Unfortunately with a lot of car hire operations you do not appear to pay the price that you saw “on the shelf”. Some of the extras are easy to explain – It’s half term holiday time and you are taking your two small children to Portugal for a week. You don’t want to have to bring your child seats with you, so you expect to pay extra to rent them from the car hire company.

Until all cars come with sat navigation, then you will have to rent these as well, although they are a lot easier to transport to Portugal for that holiday than child seats!

The one “extra” that you will normally be asked to buy at the car hire check in desk is for excess insurance. ? When you rent a car, you will find that your car rental agreement normally includes cover for Collision Damage Waiver – CDW (damage to the rental vehicle) and Theft. There is almost always an excess on the Collision Damage Waiver and Theft.

Unfortunately the person who hires the car (van or motorhome) is? still liable for the Excess on CDW and Theft. When a rental car is damaged or stolen, the driver is asked to pay the first portion of the repair or replacement costs. This is known as the Excess.

Fortunately for a low annual or daily premium a car hire excess insurance company can provide excess insurance protecting the customer against excess charges whenever he / she? rents a car/van/motorhome.

Buying the insurance policy from an independent provider like the ones advertising here at insurance4carrental.com ?will normally be a lot cheaper than buying one from the vehicle hire company.

What is more you can buy annual policies if you are going to be renting a car for more than once a year (or if you are renting for two or more weeks it works cheaper usually).

Just make sure when you collect the car you state to their representative that you don’t want their excess insurance as you have your own and take a print off of the poilcy with you in case you need to make a claim.

Some car hire company staff are under a great deal of pressure to seel their insurance products, you have to decline if you have saved money and bought in advance. I bought a new microwave in England last month. It cost £49?and the person at the check out was rather insistent I bought their insurance in case it went wrong. £49 microwaves are part of out “throwaway” society, but expensive cars are not, so you must make sure you are properly insured.

Incoming search terms for the article:

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Which the UK consumer watchdog issued a report on their website yesterday (2nd October 2011) saying “Car hire fuel costs and insurance excesses are too high.

In July this year, Which? surveyed 2,618 members of the public about their car hire experiences. Of the 618 who had hired a car in the past two years, 70% thought terms and conditions were too complicated and 69% felt insurance excess was disproportionately high.

Some 44% of customers who hired a car experienced a problem, the most common of which was that the vehicle was not adequately checked for damage before hire.

Other common problems were having to pay unexpected charges on collection, being given a car that need to meet the customer’s needs and not understanding what was covered by the insurance provided.

Which? believes the experience of car hire can be improved for consumers and will be investigating the issue further.

It will be interesting how this progresses as a lot of consumers appear to have felt pressurised into taking out insurance offered by hire companies.? Go to Which for more including their advice on renrting a car here

In the meantime the great late summer ?weather in the south of England is going away very quickly this week. We are now into October and the half term holidays will be upon us.

If you are off on your holiday then, or before if you don’t have children to take away and are renting a car / motorhome, take a look at http://www.insurance4carrental.com/? You arrange car, van and motorhome hire, arrange car hire excess insurance, van hire excess insurand and motorhome hire excess insurance.

If you run a car hire company and are looking for insurance or need motor insurance for a short period of time there are plents of companies advertising on the site to choose from. The site is not an insurance comparison price website

Gill Charlton in her Daily Telegraph column earlier today ran a story “Am I liable for rental car damage?”

A reader had rented a car at Munich Airport, Germany and discovered a scratch on a door a shortwhile after collecting the car. Apparently there is quite a distance between the terminal and car rental collection point. The reader was charged €485 (£425) on the credit card. Despite arguing the case with the car hire company and it looks like the customer had signed the vehicle condition report before checking the car. They should have notified the company immediately and not till returning the car.

On the insurance4carrental.com website there is a page of advice on what to do when a renter collects the hire car. This can be found here.

Gill Charlton suggested in the article “Your experience shows how essential it is to report damage immediately, however minor. Any dents or marks should be added to the VCR(Vehicle Condition Report). This will mean returning to the rental desk in the terminal. At some airports, there’s a booth in the car park to sort out such problems. In your case, the car hire company would have accepted the scratch if you had telephoned to report it from the café.



For peace of mind it is worth paying £49 for an annual excess insurance policy from a specialist insurer such as insurance4carhire.com. This will also cover damage to tyres and windscreens, which are excluded from basic policies.”

