Car Hire Excess Insurance FAQs
I have a question about…
Car Hire Excess
When you hire a car in the UK or abroad, CDW (Collision Damage Waiver), Theft and Third Party Liability are normally included in the rental price.
This is just like normal car insurance.
Without it, you wouldn’t be allowed to drive the hire car.
However, car rental companies will usually charge an excess (also known as a “deductible”) for any claims that arise from loss or damage to the rental vehicle, which can be anything from €100 to over €2,000.
This excess amount might often be held against your credit card, and is usually defined as the maximum amount for which you are held responsible under the terms of the car rental agreement should physical loss of or damage to the rental vehicle occur.
This would typically including fire, vandalism, theft and loss of use, but can also include minor cosmetic damage (scratches and chips), interior cleaning costs and more as per the terms of your rental agreement.
If you have an accident, the vehicle is stolen, or damaged, you may have to pay this excess amount to the car hire company before their insurance (CDW) covers the rest. The excess is normally automatically charged to your card by the rental company.
Car hire companies will often try to sell you an Excess Waiver (sometimes known as “Non-Waiver”, “Excess Protection, Advanced Cover and other names”).
An Excess Waiver from a hire company can more than double the total cost of your car hire.
The Excess Waiver is an optional purchase, but generates revenue for the hire company if you buy it, and return the vehicle with no damage.
The purpose of a hire company’s Excess Waiver is reduce the excess amount you have to pay in the event of damage to the hire vehicle, by paying slightly less than the total excess in advance.
It’s a win-win for the hire company as, unlike a hold for the excess against your credit card, they don’t have to return this money at the end of the hire if the car is returned without damage, and if it is, the cost of the Excess Waiver will normally more than cover any damage.
Standalone Car Hire Excess Insurance
If you purchase our standalone car hire excess insurance cover instead (which is often less than £3 / day) in the event you have to pay an excess for damages caused to your hire car, we will reimburse you up to £10,000 subject to the terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions of your Policy Wording.
This means that you can refuse to take out the Excess Waiver offered by the car hire company, both saving you money, and keeping yourself protected.
Car Hire Excess Insurance is also known as Excess Reimbursement Insurance.
If you have an accident or a loss whilst hiring a rental car, the rental company will normally claim the excess directly from your credit card that you will have provided at the time of rental.
It is this amount that the standard ReduceMyExcess.co.uk policy will reimburse to you up to the policy limit of £10,000.
No. Our policy, subject to the policy terms and conditions, reimburses you for the amounts that are taken by your car hire company from your credit card.
In the event of an excess deduction by your car hire company you need to ensure that you collect all the documents and evidence as described in our Policy wording.
When you return home you can reclaim the excess deductions from us.
They may still try and sell you their additional excess waiver policy, but you may simply decline as you are covered.
The coverage is between ReduceMyExcess and yourself and so the car rental company does not need to approve it.
We’ve heard from various sources that some rental companies will tell our customers that the car hire excess insurance policy they have with us isn’t valid for the rental.
Typically, this is a scare tactic used by the rental company to try and force customers into buying their cover.
They generally do this because they’re renting out their vehicles so cheap, they need to sell ‘add-on’ insurance to make any money.
Which?, an independent consumer rights company, conducted some undercover research on these tactics, a segment of which we’ve shared below:
Which? have awarded ReduceMyExcess “Best Buy” for our excess insurance.
For more information, visit our Which? page.
Collision Damage Waiver (‘CDW’) is usually, but not always provided by the rental company in Europe.
Without this cover, if damage to the rental vehicle exceeds the Excess, you would otherwise be responsible for the full amount. In other words, you may be responsible for up to the entire vehicle value.
Collision Damage Waiver (‘CDW’) may sometimes be referred to as Loss Damage Waiver (‘LDW’).
Rentals in the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia and other countries may not include CDW, check your rental agreement.
What is SLI?
Supplemental Liability Insurance (‘SLI’) is similar to the UK’s 3rd party insurance, in other words if you hit a 3rd party or their property this cover will meet the liability.
We do NOT provide SLI cover. European rentals should always include SLI, but check your Agreement.
Do you offer CDW cover when the hire company doesn’t include it?
We do offer CDW cover, for car rentals in USA or Canada ONLY when you have opted for our CDW add on, which provides up to US $50,000 cover.
Our standard policies do not cover CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) as this is usually already provided within your rental agreement if you are hiring in Europe.
ReduceMyExcess
This short video below explains a bit more about ReduceMyExcess.
ReduceMyExcess is a trading names of Eversure Limited, a company based in Guildford, Surrey.
We’re a specialist company that has been trading since 2008 and sold hundreds of thousands of insurance policies.
Eversure Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Details may be found at the foot of this page.
We’re also a proud a Member of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association.
