and customer advocacy.


Publicasity will lead an on- and offline press office function in addition to a number of strategic, awareness-driving projects aimed at educating consumers on the wider category while driving a clear, differentiated brand personality. The agency will also lead on the creation and revamp of the brand’s social media platforms, and help conduct ongoing engagement thereafter.


“We were very impressed with Publicasity’s approach, their creativity in communicating our core messages and thorough understanding of our target audience,” said Gary Webb, marketing director at Insurance4CarHire. “This was underpinned by a robust measurement system which combined to make for a very well developed pitch.”

Source The Holmes Report – It provides insight, knowledge and recognition to public relations professionals.

If you buy the?annual Europe insurance4carhire car hire excess?insurance through a dedicated link on the insurance4carrental.com website you pay only £39.20 instead of the usual £49.00

If you buy the Annual Worldwide you save money as well. You only pay £52.00 instead of the £65.00 price.? If you click on the “Protect yourself from high car hire excess charges” image on the left you go straight to the “special” discounted page on the insurance4carhire.com website.???

Now is the time to buy for your Christmas and January holidays.

Insurance Insight is running a news report that Jubilee replaces Chartis as underwriter for Towergate’s insurance4carhire Europe. As an agent for advertisements from insurance4carhire we were informed at the end of October.

?Jubilee have agreed a number of cover enhancements to the Annual product.

The major enhancements are indicated below:



No age restrictions – drivers between the ages of 21 and 85 are eligible for cover


Towing costs relating to damage or mechanical breakdown are now included


Increased excess or repair costs up to a maximum of £4,000 any one incident and up to a maximum of £5,000 during any one period of insurance.


Cover now includes Misfueling up to a maximum of £500 any one incident and up to a maximum of £2,000 in any one period of insurance


In-Country Rentals – this means there is no longer a 150kms restriction from where you live.

All for the same price! …and if someone buys the annual Europe product via the insurance4carrental.com website it only costs £39.20 for the year.

According to Insurance Insight’s report -

Simon Townsend, Divisional Managing Director at Towergate Underwriting Group, added: “Jubilee has a proven track record in combining its broad scheme expertise and knowledge with the strength of the Lloyd’s platform to create solutions that bring more depth and relevance to the needs of affinity schemes.”

Warren Campbell, Affinity and Special Risks Underwriter at Jubilee, said: “We have been able to extend the benefits for Insurance4carhire.com’s customers and ensure they have a competitively priced, market-leading solution to protect their excess payments. The scheme reflects our strategy of building a diverse book of niche scheme products.”



Source: Insurance Insight and insurance4carhire

I came acroos this article on the iCarhireinsurance site today. “Dubious Dublin airport car rental staff “.

This is a subject that is very close to my heart and I have submitted a few articles on the insurance4carrrental.com website as a result of personal experiences with car rental companies operating out of Dublin Airport, Ireland.

Unfortunately Ernie’s article highlighs some of the major problems that iCarhireinsurance clients are experiencing.?

iCarhireinsurance says that “what strikes us from the comments coming in, is the fair amount of problems the car rental company staff from the various car rental firms at Dublin airport are giving our customers as well as our competitors.”? I have been told a very similar story by a representative of another major car hire excess company and the problem has been going on for a few years now.”

“We know car rental companies treat ancillary insurance sales as a profit centre, but incentivising staff for selling excess waiver to customers results in a poor showing of morals and customer service. Your car hire excess policy with us is always valid and not one single car rental company has any say whether it is permissible or not. Remember this is a separate contract between an individual (you) and an a regulated and authorised insurance company says iCarhireinsurance”.

Ireland needs tourists and business?visitors and if in their first few minutes on Irish soil they are being put off the country by this first moment impression, they won’t return and what is more will be telling their friends and business associated.??



iCarhireinsurance say that they will take action with the European Commission on the client’s?behalf? if you let them know of the following about any car rental company you have dealt with where:-

1. they have advised that our iCarhireinsurance.com excess insurance policy is not valid.
2. you have been pressured to buy additional excess waiver protection.
3. you have been told this type of insurance is compulsory and you are required to purchase it only from the car rental firm.
4. that you have been told they will not honour your reservation if you decided to decline their insurance.

Read the entire article in full Here

More Articles to see on this subject

Irish Car Rental Companies make customers buy their car hire insurance by financial constraints – Here

Car hire company in Ireland charges for unwanted excess insurance. Here

Irish car hire companies are taking visitors for a ride – Here

Irish Tourism in 2011 – Here

If you have been to Ireland and hired a car there and have been pressurised into buying unwanted insurance please reply on this blog or email us?and we will pass your details onto the iCarhireinsurance team.

If you would like more information about iCarhireinsurance car hire excess insurance and van hire excess insurance please Click Here

Hallo Wien! Hello Vienna! is the welcome on the CAR2GO website. These two seater Smart cars will be available in yet another location.

They are already in Vancouver – Canada, San Diego and Austin in the USA,??Hamburg and Ulm inGermany, Amsterdam – Netherlands, and coming to Lyon, France in 2012.

The cars will be available?24/7 and according to the company’s website? no reservation needed. A subscription is not required either and you can park for free anywhere in the car2go operating area. There will soon be some 500 of these cars out on the streets of Vienna.

In October Europcar issued a Press Release saying “??Ulm/Guyancourt – car2go GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler AG, together with Europcar, the leader in car rental services in Europe, will create a new joint-venture to accelerate and extend their innovative partnership Europe-wide. The new company is called “car2go Europe GmbH” and will enable the two partners to bring the unique car2go mobility service to millions of drivers throughout Europe. Daimler’s car2go GmbH will be the majority shareholder in this new company.”

?“Similar to the initial car2go Hamburg joint-venture, founded last October, the new company is built around a balanced cooperation between the same two strong partners,” said Robert Henrich, CEO of car2go GmbH. “car2go Europe will be able to swiftly launch large-scale rollouts and strengthen our first mover advantage as the world’s first free-floating, one-way carsharing service.”



The innovative mobility concept car2go was developed by Daimler AG in 2008. Today, with a total of more than 45,000 members and 1,100 vehicles worldwide, car2go has proven success in four cities: Ulm and Hamburg in Germany, the Texan capital Austin in the US and Vancouver in Canada. Three other cities are announced yet: Lyon (France), Amsterdam (Netherlands) and San Diego (USA). In Amsterdam and San Diego car2go will start operations before the end of 2011 with full-electric fleets of 300 car2go smart fortwo electric drive vehicles in each city. Since the first launch in the southern German city of Ulm in March 2009, more than 900,000 trips have been made and approximately 9 million kilometres have been covered.”

In the Vienna operation the rental charges?are €0.29?per driving minute, €12.90 per hour and €39? per day of 24 hours – and while the car is parked but still booked out to the renter as with other normal hire cars, however?unlike regular rentals, it will only cost? €0.09?a minute. Everything is included – fuel, insurance, taxes and parking, For the first 20km of driving .If the hirer needs?to go out of the city, it will? cost?an extra €0.29? a kilometre.

These sound like a great idea, however if you are looking for a car to rent that can