Renting a car and and reduce to zero the "Selbstbeteiligung"

[Frantic 58]

Sometime I think for some things I am so naive, because I never did them and i want to be sure to not make mistakes

 

I need to rent a car for 18 days. I am checking website online like billiger-mietwagen.de, rentalcars (it is the car renting section of booking.com), check24, etc. This kind of broker websites offer some insurances (for just 150 euro average) that reiumburse you all what you potentially can spend in case of damage from your Selbstbeteiligung sum. Some of them do not clearly tell you how this happen (no additional insurance is mentioned) so it is not clear if the zeroing of the Selbstbeteiligung is offered directly by the car renting company.

If I go directly to one of this rental companies website , i.e. Alamo, the zeroing of the Selbstbeteiligung cost like 5-6 hundreds euro and not just 150.

 

Do you have any suggestion on how to proceed in order to protect me from surprises ? Do any of you have any experiences or suggestion to share about this topic ? Also it would be great to have opinion about car renting companies. My fear is to go with cheaper companies but then getting ripped off in other ways.

[yourkeau 7,672]

I rented a lot for years in Germany. My suggestion: take insurance with 250-500 euro Selbstbeteiligung. It will not make you bankrupt, but you also do not pay inflated prices for 0 SB. In the span of years, your biggest risks are parking scratches and a flat tire. Sure, something serious might happen, too, but if you are a ok driver, that will be once in 5 years (or never). 

 

If you go abroad, make sure that your insurance covers the towing service abroad (not always the case). 

[Frantic 58]

11 minutes ago, yourkeau said:

I rented a lot for years in Germany. My suggestion: take insurance with 250-500 euro Selbstbeteiligung. It will not make you bankrupt, but you also do not pay inflated prices for 0 SB. In the span of years, your biggest risks are parking scratches and a flat tire. Sure, something serious might happen, too, but if you are a ok driver, that will be once in 5 years (or never). 

 

If you go abroad, make sure that your insurance covers the towing service abroad (not always the case). 

 

Hi,

 

I am renting just for a 18 days trip only. I have already my car but it is a small one and I need a bigger one because I will have my future parents in law with me 

the Selbstbeteiligung looks like to be always aroun 900-1000. The only other option I am finding is to reduce it to zero by paying additional 500 euro (in case of Alamo and i guess other companies) or 100-150 euro to third party insurance companies (but shall I trust them...some of them are based in malta...or UK..not in germany). I guess you refer to these last one when you say "take insurance with 250-500 euro Selbstbeteiligung"

 

 

[Krieg 14,542]

You can buy SB-insurance, an insurance that will cover the SB in case of an accident.  It is useful if you rent cars often.  I have one from Car Assure and I pay 60 EUR a year.   

[clickety6 4,036]

if you are an ADAC member you can try renting through their website and get full insurance coverage without any Selbsbeteiligung. 

[Frantic 58]

1 hour ago, Krieg said:

You can buy SB-insurance, an insurance that will cover the SB in case of an accident.  It is useful if you rent cars often.  I have one from Car Assure and I pay 60 EUR a year.   

 

Have you had ever chance to request them a reimbursement ?  Was all seamless or did you find any resistance from them ?

[Krieg 14,542]

Not yet. Fortunately.  But I have saved some decent money already. So all good.

[syedalisajjad 56]

I once Rented from Buchbinder on Check24 and got the 3rd Party Insurance from AXA (I guess it was 23€ for like 5-6 days). Anyhow someone broke into the car and damaged the door lock and scratched the door. So Buchbinder deducted the amount (ca. 500 EUR) from my Credit Card. I claimed the amount and got it refunded from AXA. Make sure you get everything documented. In my case e.g. I filed a Police Report and had a copy of police report. So in case of accident make sure you get all the relevant documentation etc.

 

Zur Erstattung der Selbstbeteiligung reichen Sie folgende Unterlagen ein:
-> Schadens- und Polizeibericht
-> Kopie des Mietvertrages
-> Zahlungsnachweis der Selbstbeteiligung (Kreditkartenauszug*, Quittung bei Barzahlung oder Kontoauszug)
-> Endabrechnung der Schadensabwicklung

 

I've a booking for April and this time the insurance cover is provided by HanseMerkur Reiseversicherung AG. Maybe you can book the insurance directly with them too.

https://www.hansemerkur.de/mietwagen-versicherung

[jubinjohn 224]

I took a sprinter lately using check24. It was cheap, the van was given by X through Y, and I collected it at Avis. After return , i got a bill for 450 euros related to scratches . The van was already covered with scratches, and I did not made anything myself. 

Log story short, the insurance which check24 provided while opting for zero self pay took it over and paid. I had to pay some 40 euros from my pocket. 

So in my case it was not bad

[jeba 4,192]

Some credit cards come with insurance for rental cars. You may want to look into that option.

[Densio 12]

On 08/03/2022, 23:20:00, jubinjohn said:

I took a sprinter lately using check24. It was cheap, the van was given by X through Y, and I collected it at Avis. After return , i got a bill for 450 euros related to scratches . The van was already covered with scratches, and I did not made anything myself. 

Log story short, the insurance which check24 provided while opting for zero self pay took it over and paid. I had to pay some 40 euros from my pocket. 

So in my case it was not bad

 

We rented directly from Avis in January and we also got billed for 450€ for a bump on the bumper. We took out the insurance option that they offer where we have 0€ Selbstbeteiligung so we didn't pay anything. However, we still asked them to overturn their billing because we took a photo of the car when we gave it back and showed them that there was no bump. So I'm wondering whether it's a scam that they do especially with renters who take out the 0€ Selbstbeteiligung option, because most likely people would let it go and not complain since they wouldn't have to shell out money anyway.

 

On 08/03/2022, 11:01:48, Frantic said:

 

Hi,

 

I am renting just for a 18 days trip only. I have already my car but it is a small one and I need a bigger one because I will have my future parents in law with me 

the Selbstbeteiligung looks like to be always aroun 900-1000. The only other option I am finding is to reduce it to zero by paying additional 500 euro (in case of Alamo and i guess other companies) or 100-150 euro to third party insurance companies (but shall I trust them...some of them are based in malta...or UK..not in germany). I guess you refer to these last one when you say "take insurance with 250-500 euro Selbstbeteiligung"

 

 

 

The 0€ Selbstbeteiligung option that we got from Avis only costed around an additional 5-6€. It was the Avis Inclusive option.