Car rental excess insurance

[npmum 1]

We are new to Germany and are planning on travelling a lot over the next 2 years. I have seen on tripadvisor a lot of people recommending purchasing excess insurance for car rentals from a separate company. They seem to be mostly using UK based services. FYI I am not an EU citizen. The prices seem to be very competitive with the ability to purchase for a whole year to cover multiple car rentals during that period. I am just wondering if anyone has had any experience using such companies and if you had to make a claim was it an easy process? Are there similar German companies?

[8420PR 170]

I have the cover from my lufthansa credit card.

 

https://www.miles-and-more-kreditkarte.com/kreditkarten/leistungsuebersicht/gold_classic_mm_teilnehmer.html

 

Unless you fly a lot, you have to pay €95 a year.

 

Other credit cards deals:

https://www.germanwings.com/de/Angebote/Germanwings-Kreditkarten-Gold.htm (€49 a year)

 

or

 

http://www.explorercard.de/bestellen (€59 a year)

 

As always, check the small print!

[npmum 1]

Thank you, we have a travel credit card but the small print on ours is that you have to take the full insurance the rental car company is offering.

[kaffeemitmilch 1,294]

Might be worth getting the Lufthansa card even with the €95 annual fee if you plan on renting a lot. I don't know the fine print on that, though.

 

I use a US credit card, which insists that you DECLINE extra coverage for them to pick up the cost. Not sure about NZ cards, but I guess if the travel card you have says that you ought to get full insurance first, it's a pain.

[silty1 3,597]

I use the Lufthansa Business card - the 95 euro deal mentioned - mainly for rentals in Canada or the States. Just a week or so a year and the fee pays for itself in what you save on the extra insurance gouge the rental car companies charge.

BTW, that card is limited to maximum 30 days' rental at one time. If your rental contract is for more than 30 days, you are not covered.

And if you are renting for 30 days, dropping the car off and renting another the same day, you MUST have a gap of one day between the old contract and the new one. Taking out a one-day contract with the rental car firm under their insurance will suffice, then start a new contract with the Lufthansa on the excess as before. If you don't have that one-day gap, the card will treat it as one complete rental and won't cover you if, say, on day 18 of your second month's rental you get in to an accident for which you have to make a claim. This was kindly explained to me upon picking up our second rental and I phoned the card helpline to check.

[Kannas 33]

I had purchased ELVIA Selbstbehalt-Ausschluss CDW from Allianz and used once for an attempted robbery on my rental car. The claim procedure was easy. But they dont have policies for a year it seems. Have a look here

 

http://www.allianz-reiseversicherung.de/business/produkte-leistungen/versicherung/reiseschutz/sonder-reiseschutz/

[Sir Percy B 1,309]

 

They seem to be mostly using UK based services. FYI I am not an EU citizen.

But if you're coming to Germany for 2 years you will be a German resident.

 

I use a company from the UK called Questor Insurance as the excess cost offered direct from rental companies and third party sites is somewhat extortionate by comparison. A one day rental can cost upto €25.00 if not more whereas I pay an annual charge of £40.00(GBP). If you look at their T&C as a german resident with a recognised international driving licence you should qualify but you can always call them to confirm.

 

Some TT members also use the ADAC where the insurance is all inclusive but that requires membership at an additional cost, it may still be an option for yourself but the ADAC are not always the cheapest for car rentals so what you might save on insurance may cost you on rentals.

 

Also bear in mind where your rentals will be, if you take the excess insurance cover direct with a rental company their cover may not be as good as taking out your own policy and you really need to check the small print.

 

Note, the very basics like windscreen cover, tyres, misfuelling are quite often not included in a lot of policies along with Personal Accident.

 

In addition you are also not normally covered for local rentals by credit card policies, rentals where a replacement car has been rented whilst your own car is serviced or repaired.

[donaby 124]

Just looking at the conditions of the Lufthansa Credit card concerning rental car insurance. I have the gold card world business which includes 'Mietwagen-Vollkasko-Versicherung' but following the link through shows that it only covers damage to the hired car for upto €75000, but this in my mind is not fully comprehensive insurance should you collide with another car and injury other people as well as, possibly, the occupants of your car. Have other people looked closely at the details here?

