Car Hire Insurance -UK Guide
This is a subject which causes a great deal of confusion with customers who are hiring cars in the UK.
As a result of many choices available you are never quite sure what you can to [refuse decline] and what you need .
Experienced travellers often get confused with this.
The part I am going to cover relates more to customers arriving in the UK from North America. Very often credit card companies in United States offer additional advantages with their credit cards. Car rental insurance is one of these benefits . Often customers from North America when booking a car in the UK will ask that the car rental insurance is not included in the price as they already have insurance with their credit card company.
The car rental company would only consider this if the credit card was a Gold card or a Platinum card, as these cards can cover, the whole cost of the car.
The customer should be aware of this. If you decide to use a Gold credit card to cover the insurance cost and you are involved in an accident. In the unfortuate event that the car was seriously damaged beyond repair, the car rental company would charge the total cost of replacing the vehicle to the credit card of the customer .
To be reinbursed the renter would have to make contact with his credit card company .
If you don’t have a Gold card, just an ordinary credit card, you can still use your credit card insurance to cover some of the insurance cost. The insurance cost I am referring to is for the damage excess. Damage excess is referred to in United States as a deductible. If the car is returned damaged this is amount of money that the car rental company will make you responsible for. The cost is likely to be in the viscinity of GBP 600.00.
In this situation you cannot directly make use of your credit card to cover the deductible. In this situation you would decline the optional insurance offered to you at the car rental desk by the car rental company . The representative would authorise your card for all the excess amount. If the car was returned damaged they would deduct the cost of the repair from your card up to the maximum amount of the excess. You would then claim that amount back on your credit cards insurance.
Some independent car rental companies will offer you cheaper insurance packages.
See Car Hire Prestwick Airport Cheap