Car windscreen cover, tyre, and undercarriage protection

It is always best to be prepared for all eventualities when hiring a car, including any unfortunate mishaps that may occur during your journey.

Taking out a car hire excess policy ensures that you are covered for any accidental damage to your rental car.

When it comes to your cover levels for car hire excess, tyres, windscreen, and undercarriage (TWU) is a standard policy benefit which is included in your cover.

But do you really know what you will be covered for?

It can be tempting to skim over the details of your insurance policy; however, it is important that you are aware of all your policy details in case you need to make a claim.

This can help you avoid any unfair charges, as you will know exactly what you are covered for before you begin the process.

Continue reading to find out what car windscreen cover, tyre insurance, and undercarriage cover protects, and what the exclusions are...

What Exactly Will I Be Covered For?

Nothing can dampen the perfect trip like your hire car falling victim to a cracked windscreen or a tyre puncture.

With tyre, windscreen, and undercarriage cover, you will be covered for any accidental damage caused to your rental car.

When taking out car windscreen cover, tyre insurance, and undercarriage protection, there are some key points you should remember:

• Ensure you have taken out your insurance policy before collecting your hire car.
• Thoroughly check the vehicle over before signing for it.
• Take photos of any damage already caused to the hire car so that you can show this to the rental company, should they attempt to charge for damage you did not cause.
• Make sure you fully understand the rental agreement; if you do not, don’t be afraid to ask questions.
• Check the Collision Damage Waiver. GOV.UK states that this does not usually cover everything, including cracked windscreens and tyre damage.

Following these points can help you avoid any potential problems at the car hire desk before or after your trip.

Tyre Insurance

With car hire excess insurance, you will be covered for any accidental damage to your tyres.

This includes:

• Punctures
• Bursts
• Cracks
• Damage due to an accident you caused
• Bulges
• Cuts

Reduce my Excess will also cover towing fees if there is an accident, car damage, or a breakdown.

To ensure your costs are fully covered, you must make sure your car is taken to the car hire company’s premises or your pick-up location.

Car windscreen cover

Autoglass advises that one of the most common causes of windscreen damage is road debris.

The cost of car windscreen repair can depend on a few different factors, including the car model and the type of repair.

On average, you could expect to pay £40-£118 for a chipped windscreen, while a cracked windscreen replacement could set you back up to £1,350.

While windscreen damage can sometimes be unavoidable, there are a few things you can do to prevent it:

• Leave ample space between you and the car in front
• Reduce your speed when overtaking
• Try to avoid driving near roadworks
• Always park your car in a garage or somewhere with cover

However, we know sometimes life happens and you can suddenly find yourself in need of windscreen repairs for your hire car.

As long as you were not driving off-road when the damage was caused to the windscreen, you would be fully covered for any excess damages that occurred.

Undercarriage protection

Much like your tyres and windscreen, your hire cars’ undercarriage can be badly affected by potholes and debris on the road.

The most common causes of undercarriage damage are:

• Speed bumps
• Rough and wet terrain
• Excess reversing
• Build-up of debris
• Sharp turns
• Speeding

Our cover will protect you for any accidental damage caused, as long as it happened while you were driving on the road.

What are the Exclusions?

Just like your rental car agreement requires a thorough read, so does your excess car hire insurance policy.

It is important to fully understand the ins and outs of your policy, as should you need to make a claim, you will know what you will be fully covered for.

Things that are not covered by the policy are:

• Damage caused by off-road driving
• Vehicles with a retail price exceeding £65,000 and not over 10 years old
• Motor homes, trailers, caravans, trucks, and non-passenger carrying vehicles
• Vans – these would need to be covered by our excess van policy
• Rental companies such as GreenMotion, Turo and On.to
• Drop-off charges for one-way rentals
• Safaris
• Fuel charges
• Late pick-up fees
• Damage sustained by third parties (these will be covered by the hire car company’s insurance)

I have more questions…

If you have a thirst for knowledge and are looking for more answers then head to our FAQs page for all the answers.

Equally you could reach out to our fantastic customer service team by using our contact us form.