Since 2011 it has been our objective to offer our customers a reliable, competitive and easily purchased alternative to Car Hire Companies’ Excess Waiver available directly from Car Rental companies. Which? have recognised this and awarded ReduceMyExcess Best Buy Insurer for Car Hire Excess Insurance two years running as of 2025.
We are passionate about providing the type of service that our customers expect and deserve. We will answer phone calls promptly and we will help you in any way we can. Everything we do is fair and transparent.
Feefo are an independent ratings and reviews provider.
We employ them to independently gather reviews about our Car Hire Excess Reimbursement Insurance and these are anonymously published in the Public Domain.
If you click Feefo’s logo on our home page you may read about what our customers have to say about ReduceMyExcess.co.uk.
If you purchase, feefo will also send you a follow-up email and ask you to provide a Review for ReduceMyExcess.co.uk. This takes less than a minute, your name will not appear in the Public Domain and we really appreciate all feedback.
During our opening hours you can chat with us by clicking the help button at the bottom of the page and starting a conversation.
When our offices are closed, you can click the help button at the bottom of the page and complete a quick form to send us a message. We’ll get back to you, usually within 24 business hours.
You can also get in touch using our contact us page.
You can still send us a lovely letter if you’d like to.
Our address is:
ReduceMyExcess
Bury House
1-3 Bury Street
Guildford
Surrey
GU2 4AW
All policies bought on our website after 26/06/2019 are underwritten by AIG (American International Group).
American International Group UK Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Firm Reference No. 781109). Registered office: 58 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 4AB Registered in England.
Company Number 10737370
Policies purchased or invited for renewal before 26/06/2019, will have been underwritten by Catlin XL limited.
Catlin Insurance Company (UK) Ltd. Catlin Insurance Company (UK) Limited is part of the XL Catlin Group. XL Catlin Group ranked first for London market claims service satisfaction and broker favourability in the Gracechurch London Claims Report 2014.
Yes, we are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. Most insurance contracts are covered for 90% of the claim.
Please read the Policy Wording for further information.
Car rental companies typically charge multiples of our charges to reduce your excesses. Excesses are often high (£1500 is typical) and claims are quite common.
Our product is reliable and cost effective saving you money and keeping you protected.
We are unable to recommend car hire companies, however you can view the reviews left by customers at our Car Hire Company Reviews page.
We are an online company so we are able to keep our overhead costs to a minimal, our customers are able to choose a policy that best suits their needs through our website.
We also keeps our costs low by not having a large call centre, we do not sell policies over the phone and our cost savings in this regard can be given back to you, our customers.
Yes we do.
You will need to purchase a van hire excess insurance specific policy. Just click the link here to be taken to the van hire excess page.
This is only available to cover you in the UK and is for non-business purposes.
We do not currently offer annual cover for van rentals.
This depends on the location you are hiring and whether you would like a Single Trip policy or an Annual policy. When visiting our home page you have the choice of selecting quotes for a Single Trip or an Annual Cover.
Once you have selected one of these options, you will then be asked to select the location of where you are hiring along with a number of other questions we use to tailor your quote.
When all the questions are answered, you will be quoted a price.
Keep an eye out for our special offers, we often provide discounts which are automatically deducted from your quotation price.
Discount codes are automatically applied to your quotation when applicable.
Yes, we do. If you make a purchase with us after clicking through the link of a cashback website, you will be eligible to claim for the cashback in line with their terms.
Be mindful, this cannot be combined with any discount already running on our website. If your policy is purchased with a discount, the cashback would not be approved.
If you represent a cashback or other affiliate marketing business, and want to apply to join our affiliate scheme, please get in touch via the contact form on the affiliates page.
We accept all major credit and debit cards including Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express. We do not charge surcharges.
We also accept both Apple Pay and Google Pay.
What’s Covered?
Both policies cover you worldwide for the excess you incur, in respect of any damage to, or loss of, the car that you’re responsible for, up to the policy limit of £10,000.
If you’re visiting the USA or Canada (and some other countries as well), you’ll find a lot of rental companies won’t include CDW (Collision Damage Waiver), and will ask you if you wish to purchase this from them.
The rental market in these territories is a bit different and many people choose to get their cover from 3rd party suppliers such as credit-card companies.
Our Worldwide+ policy offers and additional cover of US$50,000 towards CDW, which will cover you up to this amount, should you choose not to take out the Car Rentals company CDW.
This policy is only available for annual cover, we do not offer Worldwide+ on a single trip basis.
If you travel to different destinations through the year, you can purchase an annual cover Worldwide+ and still use it when you travel to countries other than USA and Canada, but the standard cover up to £10,000 will apply, no additional US$50,000 towards CDW is available for other countries.
If you do not need and additional cover of US$50,000 towards CDW and are travelling to the USA or Canada, you can purchase the Worldwide policy.
