Avis, a leading South African car rental company, gives drivers the option of a standard excess (which on an entry-level car is more than R5 000 if you're a 28 year old male like myself) or a super excess cover option, with the excess payments for theft or accidents being as low as R1100. Now at an additional R55 per day extra, it's the best money you've ever spent, believe someone who's been on the short end of the insurance claim stick.
Rental Car insurance excess amounts: knowledge is power
As far as I can't tell there is no obligation for car rental companies to share this gem with you, and I have dealt with rental consults before that omitted to share this piece of information. Also be sure to check out some other useful car insurance tips courtesy of MyCarCover.
Forewarned is forearmed - happy holidays!
5 comments:
As someone who has previously managed a car rental outlet for one of the largest players out there. I thought I'd explain really briefly how the large renters work.
Basically, if the are NOT a franchise they probably have the money to self-insure. This means they do not pay a premium to an external company per vehicle.
When looking at the numbers in a large scale Excess Protection is a huge money spinner for the company. It's an added extra that I would have expected my team to sell at least 90% of the time. Statistically the cost of cover vastly out weighs the risk of excess recovery.
The big players in the rental game aren't corrupt, its the little guys you've sometimes got to be careful with. Also, the little guys generally can't afford to reduce an excess as much.
Expect that if the car is damaged in your possession (not just damaged by you) you have to pay for it. Or at least the excess will be recovered until a 3rd party admits liablity.
Sure the rental companies are thorough and will pick up on anything. Nothing is too small. But, think of it this way. If you lent your car to the company wouldn't you want it back in the same condition. The employees are keen to catch damage because somewhere along the line, missed damage affects their pay at the end of the month. You'd do the same!
Hi Doug
Thanks for clarifying this, and I totally agree with your last point! No company with as much invested in brand equity and their public image as car rental companies do would willingly screw a customer over; however, if the reduced excess option isn't offered by the rental consultant - for whichever reason - one would not know to go for the slightly more expensive cover option - which could turn a weekend away into a horridly expensive exercise, as opposed to just a fairly expensive one. The aim of this blog is to educate (amongst other strategic online marketing objectives :) )consumers about adequate risk mitigation - not just about how to pay less for insurance cover.
Please feel free to post any useful advice via the comments, and thanks again for your input!
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