Car hire Italy insurance excess question?

[kartman24]

I need to hire a small 4 door car at Pisa airport and am having problems with the insurance excess issue. As I understand it around £1500 will be blocked from a credit card in case of an accident, this will be the first £1500 of any damage sustained. Some companies offer an excess refund scheme where they will refund me once I have paid for the damage. Others SEEM to offer a super cover that `waives the excess` does this mean they won`t require a sum to be blocked from your card, have i understood that correctly? My problem is through personal choice i only have a limit of £500 on my cc, they do not accept it by debit card in Italy.
Can anyone recommend a hire company that offer a cover that waives the excess?
Many thanks.......Martin

[Magic919]

Have a look on the Holiday Autos website. They'll do a CDW for a few quid a day.

[Krikkit]

Reading on Hertz (first company I found) you can take optional cover to reduce the deposit needed, about €300 for Italy, if I'm reading it right (talk about confusing!)

[kartman24]

Thanks for the replies, i have looked at the Holiday Autos small print and found this:-

6.1 damage excess waiver products

On all bookings you will be required to leave a deposit to the value of any excess for Collision Damage Waiver, which you may be required to pay if the rental vehicle is damaged during the period of hire. If this excess does not apply, you will be advised of this when making your booking.

If your rental vehicle is damaged, the deposit will be retained and treated as payment of the excess.

we offer two levels of Damage Excess Waiver product, which offer reimbursement for any excess paid as a result of accidental damages whilst renting your car:
1. Standard Damage Excess Waiver or
2. Total Damage Excess Waiver

If you purchase either of our Damage Excess Waiver products, you will be charged the excess but can reclaim it (subject to the terms and conditions outlined below), by filling in an accident report form (supplied by the rental company) and sending a copy to us within 28 days of returning your rental vehicle.


This seems to be saying you still have to pay an excess fee on booking/at the airport, if you need to claim they will refund the amount charged for the damage?
........Martin

[DJFish]

If you're hiring a car in Italy, make sure you photograph every scratch, no matter how tiny when you hire the car and if they're not listed on the pre-hire report, drag the hire chap out and make sure they get listed & signed for.

Then allow plenty of time when dropping off to take the guy round again to verify there are no new dings and make sure they sign for the car again.

It may seem overly paranoid but so many people have been stung for excess charges......

Obviously of you do prang it, park next to a wall and hope for the best.

[kartman24]

Ok, just phoned Holiday Autos helpline and your credit card is blocked for the excess sum at the pick up point and any damage paid for is refunded within 7-10 days. So i will have a look at the suggested Hertz small print........Martin

[Motorrad]

Use a different company that only takes 500 quid or temporarily raise the limit.

Buy a policy that covers you for a year when you rent a car. Cost me 50 quid, a hell of a lot cheaper than the rental companies will shaft you for.

Good advice about taking pictures and checking the car over carefully- I always do this and I always get the paperwork returned to me at the end of hire stating the vehicle was returned undamaged. Along with keeping the final top up fuel receipt from a station next to the rental office.

[kartman24]

Thanks for the advice Motorrad, who did you use.........Martin

[Motorrad]

http://www.insurance4carhire.com/ I think- or someone just like them. I don't have the paperwork to hand but I went for worldwide inc USA which is more expensive than the euro only option.

[pscl227]

Get another cc?

[Gruber]

DJFish said:

If you're hiring a car in Italy, make sure you photograph every scratch, no matter how tiny when you hire the car and if they're not listed on the pre-hire report, drag the hire chap out and make sure they get listed & signed for.

Then allow plenty of time when dropping off to take the guy round again to verify there are no new dings and make sure they sign for the car again.

It may seem overly paranoid but so many people have been stung for excess charges......

Obviously of you do prang it, park next to a wall and hope for the best.

Exactly this.

We were done over by Budget in Sicily a couple of years ago. Picked up a thoroughly knocked about Fiat 500, drove it for 10 days without incident, and then when we returned it we were told that one of the many scratches and dents was new so they'd be helping themsleves to €390 from my credit card. They were doing exactly the same to another couple who were also just dropping off their car and heading for the plane home.

Absolutely scandalous but nothing you can do about it. Even if I'd taken photos, it would have been difficult to fully capture each and every mark.

Needless to say, once home in the UK, Budget wanted nothing to do with it. It really puts a downer on the end of a holiday. So much so that I've pretty much decided never to hire a car on holiday again unless I'm absolutely guaranteed all my excess is fully covered.

[Motorrad]

Gruber said:

Exactly this.

We were done over by Budget in Sicily a couple of years ago. Picked up a thoroughly knocked about Fiat 500, drove it for 10 days without incident, and then when we returned it we were told that one of the many scratches and dents was new so they'd be helping themsleves to €390 from my credit card. They were doing exactly the same to another couple who were also just dropping off their car and heading for the plane home.

Absolutely scandalous but nothing you can do about it. Even if I'd taken photos, it would have been difficult to fully capture each and every mark.

Needless to say, once home in the UK, Budget wanted nothing to do with it. It really puts a downer on the end of a holiday. So much so that I've pretty much decided never to hire a car on holiday again unless I'm absolutely guaranteed all my excess is fully covered.

I presume it would be possible to dispute and chargeback if you had evidence.

Still the insurance products I use provide recompense if the swine try to rob you like that.