We will not cover:
- Trips in, to or through Afghanistan, Belarus, Congo, Crimea/Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Liberia, North Korea, Myanmar, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
- Any claim relating to travel to any country, or region thereof, in the world where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has issued a Travel Advisory against all travel, or all but essential travel, to such country or region. (A list of these countries can be seen on their website www.fco.gov.uk).
Please also refer to the general policy conditions and exclusions applying to all sections.
We can cover car clubs that own their vehicles.
What we don’t cover is car clubs where a group of people share their private cars.
You will need to ensure that the car club satisfies this policy requirement prior to taking out cover.
The Car Club must be licensed in the United Kingdom to provide vehicles for hire and the vehicle must meet our definition of a ‘Rental Vehicle’. The vehicle may NOT be privately owned.
Please read the Policy Wording for further information.
In the event of a claim you must be able to provide a damage report from the Car Club including copy invoices, receipts or other documents confirming the amount you have paid in respect of the damage to the hired vehicle for which you are seeking reimbursement and, where possible, photographs of the damage.
You must also be able to provide a copy of your membership Agreement and a copy of the repair invoice from the repairing garage. Please also see your Policy Wording for details of how to Claim.
We do not cover vehicle subscriptions services because these are not rentals and don’t carry the same rental agreements that we require for our cover.
The list below names a few companies we do not provide cover for:
- Drivy / Getaround
- Turo
- Hiyacar
ReduceMyExcess does not cover courtesy cars.
The reason is that if a garage gives you a car to use during repairs, you do not have a car hire agreement which would void the validity of this policy.
If you have a car hire agreement and are not sure this would cover you, do contact us.
We cannot provide a single trip policy with the additional CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) cover for policies under 30 days.
The CDW cover, or Worldwide+ policy, is only available when purchasing annual Worldwide policies or a single trip policy over 30 days. The cover applies when you are hiring in the USA or Canada and can offer increased excess reimbursement up to $50,000 or equivalent in local currency.
We are unable to provide the additional CDW cover for European rentals.
Most car hire companies in the UK and across Europe include a basic level of CDW/LDW (Loss Damage Waiver) cover as standard which will have an excess, this is normally between £1000 – £3000.
If they don’t, they’ll likely expect you to purchase this from them at the time of hire. It’s up to you whether you choose to do this or not, but bear in mind it may be a legal requirement in the country you’re visiting.
They will also offer you an optional Excess Waiver, which for a cost normally around £10 – £30 per day which combined with the CDW would cover the full value of the vehicle.
If you’re visiting the US or Canada (and some other countries as well), you’ll find a lot of rental companies won’t include CDW, and will ask you if you wish to purchase this from them.
The rental market in these territories is a bit different and many people choose to get their cover from 3rd party suppliers such as credit-card companies.
ReduceMyExcess covers you for the excess in respect of any damage to or loss of the vehicle that you’re responsible for up to the excess limit stated on your policy with us.
If you are travelling in the US or Canada, Reducemyexcess offers CDW cover up to US $50,000 which will cover you up to this amount, should you choose not to take out the rental company’s CDW.
Unfortunately not.
It’s important that you have your insurance policy with us before you collect your hire car because it’s the only way that we can be sure that you didn’t damage the car and then decide to buy insurance to cover the cost.
As a result, in the event that you make a claim, we’ll ask for documents that show the policy was in force before you collected the car (usually the rental agreement and your ReduceMyExcess certificate of insurance).
For annual policies, we offer family cover, which allows you and named family members to be covered whenever any of you hire a car, even if this happens at the same time.
You can add up to 4 named family members to your annual policy. They must be directly related to you, permanently live at the same address as you, and be aged 21 – 84 inclusive.
Named family members covered can then rent a car in their own name, and be covered by your policy. You and the nominated family members may rent cars at the same time.
Up to 8 additional drivers named on each car hire agreement are also covered automatically, provided they are between 21-84 years of age.
Unfortunately not, we’re not authorised to sell insurance to non-UK residents (and this includes Channel Islands residents).
We define permanent resident in the United Kingdom as somebody who does not spend more than 180 consecutive days outside of the UK in any period of 12 calendar months, or:
- is an EEA national exercising a ‘treaty right to seek and take up work’, and can demonstrate that
they have a ‘right to reside’ (can legally live in the United Kingdom) and are ‘habitually resident’
(this is the place where they normally live) in the United Kingdom, or; - is currently employed as a Crown Servant or Overseas Civil Servant (or their spouse or civil partner)
holding a valid United Kingdom passport and they include their United Kingdom address with
their application, or; - is a non-EEA national legally resident in the United Kingdom due to the existence of a visa,
providing that the Period of Insurance does not go beyond the expiry of their visa.
We sell single trip policies for those who aren’t looking for year round cover.
