Renting a car in the UK - collision damage waiver?

[dbr84]

Would you purchase the optional "collision damage waiver" when renting a car (within the UK)?

I'm a bit confused about this, since the car rental company (Hertz, in this case) must have their own insurance policies. Is it just a scam/upselling thing, or would they really come after the driver vs. going through their own insurance company in the event of an accident?

[Jader1973]

You’re liable for any damage caused during the hire (or any pre-existing damage they haven’t spotted yet).

You can either pay the fee if you damage it, or pay upfront to have that fee reduced or set to £0.

If you choose not to set it to £0 and you damage the car then you have to pay the fee - which you could possibly then claim back through your travel insurance (or specific hire car damage insurance) but you’d need photos / forms etc etc to claim.

So the options are:
1) Choose not to reduce the damage fee and hope you don’t damage it (or nobody else damages it) bearing in mind the hassle of handing back a damaged car, making a claim on your insurance etc.
Or
2) Pay upfront to reduce it to £0 and just hand the car back at the end of the hire and walk away.

It is entirely up to you

[dvs_dave]

Check what coverage your existing car insurance has for rentals, your credit card benefits, and any other travel insurances you have. Very often CDW is covered via one or more of those.

[dbr84]

Yeah I’ll double check my personal insurance. It’s just odd to me, in that they have to furnish drivers with insurance to be road legal. In which case, what’s the point if that insurance doesn’t actually cover anything in real terms?

[dvs_dave]

Insurance to make it road legal doesn’t cover all the costs you may be liable for. Such as the value of the rental vehicle, repairs, loss of use, diminished resale value, etc. They’re shysters and will try and screw you as hard as possible.

[LeoSayer]

Excess insurance with a separate company might be an option:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car...

[TwigtheWonderkid]

dbr84 said:

Yeah I’ll double check my personal insurance. It’s just odd to me, in that they have to furnish drivers with insurance to be road legal. In which case, what’s the point if that insurance doesn’t actually cover anything in real terms?

As long as the insurance they provide covers third party damage in full, it's legal. What we're talking about here is damage to the hire car. But damage to the people you might hit is covered.