Is it compulsory to use the insurance of a car hire firm?

K

Kerrigan

Registered User
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Hi,

I recently hired a vehicle from one of the well known companies. I was told that they would not lease the vehicle to me unless I used their insurance company and not my own insurance which I could have easily transferred from my own car that was in being serviced. The cashier informed me it was compulsory. As I was stuck I went along with her and she gave me a quote for same which seemed reasonable-ish. When I returned the vehicle I received a whooping bill for the insurance alone. She said I must not have understood her colleague!

Am I wasting my time or have I any comeback or cause for complaint. I am absolutely fuming.
 
Hi Kerrigan,

I'm not sure of the legal position here but I've never heard of a car hire firm insisting that their insurance was compulsory. I've received the hard-sell alright from a number of companies but I choose to cover my car hire insurance excess with www.insurance4carhire.com

They charge a reasonable premium and I can vouch that they do pay on claims in a speedy manner without any issues based on an incident I had with a hire car in Portugal. I am not connected with this company in any way other than being a happy subscriber.

I would imagine that any comeback you may have depends on the contract that you signed, it may be worth taking a look at the small print. Does the car hire company state on their website that insuring with them is compulsory? Also, you would have additional consumer rights if you purchased over the internet.

Good luck.
 
If it was one of the large Car Hire companies, they will allow you to Insure a vehicle only if you give them prior notice and enough time to inspect and question your Policy.

I used to hire a car from Heathrow every single week. We had a fleet policy and declarations were made every month. So to answer your question, Yes it is possible but groundwork has to be done prior to your hiring of the vehicle.
 
Did you get the quote in writing, or what was in the contract you signed when picking up the car? If they charged you for something extra that wasn't mentioned, you may have a case. What was the exact wording/ breakdown of the charge?

Legally though, they are fully entitled to insist on their own insurance. To be clear, car hire prices generally include the basic insurance, their policy will have an excess that they will strongly encourage you to cover via an expensive add on waiver. You can choose instead to cover that excess with the likes of insurance4carhire.

I have seen on a few of my insurance policies over the years that they specifically exclude cars that are hired by the insured. Did you get confirmation from your insurance company that you could transfer cover to a rented car? Most exclude them because if there are any issues, the rental company will claim heavily for loss of earnings due to any time off the road.
 
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