Whilst it’s worth noting that Annual policies can be cheaper if you’re hiring for more than 14 days, we sell single trip cover for car rentals up to 180 days.
We an provide a policy to any person who:
- is aged between 21 and 84 years (inclusive) at the time of purchase of the Policy
- holds a valid and internationally recognised driving licence
is eligible to hire and drive the Rental Vehicle and able to adhere to the terms of the Car Rental Agreement - is not subject to a current driving ban
- is not driving against the advice of a medical practitioner
- is a permanent resident in the United Kingdom and does not spend more than 180 consecutive days outside of the UK in any period of 12 calendar months, or;
- is an EEA national exercising a ‘treaty right to seek and take up work’, and can demonstrate that they have a ‘right to reside’ (can legally live in the United Kingdom) and are ‘habitually resident’ (this is the place where they normally live) in the United Kingdom
- is currently employed as a Crown Servant or Overseas Civil Servant (or their spouse or civil partner) holding a valid United Kingdom passport and they include their United Kingdom address with their application
- is a non-EEA national legally resident in the United Kingdom due to the existence of a visa, providing that the Period of Insurance does not go beyond the expiry of their visa
As the policyholder, you are covered for car rental agreements taken out in your name, as shown on the certificate of insurance.
Additional Drivers
This policy will also automatically cover up to eight additional drivers aged between 21 and 84 years (inclusive), providing they hold a valid and internationally recognised driving licence and are named on the car rental agreement.
The policy holder must be the lead driver on the rental agreement for cover to apply and the additional drivers do not need to be named on our policy.
Family Cover
We offer an additional benefit for Annual Policy holders who may purchase cover for their immediate family that reside at the same address as the policy holder.
Family members covered on this policy can rent a car in their own name, and you and the nominated family members may rent cars at the same time.
A Family Member is defined as your mother, father, brother, sister, daughter, son, foster child, husband, wife, partner (including common law and civil partnerships and cohabiting couples), step-parent, step-child, step-sister or stepbrother or fiancé/fiancée.
You can add up to 4 Family Members who must be directly related to you, permanently live at the same address as you, be aged 21 – 84 inclusive and hold a valid internationally recognised driving licence.
For example;
Roy and Lynn are boyfriend and girlfriend who live together. Roy purchases an annual policy with ReduceMyExcess and adds Lynn as an additional lead named driver.
Lynn decides to go on holiday with a friend. Roy needs to stay home to look after the dog.
If Lynn rents a car and is the lead named driver on the rental agreement, she will also receive the same level of cover as Roy would have done if he was the person renting the vehicle.
This is useful when members of the same household travel independently. You will need to ensure that you click the ‘Family cover’ option to add your family members to your policy.
Yes – you must be aged between 21-84 at the start date of your policy for cover to apply.
Yes, you or your spouse are able to purchase our policy.
When purchasing you will need to provide us with your UK postal address so that any correspondence can be forwarded to the place where you are currently posted.
Unfortunately not.
The lead driver on the rental agreement must be the Policyholder on the ReduceMyExcess policy.
If the lead driver has a ReduceMyExcess policy, and you are named on the car rental agreement as an additional driver, then you will be covered by their policy too.
Commuting
If you use your rental vehicle for commuting from one office to another, or from meeting to meeting this is fine as long as you’re not carrying any goods or stock for that business (ie, you can’t be using the car for deliveries).
Private Hire/Taxi services
We won’t cover any damage to a rental you’re using to charge fares (whether for business or from just one friend to another.
We do not cover business use.
Yes, we specifically refer to damage to auto glass, as well as damage to the roof, tyres and underbody of the Rental Vehicle in our Policy Wording as these are usually specifically excluded by the rental companies.
It’s under section 1. Excess Reimbursement & Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) should you wish to check in your documents.
Once the repairs or tyre replacement are complete, you will need to retain all credit card receipts and invoices for the charges.
Check your policy documents for any applicable limit.
ReduceMyExcess does not cover you for charges relating to breakdown of your rental car, and we don’t provide breakdown as part of this policy. This is because we expect the rental company to maintain their cars and make sure they’re roadworthy.
Normally if you breakdown in a hire car, you should contact your rental company, and they should arrange a replacement vehicle for you.
Yes, the policy covers theft of the rental car, including car jacking, whilst it is in your care,
In the event of a claim for theft, attempted theft or vandalism, or where local requirements state that you must notify the local police following an accident, you or any additional drivers should make contact with the relevant police force as soon as practicably possible to obtain a report.
If it’s possible, please take photographs of the site where the hire car was stolen as this would be helpful to our claims handlers.
The policy will not respond to any claim for theft, attempted theft or vandalism where the incident has not been reported to the police (or equivalent local police authority) and an official police report obtained.
