Car Rental Insurance

Car insurance is compulsory. You cannot, under any circumstances, drive on public roads without being properly insured, and if you do so you will be breaking the law. However, it is only third party insurance that is required, which is the insurance that covers other people. It means that if you do drive, you can do so in the knowledge that if you injure anyone, or cause damage to property, then the insurance company will step in to pick up the bill. Fully comprehensive insurance, which protects your own car, is not compulsory at all and is completely up to your own discretion.

The situation is exactly the same with car rental insurance. Every time you rent a car, you will have to make sure that you have at least third party insurance. Sometimes, the insurance you have on your own car at home will cover you when you drive other vehicles. However this is very rare in the UK, and is really only found at the moment, on US style car insurance policies. So for most cases, every time you rent a car in the UK, you will have to also take out third party insurance. It is worth noting that when you are in the US or renting a car overseas, you also need to buy this insurance. Sometimes, UK customers run into difficulties when renting cars in the US because there, it is common for the car rental companies give customers the option of taking out car insurance or not. If you are travelling abroad from the UK, and you are in any doubt, then the chances are that you really do need third party insurance as a minimum.

Another question that customers often ask is in relation to their credit cards. Some credit cards offer you free insurance if you use the card to pay for the car rental. If this is the case with your credit card, then all well and good. You should however, read the small print that came with the credit card to see exactly what degree of insurance they offer and if they cover all counties. If you are not comfortable with the level of protection that the credit card offers, then you should probably take on the insurance offered by the car rental company. Also, if you are unsure whether or not your credit card offers free car rental insurance, then you should always take out the car rental company’s insurance.

As well as compulsory third party insurance, you will also be offered extra insurance from the car insurance company. This will cover the car you rent itself. If you are unlucky enough to cause any damage to the rental car you will have to pay for that damage. Car rental companies usually ask you to fill in a condition statement when you take out the car so that they will know on return any damage which you may have caused and which damage was there before.

An important aspect with the insurance on a rental car is that there is usually an excess. If you have an excess of say six hundred pounds, then you have to pay the first six hundred pounds of any damage. You can pay a little extra, usually about ten pounds a day, to get rid of the excess also, which may be cost-effective in the long run.

This article is from Best Insurance Companies UK web site.