Avoid hefty car rental excess charges with rental cover – discover the benefits of choosing rental cover for your next trip.
Over the last six years, RentalCover.com has grown to become the largest independent names in the world for rental cover, offering a range of excess cover options for any car, motorhome, mechanic loan car or accident replacement car. With dedicated customer support from their multinational team in over 10 different languages, you can be sure the right assistance will be there when needed.
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How Does Rental Cover Work?
If you’ve ever rented a car while on holidays, you may or may not be aware that doing so can put you at significant financial risk. Take a look at the rental agreement you sign before the keys are handed over — it details the fact that you will have to pay a substantial excess if your car is stolen, crashed or damaged. This amount regularly costs several thousands of dollars, which can be a nasty surprise for holidaymakers and leave them significantly out of pocket. However, it’s possible to take out insurance coverage to protect you against having to pay this hefty excess. RentalCover.com specialises in insurance policies designed to reduce the excess you have to pay when your rental vehicle is damaged or involved in a serious accident. RentalCover.com customers can hire a car from any rental provider anywhere in the world. However, instead of opting to take the rental company’s excess reduction option, which is far more expensive, you can purchase an insurance policy from RentalCover.com. Then if there is any damage to your vehicle, you pay the rental company the necessary amount and then claim that back from the insurer. It ensures that you save money whenever something goes wrong with your rental car.
Back to topHow is it Different to Excess Reduction?
As mentioned previously, car rental companies will typically offer their customers excess reduction cover, which can also be referred to as an excess waiver or damage waiver. This type of policy, as the name suggests, reduces the amount of excess you will have to pay in the event that your rental car is damaged. While this reduces your excess from a significant amount to something much more manageable, you could still have to pay an excess of up to $1,000. n addition, cover from RentalCover.com is typically 50 per cent cheaper than excess reduction policies, helping you save even further. And while the excess reduction policies offered by car rental providers usually contain a long list of exclusions in the fine print, RentalCover.com ensures that you are protected in a much wider range of circumstances.
Back to topHow am I Covered? Car Rental Excess Cover Overview
Every car rental agreement you sign stipulates that a “standard liability” will apply to the rental vehicle in question. Also known as the excess, this standard liability is the amount you will have to pay if your rental car is damaged. For example, a rental with $3,000 standard liability means you may have to cover up to $3,000 of repairs when the car is damaged. Cover from RentalCover.com is designed to save you from ending up out of pocket when you are charged this excess. With a policy from RentalCover.com, although you will still have to pay the excess amount to your insurer, you will then be reimbursed for the full amount when you lodge a claim with RentalCover.com.
How much cheaper is it?
On average, RentalCover.com policies are about 50 per cent cheaper than rental companies’ excess reduction policies, while car rental companies only offer their cover with a long list of exclusions. Think of it in terms with a simple comparison. A RentalCover.com policy costs from $5 to $15 per day, while a big-name rental company’s excess reduction cover costs $30 per day. While the standard liability that applies to your car rental company is $3,000, excess reduction cover from your rental provider reduces this amount to $300. A RentalCover.com policy, on the other hand, reduces the excess amount to $0 and covers you in a much broader range of circumstances.
Back to topCampervan and Motorhome Rental Excess Cover
When you’re setting off for a holiday, sometimes you want to rent a vehicle a little bigger than a run-of-the-mill passenger vehicle. For many tourists in Australia and New Zealand, motorhomes and campervans offer an innovative and affordable way to travel. Of course, typical rental company excess costs for these vehicles can be quite expensive, so RentalCover.com offers protection for hirers of campervans and motorhomes in Australia and New Zealand. These policies work in exactly the same way as RentalCover.com’s policies for ordinary rental vehicles, covering you when your campervan or motorhome is crashed, stolen or damaged. For a much lower cost that an excess reduction policy from your rental provider, RentalCover.com reimburses you the total amount of any excess you are required to pay. While rental companies will exclude a broad range of situations and circumstances from there excess reduction coverage, RentalCover.com offers protection for an extensive range of incidents. Cover is included for the following:
- Windscreen, tyres, underbody, roof, awning and water damage
- Single-vehicle accidents, night time driving, collisions with animals, rollovers
- When a vehicle is off the road to undergo repairs, the rental company’s resulting lost revenue. This is known as demurrage
In addition, RentalCover.com policies are tailored to the market in which they are offered, designed to cover specific risks unique to that country. For example, as kangaroos are a hazard for Australian drivers, RentalCover.com’s Australian policies contain cover for damage caused by hitting animals.