In addition to the damage that you cause to your rental vehicle, our excess policy will also cover you for the following costs:
- Up to £1,000 Towing Costs
- Up to £10,000 Administration Charges
- Up to £300 Baggage Cover
- Up to £500 Key Cover
- Up to £1000 Misfueling
- Up to £300 Curtailment of Rental
- Up to £300 Drop Off Charges
- Up to £1,000 Road Rage & Car Jacking Cover
If your personal possessions are stolen following forced entry into the rental vehicle, you can claim up to £300 (£75 per item).
This will cover the repair of damaged items, or the cost of replacing them. We will normally reduce this amount by a percentage to take into account wear and tear due to age and the full details of this deduction can be found on our policy wording under section 2.
You should also be aware that there are exclusions which we won’t pay for. You should check the policy wording for more information.
Yes, these vehicles are covered under our ReduceMyExcess policy.
There are a lot of hire companies that will refer to ‘mini-vans’ and ‘mini-buses’ but our definition of a van is a vehicle that predominantly carries cargo, and our definition of a mini-bus is a vehicle that carries more than 9 people including the driver.
As long as the car you’re hiring isn’t a van aimed at carrying cargo/goods and doesn’t carry more than 9 people, it’ll be covered.
If you have CDW cover with your Credit Card you need to determine whether it includes cover for any excesses.
If it does not you will either need the rental company’s Excess Waiver, or our insurance in order to reduce that excess to zero, or to be reimbursed should you be charged by the rental company for damages.
European cover will cover you in:
- Andorra
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Channel Islands
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- San Marino
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- The Azores
- The Canary Islands
- Islands in the Mediterranean
- Madeira
For all other countries, you will need to purchase Worldwide cover, this includes Turkey.
However, there are some exclusions. Will will not cover trips to, or through:
- Afghanistan
- Belarus
- Crimea/Ukraine
- Cuba
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ivory Coast
- Liberia
- North Korea
- Myanmar
- Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo
- Russia
- Sudan
- Syria
- Venezuela
- Zimbabwe
And in addition, we do not cover any claim relating to travel to any country, or region thereof, in the world where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has issued a Travel Advisory against all travel, or all but essential travel, to such country or region.
(A list of these countries can be seen on their website www.fco.gov.uk).
Please also refer to the general policy conditions and exclusions applying to all sections.
If the island where you will be travelling is geographically not attached to Europe, unless it is included in the list of European countries of the policy wording, you will need Worldwide cover. This applies even if the island is an oversea territory of a European country.
For instance: If you will be renting a car in Martinique or Guadeloupe, you would need worldwide cover. If you will be renting a car in the Canary Islands however, the European policy is sufficient as these islands are listed within the definition of Europe on the policy.
Yes, all our policies cover rentals in the UK, Channel Islands, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Mann. But you must be a UK resident to purchase our policy. Residents of the Isle of Mann and Channel Islands may NOT purchase our policy.
Rentals in the Channel Islands (and the Isle of Man) are covered under all our car policies. You must be a UK resident to purchase our policy.
Residents of the Isle of Mann and Channel Islands may NOT purchase our policy.
Our Van policy does not cover the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
What’s not Covered?
We’ll provide excess reimbursement insurance for vehicles you rent that are worth up to £65,000 when new.
This would typically exclude most high performance sports cars like Ferraris & Lamborghini’s.
Various hire car companies will apply restrictions for where you can drive their rental vehicles.
Many car hire companies have stipulated that their rental vehicles are not to be driven on unsealed roads.
If this is the case and you drive the rental vehicle on an unsealed road, then our policy will be invalidated.
However, provided the car hire company agrees that you may drive on unsealed roads and they are a public highway then the excess is covered by our policy.
Our policy will only cover you for driving on public highways. Therefore, all roads not intended for normal public use are not covered by our policy.
Driveways to accommodation, such as hotels, where you are staying are intended for normal public use and so are covered.
The vehicle must not be a motor home, trailer, caravan, truck, non-passenger carrying vehicle, vehicle that carries more than 9 people including the driver, motorcycle, moped, motorbike, off-road* or recreational vehicle.
The vehicle must not have a retail price in greater than £65,000 (or currency equivalent), and not be more than 10 years old.
*4×4 vehicles are not excluded if they are being driven on public highways and not going off-road.
If the vehicle is a van, you need to specifically purchase a policy.
Our excess insurance covers all rental companies apart from one.
We don’t provide excess reimbursement for claims made as a result of rentals from GreenMotion.
This is because we did some research and found that there was a much higher chance of being charged for damage (and a higher amount) by GreenMotion than with other rental companies.
We ask our customers to rate the rental company they’ve used, and we share this information with you on our car hire company reviews pages.
Other companies we do not cover:
- Turo
- On.to
This is because these companies are not car rental companies. These companies offer car sharing and subscription services, and do not operate with car hire agreements.
