Hire car charges

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Wed 6 Oct 2004 23:25
Hire car charges - Tony Bee
If I shouldn't be here with this question please tell me to bog off.

I'm about to hire a car.The price includes Collision Damage.

In the small print it says the excess in the case of a collision is 500 quid. It then says for an extra 6.5 quid per day I can reduce this to 100 quid.

That 6.5 X 8 is not cheap. A friend has told me he thinks that they don't take the extra 6.5 quid unless I claim on an accident PROVIDED I've signed up for it beforehand

Is this right please?

Also can I claim on my own car insurance and not have their insurance at all ?

And if someone hits me and I take their hire car back crumpled will they let me off and claim from the clown that hit me ?

I've never hired a car in the UK before. (Surprise )

Am I worrying too much ?

TIA
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Thu 7 Oct 2004 08:57
Hire car charges - NARU
You don't say where you're hiring, but there is a company who cover the damage waivers - you have to be a minimum distance from home though.

www.insurance4carhire.com/index.asp?ref=100

I've often hired cars without paying the extra CDW, but if you do this you have the check the car very thoroughly first. Don't be embarrassed to spend 10 minutes doing so - you'll find they are very thorough on the return.

In Portugal this summer, I checked the car out but must have missed a scrape on the bumper. It was hardly noticeable, but they found it on checkin (and I'm sure I didn't do it). I had the insurance (above) and was expecting to have to make a claim, but wasn't charged - perhaps because it was the end of the season and the car had a number of other scrapes already.
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Thu 7 Oct 2004 18:50
Hire car charges - SteveH42
We've just been looking in to hiring a car for me for a visit from work. The CDW is just like paying to reduce your excess on a normal policy - you will have to pay it up front. However, £6.50 seems a lot compared to what I have been quoted - anything from £1.50 to £3 for a Focus-sized car.

ICBW on this, but AIUI the same applies here as with normal insurance - if someone hits you and you get their details, you claim off their policy at no loss to yourself. If you hit someone you claim off your policy and pay the excess. (Or the £500/100 in this case)
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Thu 7 Oct 2004 19:48
Hire car charges - mark999
Beware of the excess on any dealer loan car, my local Merc dealer had an excess of £2k and didn\'t even offer a CDW.
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