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18 Dec 2023

Best car hire excess insurance 2024

The car hire insurance policy, rated top by Which?, is six times cheaper than Avis, Budget and Europcar’s mediocre cover. We’ve reviewed dozens of car hire excess insurance policies, so you don’t have to

Guy HobbsPrincipal researcher & writer

In this article

Why do I need car hire insurance?
Best and worst car hire excess insurance
What kind of car hire insurance do I need?
What is Super Collision Damage Waiver (SCDW)?
Should I ever buy car hire insurance from the rental company?
How to avoid car hire insurance bill shock
How to avoid the car hire insurance hard sell
How we calculate policy scores

Never buy your car hire insurance at the rental desk. Time and again, our research finds the cover offered by car hire companies is riddled with holes, and costs up to £205 more per week than specialist insurance bought online.

But which of the online specialists offers the best cover, at the best price? We’ve sifted through the policies of all the major providers to bring you our list of the best and worst.

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Why do I need car hire insurance?

When you hire a car in Europe, you don't have to buy any additional insurance - basic insurance is always included in the rental. But that insurance is subject to an ‘excess’, so if the car is damaged you'll need to pay a contribution of up to £2,500 towards repair costs, regardless of who is at fault.

Excess Reimbursement Insurance (ERI) allows you to claim that excess back from your insurance provider. You can buy a daily or annual policy.

Best and worst car hire excess insurance

Insurer	Policy score	Premium for a week (Spain)	Premium for annual policy (Europe)	Annual policy trip length	Policy limit per claim	Tyres, windscreen and underbody cover	Misfuelling cover	Key cover
ChewInsurance	76%	- ^A	- ^A	65 days ¹	£10,000	Yes	£1,000	£500
Questor Insurance	73%	£27.96	£44.98	62 days ¹	£10,000	Yes	£500	£500
Rentalcover.com	73%	£44.17	N/A ²	N/A	Full value	Yes	Not covered	Full value
Cover For You	71%	£17.47	£44.35	62 days 1	£7,500	Yes	£500	£500
Eversure	71%	£16.24	£40.71	62 days ¹	£7,000	Yes	£500	£500
Reducemyexcess.co.uk	71%	£20.56	£51.39	62 days	£7,000	Yes	£500	£500
Bettersafe	67%	£19.52	£37.99	62 days	£7,500	Yes	Full value	Full value

Using the table: A week's premium: for a 45-year-old driver on a eight-day rental in Spain. Annual premium: For the same driver driving in Europe. All insurers also sell policies covering car hire in the UK. Policy scores are based on the provider's standard annual European cover. Figures last updated in June 2022.

A Policies currently not on sale 1 Hire agreements up to 31 continuous days 2 Annual policies not available

What kind of car hire insurance do I need?

You have two options when it comes to buying car hire insurance:

1. Buy from an insurance company. This is called Excess Reimbursement Insurance (ERI) and it's what we recommend. It's cheaper and more comprehensive. And you can buy it online, before your trip. If the car gets damaged, you will have to pay the excess to the rental company, but you can then claim it back. See our car hire excess insurance reviews above.

2. Buy from the company renting you the car. This is called a Damage Waiver, or Super Collision Damage Waiver (SCDW), and can be purchased when you book the car, or at the rental desk. It reduces the excess (often down to zero) in the event of damage. But it is usually over-priced and offers comparatively poor cover.

What is Super Collision Damage Waiver (SCDW)?

Car hire companies sell Super Collision Damage Waiver (SCDW), allowing you to reduce your excess to a very small amount, often zero. This cover is called many different names, including Collision Damage Waiver (CDW), Excess Waiver, Super Cover and Excess Protection. But it’s expensive.

Our table below shows quotes we obtained from a selection of major car hire companies. The SCDW covers a week’s rental in Spain. We got quotes for the best, most comprehensive policy available.

What our research shows is that it's just not worth buying your insurance from the car hire provider. Not only is it much more expensive than a specialist third-party policy, but it also offers less comprehensive cover.