No, our policies cannot cover any drop off charge relating to one way rentals: i.e: the pick-up and drop-off are in different locations.
No, our policies will not cover your whilst on Safari (meaning an expedition to observe or hunt animals in their natural habitat).
No, these are not something that be claimed back through your policy with us.
We are unable to reimburse any costs relating to transaction fees, postal or carriage fees, fuel charges or similar.
No, this is something the policy does not cover.
We are unable to reimburse any costs relating to transaction fees, postal or carriage fees, fuel charges or similar.
ReduceMyExcess doesn’t provide legal cover or advice.
Put really simply, we’re not qualified to offer you legal advice on your rental or any dispute you may have with your rental company.
In Addition, we don’t provide reimbursement for legal fees or advice you take from a legal body.
If this is something you need and you have travel insurance, it may be worth checking your policy with them as this is quite often part of that service.
We are unable to reimburse any costs relating to transaction fees, postal or carriage fees, fuel charges or similar.
We don’t cover any vehicle that isn’t a car or a van.
Vans needs to be covered by our van hire excess insurance product.
To be really clear, that means we exclude:
- Mopeds
- Motorbikes
- Campervans
- Trucks
- Pick-ups
- Modified vehicles
- Mini buses
- Buses
- Specialist off-road vehicles
- Submarines
- Spaceships (that said, if you want cover for your spaceship, why not give us a call?)
No, we cannot provide a policy because these are not rentals and don’t carry the same rental agreements that we require for our cover.
We get asked quite often about this.
We do cover dust and ash damage providing you were driving on a public highway.
We don’t cover off-roading though.
Whilst some of the roads in Iceland are ‘unmade’ they are still signposted, and you are expected to ensure that you stay on these roads.
We don’t cover rentals in Ukraine or Crimea at this time.
No, Israel is not included in the European policy and a Worldwide policy will be required if you are hiring there.
One of the policy exclusions refers to trips to countries where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have advised against all travel, or all but essential travel.
Ordinarily this would be fully upheld but if the travel advice is a direct result of Covid-19 this exclusion will not be enforced.
This is the case whether you are already in an affected country or planning on travelling to one.
Your excess will be covered in line with all other terms of the policy. i.e. Claims in Italy will be paid regardless of the change in FCO advice.
Please visit www.fco.gov.uk for a full list of the FCO’s advice.
Claims
You are covered for damage that happens when you leave the car unattended, say in a car park or parked on the street provided you have left the vehicle in a designated parking space and paid the relevant fees (if applicable).
When claiming for these scenarios, you clearly won’t be able to give an accurate description of exactly what happened, but you should provide as much information as you can.
- Date/Time
- Weather conditions at the time
- How long the car was left unattended
- Exact location (include road/car park name)
- A detailed description of the damage
- How you came to find the damage
- Photos of the location and of the damage
- We ask for this information so that we can better understand the circumstances and speed up your claim.
You need to complete our online form and follow our Policy Wording or the guide that we have on our website.
It usually takes around 30 days from start to finish to process your claim, assuming we have all of the documentation we need and we don’t need to conduct additional investigation.
You should be aware that we may well request the original documentation be sent to us if your claim is of high value (usually over £1000).
In these circumstances, you should still complete the online form and wait for us to request these.
Remember that any documentation you send to us should always include your policy number for reference.
You can find the online claim form.
All claims do need to be submitted through our online form.
This is so that we can make sure we’ve collected all the information we need from you before we start your claim in our system. It also provides you the opportunity to make sure you get the chance to tell us as much as you can about what happened.
For this reason, it’s really important that you take some time to fill this in and don’t rush it. There are documents that we must receive from you, so there is little point in submitting a form with any of the required documents missing.
Once we receive a completed claim, we usually get it turned around within 30 days. So it’s worth taking the time to get your bit right.
Claims settled in cash are not covered by the policy, make sure that you use a debit or credit card to avoid any declined claim.
Our policy can only pay out maximum excesses of £10,000 during the lifetime of the policy.
Anything above would not be reimbursed.
Yes we will treat admin fees as part of the claim.
If you’ve been charged for damage you didn’t cause, the circumstances are really important:
The damage was caused whilst you weren’t with the car:
Usually, if damage is caused to the car, even if you weren’t there when it happened and it wasn’t your fault, you’ll be held responsible for the repair costs.
Examples might be where the car was hit by another in a car park, or when a tyre deflates whilst it’s been parked outside your hotel. In these circumstances, you will usually pay for the damage and reclaim this from us.
The damage was already on the car when I collected it:
Under the terms of almost all rental agreements, you are responsible for any damage caused to the rental vehicle that wasn’t there when you collected it.
The way that this is proven is by checking the ‘check out’ document (the paperwork given to you when you collected the car). If the damage isn’t listed on here, or drawn on to the diagram of the car, you’ll be responsible for the damage when you return the car. It’s best to take your own photos and videos of the car at the point of collection, and be sure to point out existing damage to the rental company before leaving.
