Minimising car insurance costs when hiring in Australia

[Warks]

I regularly hire cars as I am contracting to a company that pays all my travel expenses for interstate travel. I get the maximum insurance I can as I don't want to have to pay for anything I can get the client to pay for. However it does tend to make care hire particularly expensive. I see rates of "$39 per day" quoted here and there and rates up to about $70. The cheapest I seem to get for a day for an intermediate car is about $109 with insurance. I'm not that concerned as I don't pay it but if I did I'd like to get a better rate than that. I may have to hire a car at my own expense in future.
I use Avis and everything works like clockwork but when I look at the bills and see how many "plus plus" items there are I think it's a bit of a rip-off. I used to find Thrifty similar.

How does anyone get these really cheap rates? Do they not take out insurance and take a chance that they won't have an accident (risking enormous costs)?
Or is there a way you can be covered by your own insurance or get a "no claim bonus" with the car hire company through having a good hiring history?

Would love to know. Thanks.

 

[dajop]

IHow does anyone get these really cheap rates? Do they not take out insurance and take a chance that they won't have an accident (risking enormous costs)?

It's not the matter of having no insurance, it's the excess. I'm comfortable (statistically I probably hire enough cars) to live with a $2500 excess, compared to say a $750 excess.

However the cheapest way around it is to find a suitable domestic travel insurance policy that covers excess. I know my parents use RACV, which can be 1/3 the cost or less compared to actually paying daily excess reduction fees through the car hire company.

 

[Dave Noble]

I would check with the company whether they provide insurance for when you are travelling and whether this covers car hire excess or, if they would prefer to pay the excess rather than pay the daily exhorbitant fees for max cover

Alternatively, I can recommend Car Hire Excess Insurance | Car Rental Excess Insurance . They will cover all your car rentals which start at least 150Km from home and will cost GBP65 ($118) for 1 year

Dave

 

[StevePER]

Alternatively, I can recommend Car Hire Excess Insurance | Car Rental Excess Insurance . They will cover all your car rentals which start at least 150Km from home and will cost GBP65 ($118) for 1 year

I used them once, and when I tried to make a claim I found they were very difficult to communicate with (the time difference with the UK didn't help) and in the end I gave up (it was only $40 for windscreen damage anyway). I've also used Worldcare "Design your own policy" and they were only slightly better, but I did get (most of) the money out of them in the end.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

Don't some Platinum credit cards cover you for domestic travel insurance including care hire excess??

Might be an option as you could prob claim the card on your tax.

 

[equus]

Don't some Platinum credit cards cover you for domestic travel insurance including care hire excess??

Don't know about any Credit cards, but Amex Platinum charge card does - but there are limitations (mainly around value of the vehicle).

 

[bossreggie]

I believe ANZ Gold and Platinum Visa cards include insurance excess waiver up to $5000 if you pay for the rental using the card.

MACQUARIE Platinum offer the same benefit.

 

[markis10]

I believe ANZ Gold and Platinum Visa cards include insurance excess waiver up to $5000 if you pay for the rental using the card.

MACQUARIE Platinum offer the same benefit.

Any ANZ credit card holder can get coverage and you dont need to even have the car charged to your card, only the excess if something goes wrong:

ANZ - ANZ car rental cover


Once you've become an ANZ credit card customer, you can obtain ANZ car rental cover for an annual fee of just $24 (inc. GST)**. This fee is automatically charged to your ANZ credit card for your convenience.

ANZ car rental cover can reduce this excess down to $350 and can pay up to a maximum of $2,050.

 

[StevePER]

Don't some Platinum credit cards cover you for domestic travel insurance including care hire excess??

Might be an option as you could prob claim the card on your tax.

I'm pretty sure the Amex Platinum credit card doesn't cover hire, and Citibank Platinum only covers international.

 

[jaydee]

I'm looking forward to the answer to your question.

Although I'd like to know how to get the car rental company to refund the accident excess when they have enough information to make a successful insurance claim. I'm suspicious that the rental company hasn't had the car repaired because it was a minor ding, and so far they're not talking to me.