All of the top ERI providers cover you for damage to the windscreen, tyres and underbody of the car. Most also cover you if you're locked out, put the wrong fuel in the car, or are forced to cut short your hire. None of the car hire companies below cover all of this.

SCDW - purchased from car hire companies to reduce your excess

Car hire company	Policy score	SCDW cost for a week	Policy limit per claim	Tyres (T), windscreen (W) and underbody (U) cover	Locked out cover	Misfuelling cover	Key cover	Stolen personal effects	Curtailment
Europcar - Premium Protection Cover	68%	£165.86	Full value	T,W & U	Yes	Not covered	Optional	Optional	Not covered
Alamo - Excess Protection	51%	£132.34	Full value	Optional	Optional	Not covered	Optional	Optional	Not covered
Enterprise - Excess Protection	51%	£132.34	Full value	Optional	Optional	Not covered	Optional	Optional	Not covered
Goldcar - Mega Relax Cover	51%	£176.37	Full value	T,W & U	Yes	Amount of cover varies	Full value	Not covered	Not covered
Avis - Vehicle Cover Plus	46%	£221.59	Full value	T,W & U	Yes	Yes	Yes	£2,100	Not covered
Budget -Vehicle Cover Plus	46%	£169.00	Full value	T,W & U	Yes	Not covered	Not covered	£2,100	Not covered
Using the table: We obtained quotes for a week's car rental from Malaga airport in August 2023. We selected the most comprehensive Super Collision Damage Waiver (SCDW) available.

Should I ever buy car hire insurance from the rental company?

No. Not if you want the most comprehensive cover at the best price.

The only advantage of buying SCDW from a car hire company is that it means slightly less hassle in the event of an accident - because you won’t have to make a claim. When you book with a specialist insurance provider, you pay the excess for any damage to the car hire company, and then claim back on your insurance. But with SCDW you either have zero excess (so nothing to pay), or a small excess (which you can’t claim back).

Buying SCDW also means that the car hire company shouldn’t demand such a large pre-authorisation on your credit card. Some budget operators will demand a deposit (in the form of a pre-authorisation) as high as €2,500 if you don’t take out their insurance. The pre-authorisation is usually the same amount as the excess you would pay in the event of an accident.

However, you can get around this problem by hiring with Which? Recommended Provider Zest Car Rental, which clearly shows the level of deposit you need to pay, helping you to choose a provider with a more reasonable policy.

How to avoid car hire insurance bill shock

If you do buy insurance from the car hire company, try to buy it online in advance, and at a price you are comfortable with, to avoid any nasty surprises.

When Which? spot checked major providers in August 2023, it found examples on Budget's website where there was no mention of the price of its SCDW product at any point during the booking process.

Companies that hire cars to UK consumers are required by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to provide clear information about optional waiver and insurance products, including their prices and exclusions.

Avis Budget Group told us that it 'acknowledged and accepted our findings' and that it was in the process of 'implementing upgrades and changes to the Budget website'.

How to avoid the car hire insurance hard sell

You don’t have to buy insurance in Europe. Basic insurance is always included in the rental. But that doesn't stop some car hire companies from pressure selling their policies.

Some aim to frighten you into a purchase with lies and bullying. They might even tell you that they won’t accept the specialist insurance that you bought online. You can see these unscrupulous tactics in our undercover video. But pressure selling is illegal.

To withstand the pressure from pushy agents we recommend that you buy your own excess reimbursement policy from one of the third-party insurance providers above, then just say no at the rental desk. Explain that you don't want any extra cover and that you understand the need to pay up to the excess limit if you damage the car (safe in the knowledge that you can claim it back).

Some people like to print out their own ERI policy to show the rental company. But we found that this can open you up to the hard sell - as agents can (very convincingly) pick holes in your policy that don't really exist.

How we calculate policy scores

In June 2022 we calculated the policy scores by rating the 16 most important elements of the policy, including tyres, windscreen and underbody cover, flat battery cover, admin charges, car jacking, towing cover, personal accident cover and more. Prices were updated in August 2023.