Van hire excess cover

homik

I posted this some time ago in Motors and didn't get any reply.

Does anyone know where to get van hire excess cover?

Every now and again I rent a small van (the likes of VW Caddy, Renault Kangoo etc.) for business purposes. As long as the rental fee is reasonable (about €40 per day), there is €1,300 excess on the policy. I can go for a lower excess but that nearly doubles the price. Unfortunately I can't transfer my own car policy onto the commercial van.

I could only find one company - icarhireinsurance.com in the UK - who provide van hire excess cover. Last time I checked they charged £11 for £100 excess / £9 for £200 excess, per day and there is no option of getting the annual cover for a fixed fee.

Has anyone used them? Can you recommend any other company?

There are plenty doing car hire excess cover but I queried with a few and they do cars only (not commercial vehicles).



Thanks!

pedroeibar1

You need to get your head around the purpose of an excess. It is not there to make your quote cheaper, it is there to prevent the insurer from losing money. (a) A higher excess tends to make people (especially van hirers) take more care; (b) there are costs associated with opening a claim file, loss provisions, experts’ fees, etc. The insurers probably have found that a realistic cut-off point is around the figure you mention and price the risk accordingly. If you are – as you say – hiring a few times a year this is not a going to break the bank!

homik

I do understand the idea of excess.

If I damage the van myself, fair enough..... but what if someone else hit me on the road etc.? Chances are that the rental company will charge me up to €1,300 until the offender's insurance pays for losses. So just trying to minimise risks here by getting the excess covered..

Mrs OBumble

homik wrote: »

There are plenty doing car hire excess cover but I queried with a few and they do cars only (not commercial vehicles)

thank you.

I rent a car multiple times each year, and like you find that the excess-cover often costs a much as the daily rate. I'd idly considered checking whether there was a cheaper policy I could buy which would cover all hires, but not got around to doing it.

I guess having it means you have to be more diligent about checking for damage on pickup, and having it checked by the staff on return (so they don't sting you for damage you didn't cause).

Do you know if such policies typically cover the hire cost during the repair time as well?

Any tips on good places to look for cover?

Graham

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Any tips on good places to look for cover?

Google: annual car hire excess insurance

A lot of the companies appear to be offering an Axa product: http://www.axa.ie/other/car-hire-excess/

pedroeibar1

Graham, the Axa link is for car hire, not commercial van. The latter is a crap sector, insurers avoid it. If betty bloggs has to deleiver her cupcakes from Dublin to Cork, she has a minimum order quantity to cover her costs. Insurers have an excess to cut out the dross and cover their costs. Simple.
At times the sense of expectation and entitlement on this forum is a pain, we are talking about a few hundred quid over a year, hadly an issue for 'business management'

Graham

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Graham, the Axa link is for car hire, not commercial van.

Correct, in response to MrsOB's side question.

I've never come across a similar product for commercial, no doubt at least in part for the reasons you mentioned.