Annual car hire insurance?

[catherine]

We have booked a Fly Drive package with Virgin and haven't taken their car hire insurance. We were just going to use annual car insurance. However I've just noticed on the insurance4carhire website that they advise that you don't use this type of insurance for flydrives to Canada and the US.

So my question is has anybody used this type of insurance with a fly drive and if so did you encounter any problems?

TIA

 

[Claire L]

I have just looked at their T&C's and can find no mention of flydrive being excluded or unadvisable, where does it say this on their site?

Claire

 

[catherine]

Here's a link to the page: http://www.insurance4carhire.com/index.asp?curID=1&langID=1&sessionID=&refID=100&pID=41

In Their Q&A it states "• Why do you not recommend this insurance for fly-drive programmes?
Fly Drive programmes are generally structured so that the car rental company makes its money from add-ons such as insurance. For that reason, companies which participate in fly-drive programmes do not always readily accept this insurance. For example, both Dollar and Alamo will accept our insurance but will withdraw or block US$ 1,500 from your credit card for the duration of the rental when you do a fly-drive through them, using our insurance.

If there is damage to the vehicle, they are unlikely to charge your credit card unless the amount is small. It is more likely that the car rental company will take direct contact with our claims management company. However, the renter must submit a claim form so that the claims management company is fully appraised of the circumstances in which the damage was sustained."

So I don't know whether it's worth the hassle or not!

 

[Claire L]

Hmmm interesting comments in small print! I wonder if that is due to the way that Flydrive contracts are set up between the holiday company and the hire car company? I do recall people saying that the hire car companies really do like you to take their own cover as they get commission on it!

Claire

 

[Ali and boyz]

we hire our car out there to because of DS , we hire if from a mobiity company and they use insurance4carhire, about 3 years ago I mentioned taking out the extra insurances ones that take you up to the millions mark and he said the insurance we took via him was adequate and it was all a sales pitch with the likes of dollar as you were covered for PA with your holiday insurance. thing was we had NO choice but to use the moblility car and having used them now for 3 years I trust and know the guy well enough to take his advise. rather than pay him he advised us to just deal with insurance4carhire direct rather than go through him because of the exchange rates which we have done, taken out their annual cover.

it will be up for re-newal soon so will email them and get all the info needed before we go

 

[gavvy]

insurance4carhire say its not rcommended not because its not vaild for flydrive cars, but because you are more likley to get hassle at the car hire desk to pay for more insurance you wont need.

Virgin and travel companys make big money in selling overpriced insurance, so much that they wil lie to you and say Dollar only accept their own insurance, this is incorrct.

I have used the insurance with no problems at all, its a good policy, Ive never made a claim on it and hopefully never have too!.

 

[fulles]

We used insurance4carhire last year (and we will be this year as it is still within the year!).

The guys at the Dollar desk try their best to get you to take their insurance. They even tried to tell us that we didn't have enough cover (even though it was clearly stated on the policy). Be polite but stand your ground. You can use this insurance.

They will take a swipe of your credit card and they may "block" $1500. They don't actually charge this onto the card, but it does reduce your credit limit until you return the car.

You will also have to pay some taxes that are included when you take their insurance. Last year we had to pay $62 which gets taken from your credit card, but they will give you a receipt when you take the car back.

I would check this receipt because last year we were charged for a full tank of fuel (about $60!!!!), but after writing to Virgin, we got this refunded as we had proof that we had filled up the car the day before. It only cost about $27 to fill the car up so do take it back full or they will charge you more than double that amount.

I would definately recommend them and I will use them in future.

Regards,
Steve

 

[Red-Snapper]

its a good policy, Ive never made a claim on it /

Actually if you havent made a claim yet I am not sure you can safely say that

Also the comment in the other post above about the person saying you are covered by your holiday Insurance for PA - this is true however the main concern is not the PA element but the Public Liability cover - You wil NOT be covered by your normal travel Insurance for injuries or damage to thrid parties & their property whilst driving your hire car.

 

[gavvy]

its a good policy, Ive never made a claim on it /

Actually if you havent made a claim yet I am not sure you can safely say that

Also the comment in the other post above about the person saying you are covered by your holiday Insurance for PA - this is true however the main concern is not the PA element but the Public Liability cover - You wil NOT be covered by your normal travel Insurance for injuries or damage to thrid parties & their property whilst driving your hire car.

I suppose the proof its a good policy is in the claims procedure- hopefully I will never find that one out! but for the money I have saved lst year with this policy its worth that risk.

 

[fulles]

You wil NOT be covered by your normal travel Insurance for injuries or damage to thrid parties & their property whilst driving your hire car.

Isn't that what SLI is for? SLI is covered as part of this insurance.

SLI Definition

Steve

 

[alisonbestford]

I have used the insurance with no problems at all, its a good policy, Ive never made a claim on it and hopefully never have too!.

I've used the annual insurance4carhire policy several times - both with fly drives and direct rentals.
As Gavvy says you need to stand firm at the rental desk when they try to 'upsell' you - that's where they make their money back from the 'free' cars

I haven't needed to claim on the policy in the US but did make a claim on my insurance4carhire European policy when we returned from Italy last year

We had to get a police report to hand in when we returned the car, the credit card was debited for the damage (about £900) and then we had to send in the repair details when they were e-mailed from the hire company/repairs people

The whole process took around 4 weeks and was quite simple

What it did make me wonder though was, had we damaged the car in the US, how much would have been taken off the cc for repairs?
I know we'd claim it back but how much in the first place?