 

https://www.miles-and-more-kreditkarte.com/export/sites/lhmmcc/downloads/bedingungen/bedingungen_allgemeine_versicherungsbedingungen_ab_072015.pdf (part 2)

https://www.miles-and-more-kreditkarte.com/export/sites/lhmmcc/downloads/bedingungen/bedingungen_mietwagen_vollkasko_en.pdf

 

thanks for any feedback

[PeterN 1,179]

The term Vollkasko-Versicherung is often translated as "fully comprehensive insurance" but the legal/insurance definition may not be what you expect from that term:

From Wikipedia:
"Die Vollkaskoversicherung ist eine freiwillige Zusatzversicherung zur Ergänzung der gesetzlich vorgeschriebenen Kfz-Haftpflichtversicherung. Sie deckt nur Schäden ab, die am eigenen Kraftfahrzeug entstehen ..."
i.e Vollkasko supplements the legally required vehicle liability insurance and covers only damage to your own vehicle.

From Check 24 (an insurance comparison site):
"Die Kfz-Vollkasko ist eine freiwillige, zusätzliche Fahrzeugversicherung. Sie ergänzt die Kfz-Haftpflicht sowie den Teilkaskoschutz. Versichert sind Fahrzeugschäden:"
i.e. Vollkasko suppliments vehicle liability insurance and partial comprehensive cover. Vehicle damage is insured.


So the Lufthansa card definition of "Vollkasko-Versicherung" appears to be correct - a supplimental insurance that covers the vehicle but does not replace liability insurance.

Good that you read the terms and conditions - so many people never bother. Now would be a good time to check the small print of the Kfz-Haftpflicht insurance you have. Does it just cover the bare minimum in Germany? Is it valid in other countries? Would it cover the value of a claim in another country where you might drive a rental car?

Edit: I cannot give you detailed legal or insurance advice. Please have anything I say here checked by an insurance expert with the required  legal qualifications and knowledge.

[donaby 124]

Thanks for the information. So, the rental car company must provide the legally required insurance (third party) which covers damage to other car and (hopefully not) injury to third persons. The credit card will insure the car, but who insures any injury to driver and passenger? Or is that part of the legally required insurance? And does this insurance have a separate excess?

 

Thanks!

[CustomX 101]

Good thread. I'm in similar position as original poster. I have a UK policy with http://www.insurance4carhire.com/. £49 annually and covers the  excess on any cars I rent during the year. 

 

I'm looking to buy a similar policy now that I'm resident in Germany. 

 

The discussion above regarding the Lufthansa credit card leaves me a little uncertain as the discussion seems to be about whether the credit card provides full insurance. This seems to be at a tangent to the actual topic since its normally the case that the hire car company provides the insurance as part of the cost of the rental.  The UK policy mentioned above is not an insurance policy for the vehicle, damage or personal liability. Its sole purpose is to reduce the excess exposure. Ie. if the car hire company has an excess of 1000 EUR, then someone holding this policy could rest easy that should any accident occur, they won't be out of pocket as their policy will cover that excess.  

 

Can anyone recommend a policy in Germany that operates similarly to the aforementioned UK policy? 

[dj_jay_smith 3,448]

Actually you can continue with Insurance4CarHire.com!

 

I have used them as a German resident, after recommendation from the Toytown community!  I would suggest that you contact them if you want to renew because your residency has changed, but otherwise it should work the same way.

[Tim Hortons Man 542]

If you rent from a third party aggregator site like Rent Italy/Spain they all offer supplemental insurance. I'm renting a van for Avis for 15 days and I took their insurnace. Thankfully I've never had a claim (couple a close calls near rome) so don't have any experience. From reading the terms and conditions it's pretty straight forward as long as you did nothing illegal (drink driving for example), as far as I can see there is nothing regarding residency requirements.

 

Edit: term and conditions basicly say they match the rental car company's t&c so it's likely the thread about 4000€ damage to a rental might not be covered either. 

 

Afterthought: anyone ever been able to read the t&c on a rental contract, the fine print is so fine you need a magnifying glass to read them

 

 

[CustomX 101]

On 13/06/2016, 08:15:19, dj_jay_smith said:

Actually you can continue with Insurance4CarHire.com!

 

I have used them as a German resident, after recommendation from the Toytown community!  I would suggest that you contact them if you want to renew because your residency has changed, but otherwise it should work the same way.

 

Fantastic tip! Thanks mate! All renewed. 