I was hit by a 3rd party (another person)
If you were hit by a 3rd party, you should usually contact the Police to obtain a report that shows you were not at fault.
You must always make sure you get the details of the 3rd party (providing it’s safe to do so) and you must report this to the rental company as soon as possible.
It’s not uncommon for the rental company to charge you the full excess for the damage in these circumstances until they are able to recover their costs from the 3rd party’s insurers.
Usually we would not process a claim under these circumstances until you had proof from the rental company that they had not been able to do this.
There was no damage on the car, and nothing noted when I returned the car
When this happens, assuming you have a signed copy of the return document from the rental company that confirms there was no damage, you shouldn’t have been charged.
Under these circumstances, we would not be able to pay a claim and you would need to take this matter up with your credit card provider or local authorities.
Unfortunately this happens quite often especially in relation to minor scratches and bumps.
You should challenge the claim in the first instance, you can do this through your credit card company disputes team.
We can only cover excess charges that you (the policy holder) pays.
This is because your policy is only designed to cover you.
To further explain; for an insurance policy to be enforced, the policy holder must have an insurable interest.
Insurance is meant to put the insured (you) back in the same financial position they were in before a loss.
Therefor, if your company pays for the damage, even if on your behalf, you are not at a financial loss and the insurance won’t cover this.
This applies even if your company then charge you because your policy with us will only reimburse charges made to you by a rental company. Not by your employer.
Documentation
If you haven’t booked your rental yet and you don’t know which company you’re going to use, or where you’re going, don’t worry.
You don’t have to know which company you’re using to purchase your car hire excess insurance – just make sure you’ve purchased your insurance before you collect the hire car.
Please note we do not cover rentals through the car hire company Green Motion. If you hire your car through Green Motion, then that hire will not be covered by our policies.
Yes, the policy will extend to cover additional international drivers providing they hold a valid and internationally recognised driving license and they are named as additional drivers on the rental agreement.
An Additional Driver cannot hire a Rental Vehicle independently from the Lead Named Driver but can drive the Rental Vehicle unaccompanied by the Lead Named Driver so long as they adhere to the terms of the Car Rental Agreement at all times. At the time of rental, Additional Drivers must be aged between 21 and 84 years old (inclusive), hold a valid and internationally recognised driving licence and not be driving against the advice of a medical practitioner.
Yes, providing your partner permanently resides at the same address as you and is eligible to be a Lead Named Driver, you can add them to your annual policy.
Family members named on your policy can also hire cars independently of each other.
A copy of our policy wording is emailed along with your certificate of insurance and our terms of business at the time of purchase.
Sometimes these emails can be caught in junk and spam filters, so please check there. If you still don’t have them, please use the contact-us form to request copies.
If you haven’t yet purchased our cover, you can find a copy of the policy wording once you have selected the type of policy you’re interesting in as well as on the final page before purchase.
Your policy will start as soon as you make the payment or at a later chosen date.
It is important to note that our cover MUST start before you collect the hire car.
Documents are sent by email.
If you still cannot locate your documents please contact us via our contact form.
You do not need our documents before you collect your car, you simply need to purchase and arrange for our cover to start before you collect your car.
No.
There is no excess to be paid on a ReduceMyExcess policy.
We don’t send out separate receipts or invoices as these are a part of the certificate of insurance.
Quite often we get asked for ‘VAT Invoices’.
There is no VAT on our insurance, instead you pay Insurance Premium Tax which unfortunately is not reclaimable from HMRC.
You’ll find the amount you’ve paid, and the IPT (Insurance Premium Tax) paid noted on the Certificate of Insurance.
Your accountant should accept this as a valid receipt.
We can adjust your cover if needed. You would be charged for the additional cover and an adjustment fee as per your policy terms.
Cancellation fees do apply to our policies, please see the below information:
Cancelling before the cover starts:
If you decide to cancel your policy before the cover starts, you will receive a refund of the premium paid less the policy administration fee.
Cancelling after the cover has started (Single Trip Policies of up to and including 28 days or less):
Policies up to and including 28 days duration do not have statutory cancellation rights but you can request cancellation through the Eversure website https://www.eversure.com/contact.aspx, or by writing to our registered address but no refund of premium is due.
Cancelling after the cover has started (Single Trip Policies of 29 days or more and Annual Policies):
You are entitled to cancel this policy at any time by notifying us through the Eversure website https://www.eversure.com/contact.aspx, or by writing to our registered address.
You will receive a return of premium at a proportional daily rate depending on how long the policy has been in force, less the policy administration fee.
For further information around Your right to cancel and for details of any fees charged, please refer to ReduceMyExcess’s Terms of Business.