 

[wayneg]

I just worry about these policies, what if its a major claim not just a scratch?
Has anyone actually claimed on here to tell us their experiences?
Is it worth saving a few pounds for hassle you get at the desks, probably kills your chance of a free upgrade. Paper work if you have to claim etc
I spend over £1,000 a year renting from Airnet/Dollar with platinum insurance. Prices of cars fully covered are only from £15/day We go for Full size at £20/day(half the time get upgraded to luxury), personally think that is cheap for peace of mind. Having to take a car back damaged and do paperwork, then get back home and make a claim would ruin end of a holiday for me.

 

[Claire L]

Isn't that what SLI is for? SLI is covered as part of this insurance.

SLI Definition

Steve

I think Red Snapper is talking about your general travel insurance not car hire insurance.

Claire

 

[fulles]

probably kills your chance of a free upgrade.

Free upgrades aren't that common anyway. You will only get a free upgrade if they haven't got the type of car you ordered available (and even then they will try to get you to pay for the upgrade first). However, last year we did get a free upgrade on our own insurance.


Clare,

I understand what Red Snapper was saying, but what I was pointing out was that you ARE covered for "injuries or damage to thrid parties & their property whilst driving your hire car" if you take out the insurance policy from Insurance4hire.

I do agree that you can't really judge any insurance cover until you have made a claim, but I am prepared to take that risk. This policy has cost me £103 (including tax) for 2 holidays (as they are both within a year). Taking Dollar's own insurance that would have been £728 (from memory it is £182 per week?). That's a saving of £625! It almost pays for the park tickets with free DDP for the 4 of us.

Regards,
Steve

 

[wayneg]

Free upgrades aren't that common anyway. You will only get a free upgrade if they haven't got the type of car you ordered available (and even then they will try to get you to pay for the upgrade first). However, last year we did get a free upgrade on our own insurance.

Disagree with free upgrades are not common,. I guess it depends on your profile. This I believe helps for free upgrade
Regular user, Dollar Express card holder, book full size car not smaller class, take platinum insurance. and start a conversation at the desk, dont just answer yes and no.
Last 3 visits they have not even asked us if we want to upgrade. Last year they told us at the desk we had a upgrade, This Easter we were not told, just got to the car and it was a Chrysler 300 which is Luxury class.
In fact the last time I can remember them trying to sell me an upgrade was when I did Virgin flydrive, I refused and did't get one. Booking thru Airnet I get treated with a lot more respect at the desk.
Since I started using Dollar express it has been 100% free upgrade.

 

[gavvy]

I dont think any hire company gives out "Free" upgrades, what they do is alloicate you the car you have booked or if that is sold out they give you the next best model up from that.

I rented the smallest car but wanted an SUV. Through Virgin the basic upgrade was £150 for this car, at the desk I enquired was given the smooth talk and was offered it for $15 per day, i managed to get that down to $9 a day by telling him he was having a laugh and to come back with better offer.

I used this policy 4 times last year and belive i have saved over £500 compared to the prices I would have paid.

Insurance4carhire are not the only policy like this around, if you have an Amex platinum chargecard then you get the same insurance underwrited by the same company, and I belive Natwest Credit card do it too.

to me its def worth the "risk" of maybe having a bit of a hassle if i have to make a claim, compared to my savings last year.

 

[floridalol]

to me its def worth the "risk" of maybe having a bit of a hassle if i have to make a claim, compared to my savings last year.

It's a struggle to get insurance companies to pay out on anything, they always resort to the "small print" to wheedle their way out of paying out on a policy. If anyone was involved in an "own fault" accident that injures another person the claim would, without doubt, be in millions of dollars and anyone not holding the car hire companies official insurance policy would very probably find that their own insurance company would very suddenly draw the attention to the part of the policy which absolves them of paying out the claim which would bankrupt the offender because the plaintiff would sue for everything including your house, car and all other possessions. For the sake of a few quid I would advise anyone hiring a car to take the car hire companies own insurance policy.

 

[catherine]

Thanks you for all of your opinions. At this point I'm leaning toward just booking a car with airline network. We've always used them before and we have never had any problems. I think having the other insurance is ok as far as it goes, but having been in a road traffic accident in the States when we lived there, I would hate to have to try and sort out insurance paperwork etc. if anything did happen!

 

[Ali and boyz]

all I can say is when we hire our car from the disablilty company there is NO hard sell re insurance at all and he points us in the directions of insurance4carhire . I brought up the questions about the defferent levels of insurance which we normally had with say Dollar and he kept emaiing back saying no this is all you need. He was really adamant as I asked several times because these things worry me. he is the owner himself of the fleet of the vehicles

I will double check when re-newing our policy again this year

 

[Red-Snapper]

Ali - can I just point out he is not an Insurance professional and is possibly only interested in ensuring you have a smooth trouble free experience with his company.

While he may believe what he is saying is correct -dont assume he knows what he is talking about - top up liability cover for instance is NOT a sales pitch.