Car hire insurance can come in one of three categories.
The first is that insurance that may come with the hire car as part of the basic rental price. It may be a fairly comprehensive bundle of insurance that covers things such as third party liability (the damage or injury you may cause to others with the rented car) and CDW (collision damage waiver or the damage you may do to the rented vehicle itself). It may cover just third party or in some cases (notably in the USA) there may not be any insurance included in the rental price at all.
The second category are those insurance components above that the car rental company will try and sell you directly as they are not included in the basic rental price.
Finally, there is the third category - that covers various forms of 'top-up' insurance that increase cover and bridge the gaps that may exist in the standard third-party and CDW insurance sold (or included in the rental price) by the car rental company.
It is generally accepted that the car hire insurance sold by car rental companies is often several times more expensive than similar insurance purchased directly from specialist insurance providers over the Internet. This is usually because they rely to some extent on rental customers not knowing that alternative sources of insurance are available and some customers in fact mistakenly believe that they are legally or commercially obliged to purchase insurance from the rental company.
Cheap cover
So, how can you save yourself very significant amounts of money on car hire insurance?
In terms of the first category, if there is insurance included in the basic rental price you may be able to ask the rental company for a daily car rental only price and inform them that you intend to provide your own insurance. They may or may not be willing to offer a revised price - this may be less likely if you are getting some form of special offer or existing discount.
For the second and third categories, where the rental company is offering insurance for sale or top-up insurance, you can directly compare these to the similar products sold by the direct insurance providers over the Internet. You may well find that not only do the direct providers sell the cheaper policies but they may also offer better cover. For example, the CDW sold by the rental companies will probably exclude from its cover several commonly damaged areas of the rented vehicle such as the windows, wheels, tyres, roof and undercarriage whereas the direct providers will probably include cover for all these areas at no extra cost.
Comprehensive protection
If you do find the car hire insurance offerings of the specialist insurance providers to be attractive, you can simply decline the insurance offered by the rental company and use your own instead. This is a way of reducing your overall car rental costs, your risks of needing to pay significant amounts towards the costs of any accident, and improving your overall insurance cover
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