FAQ’s
If you have an accident or a loss whilst hiring a rental car, the rental company will normally claim the excess directly from your credit card that you will have provided at the time of rental.
It is this amount that our standard policy will reimburse to you, up to the policy limit of £7,000.
We’ve heard from various sources that some rental companies will tell our customers that the insurance policy they have with us isn’t valid for the rental.
Typically, this is a scare tactic used by the rental company to try and force customers into buying their cover. They generally do this because they’re renting out their vehicles so cheap, they need to sell ‘add-on’ insurance to make any money.
Which? conducted some undercover research on these tactics and the below link is a video of their findings that we thought might be helpful to share.
https://youtu.be/I3UoXmf8zrw
The link above is from an independent consumer rights company, the views and statements made in it do not reflect ReduceMyExcess and we accept no responsibility for the content.
If your rental car is damaged, lost, or stolen during the rental period, Eversure Car Hire Excess Insurance will provide reimbursement up to £7,000 of any excess charge you are obliged to pay under the terms of your car rental agreement.
When hiring a car in Europe, the vehicle will usually be insured as standard. However, this typically won’t include the first part of any claim: the excess. In this type of arrangement, in the event of damage to your vehicle, you would be liable to pay the costs up to the excess limit, and the car hire company would likely cover the rest via its own insurance.
It is this excess that we cover you for. The excess could well cost you upwards of £1,000, so it certainly warrants some careful consideration. Our policy also covers you against damage to the windscreen, tyres and undercarriage, which may not be covered by the car hire company as standard.
Regardless of how the UK leaves the EU, your Eversure Excess policy will still cover you in the same way it always has. This is because we don’t cover the car, or the rental company, we cover you. Seeing as you’ll still be a UK resident regardless of what happens with Brexit, you’ll still be covered to reclaim your excess charges.
To be very clear, your policy will still respond.
What may change is the validity of your driving licence. You will need an International Driving Permit to supplement your driving licence after 28th March 2019 and you’ll need to go to a Post Office in person to buy one of these.
Remember to take your photo-card driving licence, your passport, a passport sized photo and £5.50 and you’ll be able to get one over the counter.
Without one of these, you may be driving illegally and our policy would not respond in these circumstances.
If you’re hiring in the EU after Brexit, you won’t need a Green Card. This is a document that your UK vehicle insurer can provide you if you’re taking your own vehicle into Europe. It proves you’re insured and that your UK insurer has extended cover to Europe. Obviously, you don’t need one of these if you’re hiring because it’s the rental company providing the vehicle insurance for you.
The vehicle must not be a motor home, trailer, caravan, van, truck, non-passenger carrying vehicle, vehicle that carries more than 9 people including the driver, motorcycle, moped, motorbike, off-road* or recreational vehicle.
The vehicle must not have a retail price in excess of £65,000 (or currency equivalent), and not be more than 10 years old.
* 4×4 vehicles are not excluded if they are being driven on public highways and not going off-road.
Yes, the policy will cover the costs directly relating to the excess you are charged, including charges for loss of use following a valid claim under your hire car rental agreement.
Yes, the policy covers theft of the rental car whilst it is in your care.
In the event of theft, you must report this to the police and obtain an official police report. Failure to do this will result in your claim being declined.
Theft of personal possessions from a convertible or soft top/open top vehicle is excluded under this policy.
Yes, damage to tyres are covered under the policy.
If you experience tyre damage whilst you are renting the car, you will need to initially contact the rental company and ask them if they have a preferred repairer or supplier.
Once the repairs or tyre replacement are complete, you will need to retain all credit card receipts and invoices for the charges.
Yes, in the event that you are charged a fee for loss of keys we will reimburse you up to £500 (Maximum £100 for Locksmith Charges).
Yes, providing your partner permanently resides at the same address as you and is eligible to be a Lead Named Driver, you can add them to your annual policy.
Family members named on your policy can also hire cars independently of each other.
Unfortunately not.
The Lead Driver on the rental agreement must be the Policyholder on the Eversure Car Hire Excess policy.
Provided you’re the policy holder and the lead driver on the rental agreement, any additional drivers are automatically covered as long as they are also listed on the rental agreement.
They must, of course, meet our age requirements and hold a valid internationally recognised driving licence. However, unlike the policy holder, they don’t need to be UK residents or hold a UK bank account. This is because in the event that the vehicle is damaged, you are still held responsible for this damage, and you would be expected to pay for the damage. In the event of a claim, we will only reimburse the policy holder, so it’s important that it is the policy holder that pays for the damage.
The vehicle must not be a motor home, trailer, caravan, van, truck, non-passenger carrying vehicle, vehicle that carries more than 9 people including the driver, motorcycle, moped, motorbike, off-road* or recreational vehicle.
The vehicle must not have a retail price in excess of £65,000 (or currency equivalent), and not be more than 10 years old.
* 4×4 vehicles are not excluded if they are being driven on public highways and not going off-road.
No, there is not an excess to pay on the policy.
The worldwide policy will cover all countries except:
Trips in, to or through Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, Congo, Crimea/Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Liberia, North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
Any claim relating to travel to any country, or region thereof, in the world where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has issued a Travel Advisory against all travel, or all but essential travel, to such country or region. (A list of these countries can be seen on their website www.fco.gov.uk).
Unfortunately not.
It’s important that you have your insurance policy with us before you collect your rental car because it’s the only way that we can be sure that you didn’t damage the car and then decide to buy insurance to cover the cost.
As a result, in the event that you make a claim, we’ll ask for documents that show the policy was in force before you collected the car (usually the rental agreement and your Eversure certificate of insurance).
No, we don’t cover anything other than cars.
