When you hire a car / van / motorhome
/ minibus you naturally don't want to think about
accidents, particularly when you are driving a hired
vehicle. Unfortunately though, accidents can happen
at any time when you are sitting behind the wheel..
Unless you have taken out something called
collision damage waiver (CDW) then having
even a minor accident in a hired car could prove
very expensive indeed. Unless you have taken this
out in many cases you won't be given the keys to
the rental car.
Collision
damage waiver (CDW),
sometimes confusingly also called
loss damage waiver (LDW), is essentially
a form of insurance that may or may not come included
in the rental price of a hired car. It exists to
provide cover for damage that occurs to the rented
vehicle itself.
It
is because in some countries and with some hire
companies, the basic hire charge only includes a
limited form of insurance called third
party. This means that anyone else involved
in an accident with the vechile you have rented
is covered, but the rented vehicle itself isn’t.
If
the car only has third party cover then any damage
to it will need to be paid for by you the renter.
Remember that even if the third party cover also
includes theft risk for the rented vehicle, a large
dent in the bodywork still won’t be covered and
you’ll have to pay.
Collision
damage waiver is the insurance that will provide
cover for damage to the rented vehicle; it may be
included in the hire price in some cases, or the
car hire company may offer it to the renter as a
chargeable extra. In either case, it would be prudent
to check to ensure what it covers as some CDW policies
can exclude damage to certain commonly damaged areas
of a vehicle such as tyres, wheels and windows,
- all these areas can be expensive to repair if
damaged and it will be you the renter that has to
pay.
It
is also usually a good idea to be clear what excess
the policy carries. Collision damage waiver policies
sold through the car rental companies may have a
hefty excess on them – that is the ‘first part’
of any claim amount that the renter will be expected
to pay themselves. It’s not unusual to see this
stated to be in the range 500-1500pounds sterling.
If
you decide, for peace of mind and security, that
you want the best CDW cover possible at the lowest
price, then it can be purchased not only from car
rental companies but also general insurance companies
– often via the Internet.
The
CDW policies sold by insurance companies cover a
policyholder and not a rented car so they will cover
all rented vehicles used by the policyholder within
the life period of the policy. This means that the
price is often very attractive when compared to
similar offerings from the car rental companies
and furthermore, they frequently will cover areas
of vehicles typically excluded from cover by the
rental company’s policy.
For
collision damage waiver, as with all insurance,
it is usually a good idea to shop around in advance
to find the best deal possible. It’s worth doing
some Internet searching and familiarising yourself
with the offerings available – you could
save some serious money!
When
you book your car hire on line there is sometimes
an option to decline the CDW - Collission Damage
Waiver. You will be given a lower quote, however
when you turn up to collect the car, will not be
allowed to hire it without paying an additional
fee for the CDW. It is normally aimed at US/Canadian
credit card holders
According
to one major car rental operator in Ireland, if
you "WAIVE CDR"
MasterCard Auto Rental Insurance and Canadian Visa
Card Auto rental Insurance MAY ALLOW you to waive
the cost of Theft Protection and Collision Damage
Waiver (CDW) for rental cars in some countries.
For Ireland this coverage is ONLY available with
a limited number of Mastercard´s issued by a US
bank and some Canadian Visa card programs. If you
pay for the full rental with your eligible MasterCard
card or Canadian Visa Card you may be covered for
up to $50,000 Auto rental Insurance for your rental
without excess. This insurance may cover the rental
vehicle.
This
is an insurance program, certain restrictions and
exclusions apply. In order to establish if your
MasterCard or Canadian Visa includes Auto Rental
Insurance in the Republic of Ireland please call
your credit card issuer and/or MasterCard/Canadian
Visa before making your reservation.
This
coverage is a service provided by MasterCard/VISA
Canada to the cardholder and therefore it is the
card holders responsibility to ensure that they
are adequately covered for the entire duration of
the rental period. Should you choose to waive our
CDW insurance we require written confirmation from
your credit card issuer that you have adequate auto
rental insurance for the duration of your rental.
This must be presented on pick up.
Contact
Details for Mastercard and Visa Canada Mastercard
can be contacted from the U.S. by calling 1-800-MC-ASSIST.
Visa Canada can be contacted from Canada by calling
416.367.8472 In order to establish if your MasterCard
or Canadian Visa includes Auto Rental Insurance
in the Republic of Ireland please call your credit
card issuer and/or MasterCard/Canadian Visa before
making your reservation. It is important to confirm
to your credit card issuer that the Republic of
Ireland as your place of rental.