In fact if you buy that £49 policy through the insurance4carhire.com link on the www.insurance4carrental.com site it only costs £39.20 as it is a discounted promotion that insurance4carhire.com is running for visitors to the insurance4carrrental.com site. Find out more here

We are delighted to have joined forces with Halo Insurance to offer comprehensive, low cost car hire excess insurance protection to our customers.

Most hire car drivers now understand that unless they purchase excess insurance they are liable for charges of around £1,000 if the car is damaged or stolen, even if it’s not their fault and customers increasingly want to protect themselves against these charges. By teaming up with Halo Insurance, we are able to meet this customer demand whilst at the same time save them money when compared to the traditional way of buying this insurance at the rental desk when vehicles are collected.

Affordable Car Hire have a sophisticated online booking engine which enables customers to search for a range of vehicles from different rental companies in over 6,500 destinations around the world. As part of the relationship with Halo Insurance, our customers will be able to buy the company’s new “Supermax” excess insurance policy when they are booking their car, saving both time and money.

The Supermax Policy acts as an excess reimbursement policy to protect customers against their excess liability if a rental vehicle is damaged or stolen. The policy also automatically includes additional cover, such as Vehicle Key Replacement and Lock Out Protection as standard. Supermax even includes cover for vulnerable parts of the vehicle that are often excluded by other excess policies such as tyres, windscreens, roof and undercarriage. Prices for the Supermax excess insurance policy start from just £4.50 a day, a saving of over 50% when compared to the typical prices charged by rental companies themselves.

Angela Day, founder of Affordable Car Hire said “We have a clear commitment to our customers to provide high quality rental vehicles and deliver a premium service at affordable prices at all times. Offering customers the option of buying cost effective excess insurance at the point of booking is a natural extension of that ethos. The Supermax Excess Insurance Policy directly supports that fundamental principle as it’s not only more cost effective, but is also more comprehensive than the alternative products that are available at the rental desk. We’re delighted to be working with Halo Insurance to offer this innovative product to our customers.”

Ernesto Suarez, CEO and founder of Halo Insurance Services said, “Many people find car hire insurance confusing, and often don’t realise that even though a rental vehicle is insured, they could still end up with a large excess bill if the vehicle is damaged or stolen, even if it’s just for a small chip to the windscreen! We’ve developed our product with Affordable Car Hire to be easy to understand, and to offer comprehensive protection against the range of excess insurance charges that customers could potentially find themselves exposed to. Affordable Car Hire has a reputation for offering quality products at affordable prices and we feel that our insurance products are an ideal compliment to their existing service.”

More Information about Affordable Car Hire: Affordable Car Hire have partnerships with many of the world’s best known car rental companies including Alamo, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Toyota Rent a Car, National, Sixt and Thrifty.

More Information about Halo Insurance: They are a specialist provider of hire car excess insurance and are based in the United Kingdom in Uxbridge we offer excess protection for car hire users in the UK, Europe and Worldwide. They also offer great value Collision Damage Waver and Supplemental Liability Insurance for customers planning to hire a car in the USA and Canada.

Their policies are sold through their consumer website iCarhireinsurance.com please visit this site to find out more about our great products or to buy a policy.

Global Leader in Car Rental Expands its Irish Operation to a Next Generation Shared Services Centre in Dublin – 11/02/10 – 100 New Jobs Announced at Hertz in Dublin

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan, TD, today (Thursday 11th February 2010), announced that Hertz, a global leader in car rental, is to expand its European Shared Services Centre in Dublin with the creation of up to 100 new jobs.

The increased capacity of the Shared Services Centre will see the transformation of Hertz’s existing Dublin operations to include support elements in the areas of human resources, finance, sales and customer care, in addition to handling customer reservations and other support services activity for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The investment is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.

Making the announcement, the Tánaiste said: “Hertz has successfully operated a European Shared Services Centre from Dublin for over 10 years and the transformation of this facility with the creation of 100 high value new jobs is a welcome step. This expansion will enable the Hertz team in Swords to focus on further enhancing its strategic partners with the business units across EMEA and to grow the operation’s reputation as a centre of excellence for customer care within the group.”

“A high-value transformation of this nature is characteristic of the Government’s ‘Smart Economy’ Strategy and I look forward to working closely with Hertz as it continues to develop and expand its presence in Ireland,” the Tánaiste concluded.

