Renting a car - need some advice

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  mskeggs on 10/03/2014 - 11:12

  +1

  Travel insurance usually includes hire car excess, its pretty much the only reason to have such insurance for a domestic trip, imo. Some platinum credit cards cover this free too (although some only overseas, and usually there is a claim excess, and you have to pay with the card).
  Also, over that time you probably don't need unlimited kms if you are paying extra. So if the default is 200 or 250kms a day you will probably have plenty.
  I seem to recall some car insurance policies also covered rental excess, but you would need to check the PDS, it may have just been for after-an-accident.

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  mini2 on 10/03/2014 - 11:17

  Problem is, a lot of the card bundled travel insurance's excess coverage only kicks in when you've hired the car hundreds of km's away from your usual home address so if OP lived in CBR and the trip starts in CBR, he's outta luck.

  If you're some kind of APS, have a dig around your workplace's intranet…there has to be some sort of a deal/arrangement with Europcar or Thrifty discounted rental car and often with these corporate arrangements, a reduce excess.

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  Colin2905 on 10/03/2014 - 12:27

  I would like the same cover but i don't want to pay the ridiculous amount that rental companies charge.
  In the end just the insurance will end up costing me almost the same price as the rental, there has to be a cheaper option.

  I use Tripcover. The downside is, should the worst happen, you have to pay the excess up front, then claim it back. The upside is that it's about a third of the cost of obtaining the same cover through the rental company.

  If you go with Tripcover, don't forget to use your FF number for a further discount. (Rumour has it that any number in the right format will work, but who doesn't have FF membership of some sort these days?)

  • 

    kwaker on 11/03/2014 - 09:58

    What is ff?

    • 

      pebee47 on 11/03/2014 - 16:27

      +1

      ffree-qquent fflyy-errr

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  carolina88 on 10/03/2014 - 13:26

  So what i am understanding is that travel insurance companies such as "TripCover" cover the costs of the rental repair if there is an accident. However any repairs are charged to you first and then a claim is made through the insurance company to return your money after excess has been made.

  Is this correct?

  I was quoted $103.73 by TripCover for the dates of my travel - they cover $4000 worth of excess
  With Insure & Go i was quoted only $38.34 - they also cover $4000 worth of excess.
  Anyone dealt with Insure & Go before?

• 

  Magnate on 10/03/2014 - 14:33

  +1

  Suggest you book ASAP on vroomvroomvroom.com. You can cancel free of charge at any stage if you change your mind but at least you lock in the price. This will probably go up leading up to Easter.

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  pebee47 on 11/03/2014 - 16:33

  If you collect/drop the car at the airport you save the ridiculous airport-car depot travel costs each way (+ time). Mightn't be that much in Canberra, but other Capitals can be as much as insurance anyway.