The
major Irish car rental company has informed us that
they can not accept Auto Rental Insurance Programs
offered by European Banks and Credit card institutions
and reserve the right to refuse third party insurers
details if not satisfied with the coverage on their
rental vehicle.
When
you book your car hire on line unless you have checked
with your credit card company first, make sure you
don't decline this as it will probably cost you
a lot more when you turn up to collect the pre-booked
car than had you paid for it when you made the booking.
If
you have a credit card which covers your Collision
Damage (CDW) – will you need additional cover?
You should carefully read the policy that is provided
by the credit card company to determine the coverage,
ensuring that it covers the country in which you
are renting the vehicle, and whether or not there
is an Excess (non waiver, deductible) on the policy.
What
is the difference between Excess, Super CDW, Non–Waiver
and the Deductible? Each car rental company uses
different terminology, but they all refer to the
same thing. When a car is hired, Collision Damage
Waiver and Theft cover are included in the car rental
price. There is always an Excess (also referred
to as Super CDW, Non Waiver or Deductible) on the
CDW and Theft portion of the rental agreement. This
amount varies according to the car rental company,
the location and the size of the vehicle, and can
range from £200 - £2,000
Information
supplied by insurance4carhire.com
and
an Irish car hire company
Explaining collision damage waiver insurance
When
you hire a car you need two types of insurance.
One is Third Party which covers you for any damage
or injury you may cause to someone else when driving
the hire car. The second is Collision Damage Waiver
Insurance (CDW) and this covers you for any damage
to the hire car itself while it is in your care.
An
important thing to remember with collision damage
waiver insurance is that even if you have paid out
and bought cover from the car hire company, you
still may not be completely covered. In fact you
could still be liable to pay out considerable sums
of money in the event that you have an accident
and damage the hire car.
This
is because as with many types of insurance buying
the basic insurance does not mean that you are fully
covered. Insurance often comes with excesses and
collision damage waiver insurance is no exception.
Excess
What
this means for your rental is that if you are unlucky
enough to have an accident in the hire car your
collision damage waiver insurance may only cover
part of the costs and you would be responsible for
the remainder. How much the remainder would be depends
obviously on the amount of damage but also on the
size of the excess.
As
an example, your collision damage waiver policy
has an excess of £500 GB pounds and you unfortunately
cause damage to the car that the insurers say will
cost £750 GB pounds to repair. In this case,
the insurance company will charge the whole of the
excess amount to your credit card and they will
contribute only £250 GB pounds. It may be
worth pointing out here that excesses can be as
much as £1,500 GB pounds.
Another
area where you can find yourself liable for costs
is if you cause damage to the parts of the car normally
excluded from insurance policies. These parts are
the windscreen, tyres, roof and undercarriage; easy
to damage and expensive to fix, particularly if
you have no say in who does it or at what cost.
You
can of course extend the cover of your collision
damage waiver policy by buying additional insurance
to remove or at least reduce the excess and possibly
even include those exclusions.
What
you may find though is that if you take the additional
insurance offered by the car hire company you will
end up paying a lot of money for the additional
peace of mind of knowing that you are adequately
insured.
An
alternative to the car hire company insurance is
to have a look at the policies offered by
independent
insurance providers on the Internet
You
may find that the car hire insurance offered by
the specialist insurers will be significantly cheaper
than the equivalent insurance offered by the car
hire company.
Even
if you rental deal includes a basic form of collision
damage waiver insurance you can still buy any additional
policies elsewhere and benefit from significantly
lower prices. Many specialist policies may even
include those 'exclusions' such as the tyres, windscreen
etc as standard.
Information
supplied by insurance4carhire.com
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Collision
damage waiver - how to avoid unexpected bills
If
you have hired a car and taken out the appropriate
insurance, you may understandably think that there
is little or no possibility of 'unexpected costs'
coming from the car rental company. Unfortunately
you could be mistaken - even if you have purchased
from the hire company something called Collision
Damage Waiver insurance.
Collision
damage waiver or CDW, is a form of insurance that
covers you, the renter, against any costs arising
from an accident than damages the rental car. CDW
may be included in the rental price or in some countries,
most notably the USA, the rental company may offer
it to you as a separately chargeable option.
If
the rental company have not bundled CDW into the
rental price, it may be worth thinking about buying
it from a
specialist provider of car rental insurance.