On 13/06/2016, 18:47:17, Tim Hortons Man said:

If you rent from a third party aggregator site like Rent Italy/Spain they all offer supplemental insurance. I'm renting a van for Avis for 15 days and I took their insurnace. Thankfully I've never had a claim (couple a close calls near rome) so don't have any experience. From reading the terms and conditions it's pretty straight forward as long as you did nothing illegal (drink driving for example), as far as I can see there is nothing regarding residency requirements.

 

Edit: term and conditions basicly say they match the rental car company's t&c so it's likely the thread about 4000€ damage to a rental might not be covered either. 

 

Afterthought: anyone ever been able to read the t&c on a rental contract, the fine print is so fine you need a magnifying glass to read them

 

 

 

The "excess removal cover" provided as an extra by the sites and also by the car hire companies is extortionately priced. I just rented a car for 2 days in the UK. Cost me £28 for the rental. They wanted to charge me and extra £16 per day for the excess insurance. That was if I booked it online. At the counter, they wanted £20 per day! 

 

Whereas my annual worldwide policy with insurance4carhire is under £50. 

 

 

 

 

[daw 0]

It seems that insurance4carhire will not offer anymore policies to German residents after 31/12/2020 (got a mail today.). Is there another company that anyone can recommend that are doing the same kind of coverage? (probably not UK based, due Brexit)

 

[Mackle 802]

American Express have a card with rental cover as well. 

[Mackle 802]

On 25/09/2014, 17:03:50, silty1 said:

I use the Lufthansa Business card

 

The business card is the one that offers 1 MM point per Euro isn't it? The collection rate on the normal non/business one is shocking. I assumed as a normal employee I couldn't get the Business card, so ended up getting a UK MM card, and using it through a Curve Card to avoid FX charges.

 

Going back to the subject, does the Hilton Honours card come with rental car excess cover as well? I seem to recall that on the FlyerTalk forum it was regarded as one of the better options in Germany for points collection (granted it's not much of a competitive market)

[silty1 3,597]

On 14.12.2020, 21:27:16, Mackle said:

 

The business card is the one that offers 1 MM point per Euro isn't it? The collection rate on the normal non/business one is shocking. I assumed as a normal employee I couldn't get the Business card, so ended up getting a UK MM card, and using it through a Curve Card to avoid FX charges.

 

Going back to the subject, does the Hilton Honours card come with rental car excess cover as well? I seem to recall that on the FlyerTalk forum it was regarded as one of the better options in Germany for points collection (granted it's not much of a competitive market)

 

Things have changed a lot since I posted that nearly 7 years ago.  Not using Lufthansa business anymore as all my travel is private now. Car rental cover is still okay as far as it goes, one two-week rental insurance charge would be more than the annual fee for the card, but in general you're right, the non-business card is a bit of a laugher, around ten bucks a month fees and  it takes ages to build up points if you don't fly very often, ie purchases: one point for every two euros spent, instead of one-for-one.  I never buy in the Lufthansa Shop - inflated prices and ridiculously high point redemption charges for flimsy trinkets.  

 

Ever tried to make a claim on the insurance?  The only time I did I got the run-around, had to send the papers back to them twice with the math spelled out for them where they went wrong in their calculation of my claim. It got to the point where I was wondering whether they were waiting to see if I'd just give up.  They could not have been that dense. 

[Mackle 802]

On 16/12/2020, 11:20:29, silty1 said:

in general you're right, the non-business card is a bit of a laugher, around ten bucks a month fees and  it takes ages to build up points if you don't fly very often, ie purchases: one point for every two euros spent, instead of one-for-one

 

Is it just lack of competition that is responsible for the poor earning rate in LH's home market card? Miles and More points do not go very far as it is, and especially not at 1 point per 2 euro. Earnings-wise, it's no different to having a free Amex PayBack card and converting your PayBack points to LH. 

 

I seem to recall a return flight from FRA to LHR/LCY was 35,000 MM points. The same flight using BA AVIOS is 7000-9000 points depending on if the flight is peak or not. My parents spend modestly, but even they were able to accrue enough Avois in a year to get a yearly free flight (aside from the tax) out to FRA to see me.

 

LH's status is one of the hardest to obtain as well. Over 35 segments to get Frequent Flyer / Silver status as well! No wonder I've seen so many Aegean status holders at FRA.

[norcal_sf 124]

Anyone used these companies for annual policies? 

 

https://cover4rentals.com/

https://www.worldwideinsure.com/car-hire-excess-insurance.php

 

I too had Insurance4CarHire.com, but got cancelled after Brexit.  And what the car companies charge for a week covers the premium for the year...