 

[markis10]

I'm looking forward to the answer to your question.

Although I'd like to know how to get the car rental company to refund the accident excess when they have enough information to make a successful insurance claim. I'm suspicious that the rental company hasn't had the car repaired because it was a minor ding, and so far they're not talking to me.

Welcome to AFF, what are you looking for and what has been your experience as your post and the answers you are seeking are not clear to me.

I hope you are not under the assumption that a no fault accident means you will get your money back because there is no such thing as a no fault accident when it comes to rental cars, if you bring it back damaged you have to pay the agreed excess, no exceptions other than the excess being more than the cost to repair the vehicle.

 

[JohnK]

An annual travel insurance policy with Travel Insurance Direct covers up to $4,000 rental vehicle excess cover (I think you can increase this up to $6,000, $500 increments, for an additional cost) on domestic trips as well as overseas trips.

There is also OnlineTravel Insurance which covers up to $3,000 rental vehicle excess cover on dometic trips. Insurance cover for a 1 week trip is around $25.

 

[Warks]

Thanks to everyone for the excellent replies. I have something to work with now.

The other "fees and charges" are a little more difficult to avoid. I can't recall what other companies are like but Avis is the master of the add-on. They make Qantas look like amateurs. Well maybe not - they don't charge $7.70 for using a credit card.

Per Day Surcharge 11.00
* 14.00% FEE 26.74

ADM FEE 3.500% 7.62

*PREMIUM LOCATION SURCHARGE
​

Then whack the GST on top of this with the per day charge and insurance and you've doubled the per day charge.
Gotta love it.

 

[Mal]

There is something else to consider - especially if someone else is paying the charges and you aren't out of pocket.

Unless you have a $0 excess, if there is damage the agency will assess the damage and charge your credit card for the excess amount (or the assessed damage). Any amount over the true cost of repair can take forever to be returned.

If involving an insurance company into the mix, you then have to work out how long it takes for them to refund you the excess and what paperwork is involved.

Really, if someone else is paying the $$$, I'd just stick with the $0 excess option.

 

[JohnK]

Really, if someone else is paying the $$$, I'd just stick with the $0 excess option.

Sorry if I have misunderstood your post but as far as I am aware there is no $0 excess option. When you pay a daily surcharge to the car rental company to reduce the excess it usually reduces the excess to something like $300 or $500. Normally the excess is around the $3,000 mark.

If you then take out insurance they cover the car rental excess to the amount specified in the policy.

 

[Mal]

Sorry if I have misunderstood your post but as far as I am aware there is no $0 excess option.

Avis may not have one, but Hertz does:

1. Maximum Cover (MAX)
· Reduces Accident Damages Excess to zero ($0.00).
· Tyre & Windscreen cover.
· Single Vehicle Accident Excess buy out.
· Capped at 10 days per 30 day rental period.
· Available at participating locations.

Oh, and just noticed that Hertz Australia seems to have introduced a SVA (Single Vehicle Accident) excess of $2200 (plus your normal excess). Ouch if you don't have protection against that...

 

[Warks]

I'm not that concerned currently as you (Mal) point out the company is paying but I was looking towards the time when I pay for my own hires (and work them back as a business expense for tax purposes of course).
I've stuck with Avis because that is who my contracting company uses.

 

[AdMEL]

All Westpac Platinum Credit cards provide $5,500 excess cover for car hire within Australia when hire charged to card with no excess and no additional cost other than the annual fee. 55 day card annual fee of $130 waived if spend greater than $20K p.a. Only downside to that card is no reward program. I rely on it for all my car hire - haven't yet had to make a claim, so can't comment on the claim process. A friend did make a claim against ANZ Car rental cover mentioned (I previously relied on this, but never claimed) and the claim took about 2-4 weeks to be paid, but was reasonably smooth.

 

[kiwi2768]

Our ANZ FF Gold card provides hire car cover, in Australia only, for a fee of $25 a year. Would be even better if it provided cover overseas as well.