If you cancel at any time after you have made a claim on the policy, no refund of premium will be provided
Our policies are non-transferable, we cannot change the name of the Policyholder to another person.
This is because the person you would like to transfer the policy to, has not agreed to the declarations and terms and conditions of the policy when initially making the purchase.
The person who you would like the policy transferred to will need to purchase their own policy from our website.
We are unable to convert single trip policies to annual policies.
Yes, your partner can be added as an additional Policyholder providing they live at the same address as you.
This only applies to annual policies.
There is an additional fee to upgrade your policy to Family Cover. Please complete the contact form on our website including the full name and DOB of the person you’d like to add.
No, you do not need to provide us with details of when you are hiring a car.
However, in the event you need to make a claim, you must provide all necessary evidence requested which may include proof of hire.
If your payment details have changed, you will need to provide us with your new card details. You can do this by clicking the payment link within your email renewal invitation – this will take you to our website where you can submit new payment details.
Alternatively, you can contact us via our contact form to provide new payment details.
Please note we do not store your card details on our system, only the last four digits, so payment for the renewal will be completed once you have given us these.
If you have Single Trip cover and your cover is going to expire before we are next open, the only option available to you is to buy another policy from our website BEFORE your existing covers expires.
In order to maintain continuous cover, this additional policy must start immediately after your existing cover expires and cannot come to an end until after the hire car has been returned.
Before you purchased your annual policy, you were asked to read and agree to some important information about your policy and it’s automatic renewal. In doing so, you agreed that we could renew your policy using the same payment details you provided during purchase.
At least 28 days before your policy expires we will have sent an email to the email address you provided at purchase. This email detailed the expiry date of your current policy and the cost of your renewal. It also explained that unless you wanted to make changes, you didn’t need to do anything else.
By renewing, you maintain your cover and assuming you didn’t make a claim in the previous year, you benefit from a renewal discount.
If you still don’t want to keep your renewed policy, you can cancel it by sending us a message with your policy details requesting the cancellation.
We’ll refund the premium less our £5.00 cancellation fee if you do this within 14 days of the policy starting and no claim has been made or is pending.
If it’s after this time frame then we can provide you with a pro-rated refund for the unused time left, this is only applicable if there is no claim on the policy. If there is a claim, or a pending claim, then the full premium is due.
There is a £10.00 fee for cancelling a policy after the 14 day cooling off period.
As standard, all annual policies we sell will automatically renew the following year. This is part of the declaration agreed to at the time of purchase and helps make sure that you don’t get caught out without cover should you forget to renew.
If you would prefer for your policy not to automatically renew, you can get this removed really easily.
- Head to our contact us page
- Complete the required information
- Choose ‘I don’t want my policy to automatically renew’
It’s important that you complete the email address and policy number field accurately as we use these to check we’re responding to the policy holder. Once we’ve completed your request, you’ll get an email from us confirming.
Changing your policy couldn’t be easier. Just send us a message via the Contact form with your existing details, your policy number and the changes you’d like to make, and we’ll do that for you.
You will need to send this from the email address we already have on record for you, as this is one of the ways we make sure that we’re dealing with the policy holder.
Things you can change:
If you would prefer for your policy not to automatically renew, you can get this removed really easily.
- Name (proof of change may be requested)
- Address
- Contact number
- Email address
- Start dates of policies that haven’t started
- End dates of policies that haven’t already ended
- Additional lead drivers
Regardless as to whether or not you have kept the Automatic Renewal option, we will always write to you via email in good time of your renewal date advising what action is required if any.
If you have opted for auto-renewal we will renew your policy unless you advise us not to.
If you’ve decided that you don’t want your policy to renew, you can contact us at any time to have this removed from your policy. Send us a message with your policy number and request and we’ll do this for you. You’ll need to put this in writing rather than call.
You may upgrade your cover at any time providing that this is before your rental agreement commences. You can request an upgrade via the ‘Contact’ button to request these changes and our Customer Service team will be able to provide you with a quote.
To add Family Cover to your policy you will need to provide your family member’s name and date of birth.
Charges do apply when adding drivers or upgrading the territory of your policy, the cost of which will be notified at the time the change is made. We will usually charge these to the card held on file.
Providing that you accept and pay for your policy renewal then any claim which occurs within this rental period will be covered – you will need to provide both certificates of insurance when you submit a claim under this circumstance.
We provide annual policies with a maximum single trip length of either 31 or 62 days.
This means that for the duration of your annual policy, you can take as many 31, or 62 day trips as you like, depending on which trip length you selected when buying your policy.
You may have as many car rental agreements as you like during the Annual Policy as long as the maximum trip length (term of the rental agreement) does not exceed that stated on your certificate of insurance.
Remember, our policy can only pay out maximum excesses of £10,000 during the lifetime of the policy although you may make multiple claims up to this limit.