Such companies operate in the open insurance marketplace,
usually on the Internet and often sell various forms
of rental car insurance at far cheaper prices than
the car rental companies.
What
to look out for:
If
you have taken or purchased your collision damage
waiver insurance from a car rental company, you
may have to watch two aspects of their policy cover
and this is where the risks of unpleasant surprises
and additional costs come from.
It
is highly likely that their insurance will not cover
all areas of the rented vehicle and may exclude
the wheels, tyres, windows, undercarriage and roof.
The second potential issue relates to the subject
of policy excess. The car rental company's policy
will almost certainly carry excess to the value
of 500 to 1500 pounds. That is the amount the rental
company could bill you following an accident as
your 'obligatory contribution' towards the cost
of any accidents even if you have their insurance
in place.
So
even if you have only a minor accident AND you have
the rental company's collision damage waiver cover
in place, you could still find yourself with a large
and unexpected charge to your credit card for repairs.
This does happen and when it does, the amounts can
be high - so be warned!
You
can pay the car rental company for additional insurance
that may reduce or remove the excess and possibly
cover the often-excluded areas of the vehicle.
Buying
it independently:
The
good news is that if you have purchased your CDW
from a specialist provider then there may be no
areas of the vehicle excluded from their policy
and another large bonus is that their policy may
also not carry excess. This could work out far cheaper
than paying for additional 'top-up' insurance through
the rental company.
One
final point relating to the collision damage waiver
products sold by the specialist insurance providers
is that they are sold for a period of time (a daily
or annual basis) rather than a specific car rental.
What this means is that the policyholder can use
their insurance to cover any vehicle they rent during
the lifetime of the policy, with the exception of
some specialist vehicles such as sports cars or
those over $100,000 US dollars in value. It may
be worth finding out more through one of these web
sites if you're interested in saving yourself a
lot of money.
Information
supplied by insurance4carhire.com
Back
to top
What
is loss damage waiver?
Loss
Damage Waiver (LDW) is a type of insurance cover
for rental cars. It can also be known as Collision
Damage Waiver (CDW). It typically covers the loss
of, and damage to, your hire car and generally includes
theft.
While
it isn't really insurance, it works in pretty much
the same way. You could look at it from the point
of view that since the hire car doesn't belong to
you, you can't insure it but you are responsible
for any damage that happens to it during the period
of your rental.
The
owners (the car rental company) may typically try
to sell you a release from this responsibility known
as loss damage waiver. With this they 'waive' their
right to charge you for repairs.
Cover
of this nature is very like insurance in that it
typically carries an excess, which is the amount
of money that you agree to pay to the car hire company
in the event that the hire car is damaged while
on rental to you.
In
addition to the excess you may find that loss damage
waiver excludes the windscreen, the tyres, the roof
and the undercarriage from its cover. This means
that if you damage any of these parts during your
rental then you would still be responsible to pay
for their repair. These costs would be separate
to any excess charges due for damage to other parts
of the car.
If,
like many, you feel that the potential expense in
these circumstances is unacceptable, then you may
choose to buy some excess insurance to top-up the
loss damage waiver cover. If you then damaged the
car, you would claim on this policy for the excess
that you would be responsible for paying.
You
may find that the excess insurance offered by the
car hire companies is more expensive than that available
from other sources. Happily there can be cheaper
cover out there which often has the added benefit
of covering those excluded parts as well and at
no extra cost.
You
can find it on the web site of some of the Internet
based car hire insurance providers. These specialists
can also supply policies specifically tailored for
rentals in the UK, Europe, USA or other destinations
worldwide.
They
also offer longer-term annual cover that may be
of special interest if you rent cars frequently.
An annual policy would provide you with excess cover
for all of your rentals in the course of a year
(one at a time of course).
These
specialist providers tend not to cover the more
exotic makes of car such as sports or vintage models
or very high value vehicles.
They can also offer LDW (Loss Damage Waiver) cover
for USA rentals (and some other destinations worldwide)
that again may be very much cheaper than the cover
you could buy at the car rental desk.
You
simply buy your policy from the specialists in advance
of your rental and take the policy details with
you, as your car hire company may need them to contact
your insurer if you have an accident.
So,
whether you're looking for loss damage waiver cover,
excess cover or both, why not have a look at
what these specialist providers have on offer?
Information
supplied by insurance4carhire.com
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