Andrew Varley – Vice President Hertz Europe Service Centre, said: “I am delighted with this announcement and mandate expansion at Hertz in Dublin (Swords). A number of new functions in both Finance expertise and Customer Care and growth elements will be managed from the Shared Services Centre. This will include the establishment of a Best in Class centralised Employee Shared Services Operation for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. The new jobs created by these functions will bring total employment in Swords to over 930 jobs.”
“On behalf of Hertz I look forward to this further development and to continue to build on the company’s relations with Ireland and the Irish Government.”

Hertz is the world’s largest general use car rental company, operating from over 8,000 corporate locations in 145 countries. Hertz is in its 91st year of delivering quality car rental solutions to leisure and corporate customers

Source IDA Ireland – Ireland’s inward investment promotion agency, IDA Ireland (Industrial Development Agency) is responsible for the attraction and development of foreign investment in Ireland

Looking for Hertz Car Hire in Ireland? Follow this link to carrrentals.co.uk

Chris Spponer from Economy Car Hire Ltd has issued a Press Release today 28th February – The cost of car hire has plummeted in recent months as car hire companies compete for winter bookings. In some areas prices have become so low that car hire companies are actually making a loss.

The release says that “The cost of car hire has plummeted in recent months as car hire companies compete for winter bookings. In some areas prices have become so low that car hire companies are actually making a loss.

As prices become unsustainably low, car rental companies look for other ways to increase revenue. Traditionally, car rental companies have sold extra insurances directly to the customer on arrival; however, most car hire brokers and websites now offer their own insurance to the customer at the time of booking which is reducing the potential for an up-sell on arrival.

In recent years, many car rental companies have found a way to increase revenue by taking payment for a full tank of fuel when the customer collects the car and asking them to return it empty. Often no refund will be given for unused fuel.

Customers are very unhappy about this situation, as vehicles are rarely returned empty. The price of fuel has risen significantly over the past few years, and customers are becoming more aware of this practise.

With a variety of potential hidden extras, customers are advised to check very carefully when booking car hire, as there can be a lot of difference between car hire deals and headline prices cannot be compared on a like-for-like basis.

It is important to remember that if a price that looks too good to be true, it often is says Managing Director of Economy Car Hire Rory Sexton. The car hire market is very price sensitive, consumers would be sensible to consider at all the costs they may incur, including fuel, to make sure they really are getting the best deal.

Economy Car Hire provides fully-inclusive car hire services in over 22 countries worldwide, including the UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece (mainland and islands), Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Turkey, Jamaica and Australia.

Prices are fully-inclusive, with no insurance excess (hence no collision damage waiver necessary), unlimited mileage, free additional driver, no airport surcharges, and theft loss waiver included.”

Economy Car Hire are based in the UK and established in the year 2000, Economy Car Hire Ltd specializes in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece and the Greek Islands, Slovenia, and Malta

They offer a range of quality products including car hire excess insurance that are realistically priced and constantly growing and evolving to meet the needs of their customers. From buying a policy to making a claim, they want to build long-term relationships with their customer base.

They are a young, dynamic company benefiting from a heritage that enables them to swiftly and effectively listen and respond to market trends. Protect your bubble is part of a professional, credible and successful organisation, Assurant Solutions, which operates in the US, South America, Canada, China, Europe, the UK and Ireland.

Their ultimate parent company is Assurant, Inc. which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ.

Protect your bubble Car Hire insurance is underwritten by White Horse Insurance Ireland Limited (a Thomas Cook Group Company) and administered on their behalf by Questor Insurance Services Limited who are authorised by the Financial Service Authority.

Protect you bubble’s Car Hire Insurance is available to anyone renting a car with a value less than $80,000, who is aged 21 – 84 and has an internationally recognised full driving licence. If you live in the UK or Ireland cover in your home country is included and we have an option to allow rentals that start close to your home.

There are offer two products to choose from:

A Daily policy insuring a single car rental agreement up to 180 days in length or;
An Annual policy insuring unlimited car rental agreements in the year up to 31 days per rental.

With Protect your bubble Car Hire Insurance, for as little as £2.37 a day or £38.09 a year you can cover the excess on the car rental agreement up to £2,000 in any one claim or £3,000 in total each car rental agreement.

To find out more pay a visit to the Protectyourbubble.com advertising page HERE