Rental cars and insurance: Three ways to cover yourself in the event of an accident

We’ve all been there: you score yourself a cheap rental car, only to collect it and get talked into rental car insurance that costs nearly as much as the hire itself.

Understand your options for rental car insurance before you pick up your car and you could save time and money. Plus it’s good to know how rental car excess cover works – you might already have this with your car insurance policy. Here’s our three tips.

1. Find out what standard cover is included with your rental car

When you hire a car in Australia there’s often a standard or basic cover included with your car hire for no extra cost. This is also referred to as collision damage waiver or loss damage waiver. This means that if the car is damaged or stolen you wouldn’t have to pay for the full cost of the damage or replacing the car. You would only have to pay up to the excess amount agreed in your rental car contract.
When you’re booking a rental car this option can be the cheapest, however you’ll want to check the excess amount as this can be several thousand dollars. If something happens to the car you could be looking at a pricey bill.

In short: Basic cover or collision damage waiver might automatically be included with your rental car. If you have an accident (or the car is stolen) you’ll have to pay the excess that the rental car company sets.

2. Look at the additional insurance options your rental car company offers

Rental car companies provide the option to buy additional insurance for the car you hire. The advantage of choosing additional insurance is that you’ll usually pay less if the car is damaged or stolen.

You can usually choose your level of cover, either reducing the excess, or making the excess zero. Zero excess is usually the highest level of cover and means you don’t pay anything extra if the car needs to be repaired or replaced.

Buying insurance from your rental car company gives you additional cover and peace of mind, but if you’re on a budget it might mean your cheap hire car is looking much less affordable. When you’re considering buying additional insurance for your hire car you could also check whether rental car excess cover (we’ll explain more below) might cover some of the cost if you were to be charged an excess.

In short: You can get additional insurance from rental car companies to reduce the excess for your hire car. You’ll get extra peace of mind but it will make your car hire more expensive.

3. Check if your car insurance includes rental car excess cover

If you have comprehensive car insurance it might include rental car excess cover when you hire a car in Australia. This means your insurance should help cover an agreed amount if your rental car company charges you an excess for damage or theft of the hire car.

This can be a money-saver if you do get charged an excess by your car rental company. It also means you can consider whether it’s worth paying the extra to get zero-excess cover with your car hire, if you already have an insurance policy that will cover a certain amount if you have to pay an excess.

In short: Comprehensive car insurance that includes rental car excess cover will reduce the excess you need to pay if you have an accident when you hire a car.

Whether you’re in holiday planning mode, or booking a last-minute trip, it’s worth checking out if your comprehensive car insurance will help cover any excess charged for your rental car. It’ll mean you can choose the insurance for your hire car accordingly and maybe even save a few dollars along the way.

Looking for comprehensive car insurance that covers your hire car?

Starts at 60 can refer you to our Australian insurance partner Huddle, who offer award-winning, customisable car insurance.

If you want to get rental car excess cover with Huddle’s comprehensive cover, check out Huddle Black Car Insurance. Huddle Black is the highest level of cover Huddle offers. The policy includes up to $2,000 for any excess or bond you have to pay for loss or damage to your hire car. You’re automatically covered for this benefit each time you hire a car in Australia during your policy period. Cover terms apply.

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This blog was originally published by Huddle Insurance under the title 3 tips for rental car insurance and rental car excess cover.

We hope you found this article useful. It’s important to remember that when renting a car, there’s terms and conditions to consider so always make sure you take the time to get across the full rental terms so you know what happens if things were to go wrong.