8th November 2011 from Carrentals.co.uk Press Release

Carrentals.co.uk, the award-winning car hire price comparator which sources deals from up to 50 of the industry’s leading rental providers, has this week published new prices to help ski fans save.

With the European ski season getting into full swing throughout the next month(December), the Carrerentals website is offering new cheap car hire deals for Britsish holidaymakers?making for the pistes of the Alps this year.


Many UK tourists heading for the Alps choose to fly into Geneva Airport and pick up a rental car there to make their way to their chosen ski resort. To help people make the most of their winter travel budgets this year Carrentals.co.uk has sourced new Geneva car hire prices from the likes of Alamo, Auto Europe, Budget, Ebookers, Hertz, Holiday Autos, Opodo, Sixt and Thrifty. Deals can be booked right now from just? £22 per day with collections from Geneva Airport*.


Other travellers choose to fly into more rural France and combine a ski trip with a visit to the wine country. Lyon, in the heart of the Rhone country, which is another popular choice with the Britsish who choose to enjoy a scenic drive up into the Alps and Carrentals.co.uk can help them to source great value rentals there too. Users can compare the best car hire France has to offer and find deals like? £19 per day with collections from Lyon Airport**.

Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, comments, “It is that time of year when tourists from the UK start to book car hire for their ski holidays in the Alps, and we are able to help them find some great value deals. Our site is updated in real time to ensure that people can always see the very latest deals from all the top name providers.”

The Carrentals.co.uk service compares car hire deals from up to 50 rental companies, including Alamo, Auto Europe, Budget, Holiday Autos and Sixt, in over 10,000 locations worldwide. To compare the latest car hire deals visit? carrentals.co.uk


Important Notes:
*Price correct at time of writing for 1 week car hire from November 30th for rentals collected at Geneva Airport.


**Price correct at time of writing for 1 week car hire from November 30th for rentals collected at Lyon Airport.

In practically every country in the world, by law you will need some form of rental vehicle insurance for a car, van, motorhome or mini bus that you are hiring if you are the driver of that hire vehicle.



Usually the law will stipulate that you must have a certain minimum level of third-party liability cover so that any awards against in the even of an accident and you have injured someone (or damaged their property) with the hire vehicle. In general most car hire / motorhome hire / van hire companies will include this ‘minimum third-party cover’ in their basic rental price.


The system can vary from country to country and it is always an idea to being somewhat cautious. In some countries such as the USA, individual State or national laws may set the required minimum at a very low level. If the rental car comes with say US $25,000 of third party cover and following an accident you have $500,000 awarded against you, then it will be you the driver to personally have to find the balance of $475,000! This is a very serious matter.


In the UK the third-party protection that comes with the vehicle rental insurance as ‘included in the price’ must provide unlimited financial protection by law.


In some countries the rental vehicle may also be provided with CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) included – even where it is not, the hire company will usually offer it to you to buy in addition. This can be at the time you book the vehicle or when you go to collect it.


The CDW function is to cover you against the cost of any damage incurred by the rental vehicle while it is being hired out to you. This protection includes theft. If the vehicle sustains damage and you do not have CDW then it will be you who has to pay for any repairs and vehicle repairs cost a lot of money normally and often you have no control on the amount that the repair company is charging unlike if it was you personal vehicle back home.


The Collision Damage Waiver / CDW provided by the rental companies will possibly contain some clauses that may also get you reaching for a small bank loan following an accident, but how many people actually reads this? Probably not too many like a lot of small print on documents.

Vehicle renters may find that the policy won’t cover the vehicle in total and that some areas or parts are excluded from cover. It will also typically contain a large excess that may fall in the range £500-£1600. That may be debited to your credit card after an accident as your ‘mandatory contribution’ towards the total cost of the claim and as the vehicle hire company has your credit card details there is not a lot you can do.


As you will not want to risk exposing your personal finances to a claim as a result of third-party or CDW limitations, you can protect yourself by taking out a little extra insurance. This is excess insurance.


Quite often the vehicle rental company will offer you what they may describe as ‘rental car/ rental van insurance top-up’. This means that for an additional sum they may remove the excess and cover the entire vehicle. In countries where it is applicable, they may also offer something called ‘Supplemental Liability Insurance’ (SLI) which can boost the amount of protection you have for third-party claims.


It is usually more economical for the person renting the vehicle to get the same protection at a lower cost by taking out a policy with an online insurance specialist provider of rental car insurance like those advertising on the www.insurance4carrental.com ?site. If you have one of their policies you would simply recover from them any costs debited to your credit card by the rental car company for items like the excess.


Many of these specialist insurance providers offer daily or annual policies for car hire and daily policies for van and motorhome hire excess. Some will even cover the older renter age group 75 – 85. After all people are living longer these days and going off on vacation more often in later life. In fact the way various Governments are now changing the retirement age, many more people will be taking later life holidays.

Unfortunately hiring a rental vehicle be it a car, van, motorhome or even a minibus is not one hundred per cent straightforward so do make sure you have adequate protection when you rent. Start by visiting http://www.insurance4carrental.com/?today. You choose which company you want to use and make all the arrangements direct with the individual insurance company.

AA launches ‘AA Thrifty’ – a new partnership with Thrifty Car Rental – 21st October 2011

The AA has announced an exclusive business partnership with Thrifty Car Rental that will offer AA Members year-round benefits and discounts on car hire in New Zealand and Australia.

From 1 October, AA Thrifty is being marketed across New Zealand, and will feature in the 38 AA Centres and 34 Thrifty branches across the country.

Thrifty is owned by the NRMA, an affiliated motoring club to the AA that is based in New South Wales. Late last year, all seven Australian motoring clubs contracted with Thrifty to offer exclusive car and truck rental to their 6.8 million Members.

AA Club Operations General Manager, Peter Moxon, says Thrifty’s commitment to delivering great Member benefits and service, as well their strong focus on road safety, makes them a natural business partner for the AA.

“Members who choose to book with AA Thrifty for travel in New Zealand and Australia will receive discounts off the best rate of the day, year-round offers and exclusive benefits.”

“We are particularly pleased by AA Thrifty’s decision to provide motorists with the ANCAP crash safety ratings for their entire rental fleet. This shows a strong understanding of the importance that stringently tested motor vehicles play in improving safety on our roads.”

Bryn McGoldrick, CEO of Thrifty Australia and New Zealand, says “we’re delighted to be partnering with one of the great New Zealand membership organisations. Thrifty has become adept at serving motoring club Members and with 244 locations across Australia and New Zealand, we are looking forward to welcoming AA Members wherever they might be travelling. We will deliver friendly, helpful service along with great value, a wide range of exclusive benefits and many seasonal special deals.”

“To celebrate the launch of AA Thrifty, any AA Member booking a rental car before 31 January 2012 will be eligible to win one of two cars for a year. It’s a nice way for AA Thrifty to celebrate the launch of this exciting new service to AA Members.”

“We invite all AA Members to take advantage of our exclusive benefits and experience the special service for which we are already renowned.”

Source: AA New Zealand ?- The New Zealand Automobile Association is an incorporated society with over one million members. It represents the interests of road users who collectively pay over $2 billion in taxes each year through fuels excise, road user charges and GST.

If you are going on holiday to New Zealand? or Australia don’t forget to buy your car hire excess insurance in advance?

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.

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