insurace4carhire.com

[k-herm]

Hi.

I was going to purchase this for our fly-drive in October [since I declined the rather expensive insurances offered by Direct Travel]. However, I have re-visited the website and it has changed a bit since I last looked.

It now says "Not recommended for use in conjunction with fly drive programmes in USA or Canada".

Why would this be?
Are people here still using them for fly-drive?
If I do purchase this, then roughly how much would I still need to pay for extras at the car hire pick up? [It's a 7 seat minivan with Dollar]
If so, what is the procedure should we have an accident? Do we pay up front and then have to claim back?

Any help very much appreciated, thanks.

 

[martina857]

This is an old chestnut ) You will probably find that it will cost you nearly as much in the end than if you had bought the insurances with the car !! I assume that because of the problems that people have been having at the rental desk the insurers are now covering themselves by saying its not recommended. I have been told (some time ago) that Dollar put a hold on $1500 off your credit card also.

M

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

I've been declining the inclusive insurance policies and buying independent cover for car hire for the last 6 or 7 years. In my experience if your travel arrangements come with a 'free' car you can save a reasonable amount of money if you buy your insurance elsewhere, and if you make more than one visit to the US per year you can save lots of $$$s.

You will be required to pay a range of taxes and fees if you decline the inclusive policy offered by your tour operator. These include sales tax, environmental taxes, airport taxes, etc. From memory these come to about $35 per week for an economy grade car. You will also be asked to leave a deposit of $1,500, which is done by leaving a credit card imprint. Although this doesn't show up on your credit card statement it does decrease your available credit by that amount. I normally speak to my credit card company before I travel to Orlando to let them know what I'm doing so that the authorise the credit card deposit.

Fortunately I've never had to claim on my car insurance policy so I can't say for certain what happens in the event of an accident. However, I have read a couple of comments from people who have claimed from independent insurers, and a few years ago I asked the company I use for car hire cover (American Express) what their procedures were. Amex said that it if it was minor claim I would be expected to pay using my credit/debit card and claim back on the policy, but if it was a major accident that Amex would work directly with the car hire company to process the claim. This was confirmed by the comments I'd read from other people who had claimed on their independent car hire policies.

Regards

Rob

 

[alisonbestford]

We used insurance4carhire in Feb this year
The total cost at the airport, for 17 days, was around £55 (taxes, full tank petrol etc)
I had to leave a credit card imprint but this never showed on my statement (I took a credit card which is never normally used).
We weren't on a true 'flydrive' as such but I arranged flights, accommodation etc separately online on the Virgin website
At no time was I made to feel that the insurance might be declined at the Dollar desk. The guy barely glanced at the policy I had and just waved me on my way
I called and spoke to ins4carhire before we travelled and was told that, in the event of a claim, I wouldn't be expected to pay for anything upfront. It would be dealt with by them.
I'd certainly use them again. I e-mailed them on my return to say I'd had no problems and they said they might look into amending the wording on their homepage.
As I understand it car hire companies often make up the money lost from 'free car rental' by charging inflated insurance. If you don't take theirs, and take out an independant policy, they lose money Hence the 'hard sell' at the desk As long as you're covered you're covered in my opinion. I wouldn't have thought they could insist you took theirs

 

[k-herm]

Thank you for your replies.

Seeing as Direct Travel are looking for £364 all-in, I reckon a potential saving of £200 or so makes it worthwhile for me to go for the "independent" option. I have no problem with my CC being swiped as a precaution and from alison's experience [very helpful post, thanks] with Dollar, my mind has been somewhat eased.

I think I will, however, call insurance4carhire and ask them why they put this "not recommended..." clause in their ad. My final decision will be dependent on their reply.

[ 12 weeks to go ]

 

[alisonbestford]

I think I will, however, call insurance4carhire and ask them why they put this "not recommended..." clause in their ad. My final decision will be dependent on their reply.

[ 12 weeks to go ]

Yes, give them a call.
It was they who told me about the rental companies making up the money with insurance costs They then gave me the option to cancel the insurance I'd taken with them with no penalty so that was good enough for me
They seemed to be insinuating that any problems arose from people not being able to stand their ground at the service desk and being almost bullied into believing that they needed different cover

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

I've declined the all-inclusive insurance from Dollar, Hertz, Budget and Avis. On no occasion have I ever been given the hard sell about 'needing' to have their (very expensive) insurance. I've never even been asked to show details of the policy cover that I have.

All car rental in the US comes with the legal minimum insurance cover. It is entirely up to you how you top up that minimum cover (which in reality is pitifully inadequate) to levels which are more realistic.

Regards

Rob

 

[kristieuk]

k-herm - would you mind posting the outcome of your telephone call to insurance4u? We are also planning to do this (got free car hire with BA holiday, but bare minimum insurance), but we're not going until Nov 2006, so haven't sorted anything out yet.

 

[k-herm]

Phoned them up this morning and spoke to a very pleasant and helpful woman.

She pretty much re-inforced what alison and rob have already said:

I will have an imprint of $1500 taken on my CC.

Should I be involved in an accident, it is likely [but not guaranteed] that I will *not* have to pay - Dollar would contact the insurers direct.

The reason for the "not recommended for fly-drive" bit is because *some* people get a hard time at the hire desk for not having the hirers own insurances. However she explained that most don't have this bother, and if you do, then stand your ground.


So I'm glad I phoned and got the facts from the horse's mouth [so to speak]. And I'll always trust rob and alison's words of wisdom without question.

I'm going to book this with no worries now.

 

[alisonbestford]

And I'll always trust rob and alison's words of wisdom without question.

Crikey, I'm impressed Perhaps you can have a word with my kids and DH....
Have a good trip.

 

[kristieuk]

Thanks for posting k-herm. At least that's all clarified now!

 

[k-herm]

Gone and bought the policy from insure4carhire.com. Lets hope I don't need to test it out!

If I add the approx saving of £200 on this to the £200 I saved by not purchasing Direct Travel's own travel insurance I make that a tidy sum.

Will I regret not going for the convenient but expensive option? Only time will tell.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Will I regret not going for the convenient but expensive option? Only time will tell.

I think it is a risk worth taking as the savings can be quite significant. If you visit the US again within the next 12 months you'll save even more money. We normally arrange our Orlando holidays in pairs, seperated by just less than 12 months. One car insurance policy and one annual pass covers both holidays, making the second trip very cheap.

Regards

Rob

 

[alisonbestford]

I think it is a risk worth taking as the savings can be quite significant. If you visit the US again within the next 12 months you'll save even more money. We normally arrange our Orlando holidays in pairs, seperated by just less than 12 months. One car insurance policy and one annual pass covers both holidays, making the second trip very cheap.

Regards

Rob

And I have to say that I don't recall anyone who has taken the plunge (and there are plenty ) speak of any problems

 

[kylie]

I'm with Rob on this one having used Amex travel insurance befor. I have 2 American trips and 1 to Spain in the next 12 months so its a no brainer.

I have e-mailed insurance4carhire to get soming in writing before commiting to them.

I also plan 2 trips to WDW inside a year, if you are prepared to commit to this there is a massive savings to be had in purchasing Annual passes and annual insurance (both Travel and Car, or both at the same time in the case of Amex).

The downside is my wife gets to shop twice , unfortantly in July she created a pile of everything each of us had brought home and my pile was the largest! However I never let the tueth get in the way of a good story

 

[kylie]

This is on Insrance4carhires FAQ's

• 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.