Excess Insurance - Annual Policy - Page 3

Millipet · #31 26-03-2015, 20:26

Mark, sorry I made a mistake. Extra insurance was 77 euros for 10 days so over 7 euros per day.

ginap · #32 04-05-2015, 09:03

Hi

I have taken out excess insurance for the 2 weeks we are visiting PP in July. It cost £30.00 and the car hire has cost us £282.75 including an additional driver, so all together just over £300.00 for 2 weeks.
This will hopefully mean that collecting the car will be totally hassle free and no worries about the excess.

Lorenzo · #33 04-05-2015, 09:37

Which company are you hiring from Ginap? It will be good to know how it all goes.]

Disorderly · #34 04-05-2015, 18:15

I've had the excess insurance for years and never have had any bad experiences. Mind you, not used Goldcar for a long time! Current favourite is Sixxt.

MAG · #35 04-05-2015, 21:31

I have an annual policy with insurance4carhire. This time, and for the first time, Record charged to my credit card the hire fee and a deposit to them. Before the deposit element was held in reserve on your card. On returning the vehicle they refunded £696 of the £801 originally charged.
Couple of issues.
1) make sure you have an available credit balance on your card
2) i have been charged a barclaycard fee of £23 on the first transaction and then £22 when they refunded me the deposit.

These 2 additional transaction fees somewhat added to the overall hire fee. Not happy. Not happened ever before. Have e mailed Record ...... No reply.

this is a bully boy way to make you take there insurance !!!

Any thoughts ?

overthehill · #36 05-05-2015, 19:06

Hi Mag,
We are booked with Record (through DoYouSpain) next week and were considering same annual insurance you had. Did Record give a reason for actually charging rather than holding the deposit and why they only refunded £696? Was this the deposit amount and the rest the hire charge? Did you go through an agent or book in airport? Beginning to get jittery!
Thanks

MAG · #37 05-05-2015, 20:28

Record have not bothered to reply to my e mail so far. Shame as i have hired numerous cars from them for 10 years. The difference in the 2 amounts covers the hires cost and then the 2 handling fees from barclaycard based on the transaction fees. So whilst I accept Record do not get that full amount, Barclaycard are also winning.

Issue is that Record never used to charge the full deposit to your credit card. They held it and hence no massive transaction fee when charged and no transaction fee when refunded.

Record not explaining this change. Shame as it was only 3 weeks ago i also hired from them !

This will make car hire very expensive but maybe still cheaper than taking their additional insurance.

roig cat · #38 05-05-2015, 20:47

Centauro are also using bullying techniques. They are now saying that if you break down you have to pay for your own road side assistance/ tow truck unless you buy their insurance excess cover. Having said that, even with full cover that includes express service, the quote was still much cheaper than one from Sixt.

overthehill · #39 06-05-2015, 13:55

Thank you MAG for posting about this charge, without your info we would have been in for an unpleasant surprise!

OH has just phoned Record to clarify their position. It IS NOW DEFINITELY the policy to charge credit cards, not just block excess fee as before if you do not take their insurance. They will not accept debit cards.

So as MAG said if you have other insurance:

>be prepared with credit limit over that of your excess
>depending on your card provider, there may be transaction charges- percentages differ
>look into other card providers (see Money savings expert for advice) well in advance as some do not charge transaction fees - unfortunately we are too close to apply for this visit.
>if you can do online banking whilst away, pay amount off as soon as it appears in your cc account to avoid lots of interest charges

It will still work out less than using their insurance or going with the other more expensive car providers.

Tiggy · #40 06-05-2015, 13:55

I now take the local car rental company s insurance and throw the keys back at the end of the stay free in the knowledge they cannot bill me for anything.
On a recent trip to Petra I returned to the car and found a truck driver had scraped the side of the car and wing mirror - my companion was horrified , me I just got in a drove off and didn't let it bother me what the hell I had their insurance.OK I paid over the odds but it was worth peace of mind and just got on the more important things in life.The rental cost with all the bells and whistles was still cheaper as Roig Cat commented than one of the international rental companies.

roig cat · #41 06-05-2015, 17:22

Tiggy thats become my attitude too, theres too much to worry about in life without taking it on holiday with you.

Lorenzo · #42 06-05-2015, 18:40

[QUOTE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by overthehill

Thank you MAG for posting about this charge, without your info we would have been in for an unpleasant surprise!

OH has just phoned Record to clarify their position. It IS NOW DEFINITELY the policy to charge credit cards, not just block excess fee as before if you do not take their insurance. They will not accept debit cards.

One of the very handy features of hiring a car from Hiper is that the staff there will, on request, just put the deposit on a credit card paper slip, and then hand the slip back to you at the end of the hire period once they have checked the hire car.

overthehill · #43 06-05-2015, 19:19

Is this recently Lorenzo? Because that's what Record used to do as well. Wondering if they also might now be doing same trick?

MAG · #44 06-05-2015, 19:44

Indeed. Please check and keep the Forum updated. The change at Record happened within 3 weeks of me booking my last car !! If anyone knows of a credit card that does NOT make the transaction fees which are based on a % please let me know. When they are putting potentially over £1000 through each time on your card it is expensive handling fee. To add insult to injury, i then got charged when they refunded the deposit.
I despair !
A bully boy way to make you now take their insurance. For those who rent on a regular basis this is very costly - hence we have the annual policy. If Record are doing this, i would guess the rest will follow !

El Gordo · #45 07-05-2015, 08:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiggy

I now take the local car rental company s insurance and throw the keys back at the end of the stay free in the knowledge they cannot bill me for anything.
On a recent trip to Petra I returned to the car and found a truck driver had scraped the side of the car and wing mirror - my companion was horrified , me I just got in a drove off and didn't let it bother me what the hell I had their insurance.OK I paid over the odds but it was worth peace of mind and just got on the more important things in life.The rental cost with all the bells and whistles was still cheaper as Roig Cat commented than one of the international rental companies.

Beware....Some firms state in their small print that all damage must be reported and accident form filled in to satisfy the insurance small print!! Check this, you might get a shock!

These new charges have been brought in because some drivers were not caring for their cars because of zero excess insurance!!