Car Rental in the UK ?'s

[starbkjrus]

We travel quite a bit and rent cars without a second thought. However yesterday someone was relating a trip to Scotland where they were told by the car rental company that their American auto insurance was no good and they'd have to buy insurance....to the tune of SIX TIMES the amount of the rental itself. This was not Joe's Car Rental and Bait Shop this was Enterprise Renat-a-Car at the Glasgow airport.

No guide book I've read has mentioned anything about this nor did the rental company when I made the reservation. I'm calling my insurance agent and the rental company tomorrow but for now I just thought I'd ask if anyone else has or has not had this experience.

Can we expect the same or were our friends cheated?

[Robin]

Sounds like complete nonsense to me

[McClef]

That sounds a total rip off to me.

I rented from Hertz in Jersey and in Inverness and the insurance was included at a very reasonable rate.

[starbkjrus]

Shameless bump here. Thanks Robin and Trefor, I agree.


Seriously need some input here guys.

[HeathBar]

I'd ask your insurance agent. I think each policy is different. Some cover rentals and some don't.

[irishrob]

When we were in Ireland I used our Mastercard and all insurance was included. Check your specific credit card company...not all include the insurance.

[cessna152towser]

I've sometimes been asked to pay a CDW supplement (Collision Damage Waiver) with Hertz for car hire in the UK, whereby you are provided with an insurance which covers you in the event that you damage the car and the hire company claims against you for repairs. I don't think its complusory for a UK based to take out CDW. The driver's own insurance policy may or may not cover such damage anyway, depending on the wording. I'd have thought the hire complany would already have third party insurance against any damage to other people's cars caused by the driver of their vehicle and that this would be reflected in the hire charge. I've hired cars in Portugal and in Cyprus and don't recall being charged a big surcharge for insurance because I wasn't a native of the country where I was hiring.

[KiltedPilot]

Some differences to appreciate: A rental price in US/Canada is normally quoted before tax, and before insurance, whereas in UK it is often quoted including tax and including insurance (a reasonable LDW coverage).

That said, things get confusing when bookings from a different country than the rental. For instance, a booking of a Budget car to be picked up in Canada, but made through their UK office, will often be quoted as a fully inclusive price (tax and insurance), because that is the convention in the UK where the rental was sold, even though its not the convention in Canada.

Bottom line -- verify what you are getting in the quote.

Use of a personal auto insurance to cover car rental is not very common in UK, hence why they may have had problems -- this is mainly a US/Canadian feature.

Insurance is a significant part of the rental cost, but 7x is very excessive, unless it is 7x some everything-is-extra mega low headline rate.

Hope that helps.

KP.