Many of us have hired a rental car at some point in our lives, and some people use car hire regularly. When you go to hire a car you are presented with a bunch of options for insurance and excess. You will be asked if you want to pay extra for insurance excess and to reduce your liability. Many people are confused by what this actually means, so let’s take a look at it and work it out.
All Rental Cars Are Already Insured
Let’s get that clear from the start. No car you hire in Australia will be without insurance to cover it in the event of an accident or other mishap. The kind of deal insurance companies offer to car hire companies is obviously different to your own private car insurance given the nature of the business. Premiums will be higher and the excess will also generally be higher.
What Is Excess?
Insurance excess is like the gap you pay between what the insurance company covers for repairs or replacement against how much excess your policy states you have to cover in the deal. To put it simply, if your excess is $1000 and the repair bill is $3000, the insurance company pays out $2000 towards the repair while you pay $1000 towards the repair bill.
Car Hire Insurance Excess
When it comes to the rental car industry, insurance excess is like an insurance policy on top of an insurance policy. The car you hire is already insured, but the excess in some cases can be in the thousands, depending on the rental company, the car you are hiring and the insurance company’s deal with the rental company.
When you are asked if you want to include Insurance Excess cover in your rental, what you are really being asked is do you want to pay an extra $20 or more per day for your car hire to reduce the amount of excess you would have to pay in the event of an accident or damage to the vehicle.
Many car hire places make a very healthy additional stream of income out of these little insurance excess deals. You may decide that it’s worth doing. The choice is yours. But generally all you are achieving is virtually doubling the advertised cost of your car hire.
That’s Where Surfers Rent A Car Is Different
Surfers Rent A Car in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast doesn’t believe in charging you extra for insurance excess. They pride themselves on customer satisfaction and actually renting you a car for the advertised daily rate. All their cars are insured, and there is an excess, but the amount is made clear right at the time of rental and you don’t pay any extra or any hidden costs. So trust your next car hire to Surfers Rent A Car, covering both Brisbane and the Gold Coast
Fully comprehensive insurance comes as standard for us, our price includes all this and we only charge $750 excess, significantly less than the industry standard.