Back to top4x4 Excess Cover
Travellers who rent four-wheel drives when setting out on a holiday might also be surprised at the excess amount they would have to pay if their rental vehicle were damaged. RentalCover.com also provides policies specifically designed to cover the insurance excess fo rental four-wheel drives. In addition to being substantially cheaper than the policies offered by 4WD rental companies across Australia and New Zealand, RentalCover.com 4x4 Excess Cover also provides protection in a much broader range of circumstances and situations. For example, while companies like Apollo and Wicked will not cover vehicle rollovers regardless of the cause, RentalCover.com protects you in such situations. Many companies will not cover overhead and underbody damage no matter what the circumstances, while a RentalCover.com policy will. Of course, RentalCover.com also ensures that you do not have to be put out of pocket for any excess when your rental 4WD is damaged. This could end up saving you lots of money and gives you the confidence and peace of mind you need to simply relax and enjoy your travels.
Back to topMore Reasons to Choose Rental Cover
- 100 per cent of your excess is covered. You won’t have to worry about paying any excess amount when your rental vehicle is damaged.
- 50 per cent cheaper than excess reduction cover. While you can take out an excess reduction policy from your car rental provider, this is significantly more expensive than a policy from RentalCover.com.
- Broader cover. RentalCover.com ensures you are covered for a broad range of accidents and circumstances, including underbody damage, single vehicle accidents, driving at night, collisions with animals, rollovers and much more. Excess reduction cover from rental providers, however, typically contains a long list of exclusions which can lead to a nasty surprise when your rental vehicle is damaged.
- Cover available for campervans, motorhomes and 4WDs. RentalCover.com offers policies for a wide variety of rental vehicles.
- Tailored cover. RentalCover.com policies are specifically tailored to offer protection against the unique risks of certain countries.
- Lower claim fees. It costs more to make a claim under a rental company excess reduction policy than it does under a policy from RentalCover.com.
- Free Gap Cover. Every policy from RentalCover.com comes with $3,500 of Free Gap Cover. This is designed to offer much-needed financial protection in circumstances where the amount you are claiming is less than the amount covered by the primary issuer of your RentalCover.com insurance policy. For example, your RentalCover.com policy may not provide as much cover as the standard excess charged on your vehicle, in which case the Free Gap Cover kicks in to ensure that you are not hit in your hip pocket.
Ready to Apply?
If your ready to take out car rental excess cover with Rental Cover, you can follow the secure link in the table above through to the Rental Cover website to receive a free quote and apply for cover. finder.com.au always recommends that you take the time to view the policy terms and conditions before purchasing cover to know exactly what you are covered for. Rental Cover's team are always on hand to answer any questions you may have regarding your policy.
We’re from Canada, 69 years old, renting a small car for 21 days and driving between Sydney and up to Noosa heads area. My question is why don’t you just say 100% insured with no exclusions. There always seems to be the possibility in so many insurance coverages of something not mentioned or not mentioned for specific circumstances etc. And how does one recover the costs in any are charged. Do you deal with the rental car company?
Hi Keith,
Thanks for your question. When it comes to exclusions, just like with many financial products, there have to be conditions and exclusions to ensure that the person involved was doing the right thing at the time of the incident and entered into the contract with the utmost good faith. For example, it wouldn’t be fair for someone who had a no fault accident to be treated the same way as someone who was drunk behind the wheel.
As for rental cover, we do have one insurer in our panel who covers specifically rental vehicle excess. Please have a look at the page linked below.
https://www.finder.com.au/car-rental-excess-insurance
I hope this was helpful,
Richard
Yes, that part I understand but what I was trying to ask not very well was why exclude bumpers and trim for instance as Tripcover (Allianz) does. What if I am hit or scraped in a parking lot while shopping and the perpetrator takes off, or a kangaroo jumps in front of my car while I am driving? That could easily amount to $1000 or more in damages. Do such exclusions mean I would not be covered?
Hi Keith,
Sorry for the misunderstanding. This section excludes damage to bumpers and trim outside of damage caused by a motor vehicle accident as this would be considered general wear and tear, which rental companies don’t normally charge for.
I hope this was helpful,
Richard
The more I look at all this the less clear things get. I almost bought Tripcover’s excess insurance but suddenly noticed they are really only covering the excess on the rental car itself.
My car rental company also does not cover the excess for: Liability Insurance for injuries or damages to persons or
things outside the vehicle. Rental limits potential injury or
damages to a deductible of approximately AUD 4,015.00.
Are there any companies that do that? You see what I mean about exclusions. In Canada we refer to “comprehensive” insurance. Is here not a “comprehensive” excess cover insurance somewhere?
Thanks
Keith
Hi Keith,
Thanks for your question. Yes, Tripcover offer rental excess insurance only. Generally, most comprehensive policy have a rental excess component. If you enter your travel details into the travel insurance quoting engine on the travel insurance home page, you will be given a list of policies to choose from. On that page under each provider, there is a more info button. If you click on the button, you can review the comprehensive policies that offer rental excess insurance, and how much is covered.
I hope this was helpful,
Richard
Thanks for your reply. I will look at your page but if you notice, rental excess at the car rental company also refers to third party liability, which tripcover does not appear to address.
Keith