Annual Hire Car Insurance (UK)

I’m hoping someone here will have some recommendations for us.
We go back to the Uk for a few days, every few months, and hire a car while we’re over there.
Does anyone have any experience of buying an annual insurance policy for hire cars? Particularly interested in instances where a claim has been made, and how easy (or not!) it is, to make a successful claim. Many thanks

I use Insurance4carhire.com

£39.99 for the year and covers any charges made by hire car companies. Hit the pothole from hell whilst in UK and shredded a tyre and damage a wheel rim. I replaced the tyre at Kwik Fit at about £90 and the hire car company charged me £110 for a new wheel rim.
I claimed from the car hire excess company and got the money back within a week in full.

Cover is for all European countries including UK.

Hi I used car hire excess insurance the same price as the other message £40 for a year covers all of Europe. May not in the future !

About 4 years ago I insured online with http://www.blueinsurance.ie They operate in the UK as well under several different names.(EDIT https://www.carhireexcess.com/uk. cost £42 stg) Their annual premium is E50 which cover you for car hire excess damage for a year anywhere in Europe

Anyway,I hired a car through doyouspain from Gold car in Murcia airport. As I refused their ridiculously expensive insurance, which they really pushed hard, they insisted that I leave E1,000 deposit on my CC, which I did

Unfortunately, a few days after hiring the car, I reversed into something and damaged the bumper, boot and broke the light cluster. It was obvious, even to my untrained eye, that the cost of repairs was going to be over E1,000.

I took the car back to Murcia airport at the end of the holiday a week later. I put my hands up immediately and explained what had happened. They took pictures of the damage, in the carpark, with their ipads. Then I went into the terminal to the Gold car desk. They asked me to pay a further E1,000 and said that they would lodge the original E1,000 back to my account. I agreed and the money was later refunded as promised.

They gave me a list outlining the damage and confirmed that I had paid E1,000 towards this.

I came home and contacted blueinsurance to make a claim.

They sent me out a claim form which they asked me to complete. They asked me to return it with the following documents.

1. Copy of my airline tickets showing my arrival and departure flights.
2. Copy of my CC statement showing the E1,000 going out of it.
3. My driving licence
4. Report from Goldcar regarding the damage
5. Claim form outlining how the accident occurred.

It took me about a month to send in the requested documentation. I posted the claim off on a Monday morning and received an email the following Friday from Blueinsurance saying that my claim had been allowed. I cannot remember if they sent me a cheque or lodged the money to my account, but anyway, I had it a week later.

Also, a friend of mine went shopping with his Spouse and daughters in Habernaras shopping centre. They left their purchases back in the car and went off for a coffee. When they returned, their purchases had been stolen from the car. I presume that they reported it to the police. They also lodged a claim with blueinsurance and were quickly reimbursed.

Prior to taking out the policy with blueinsurance, I used to self insure. The first time I paid about E250 for 2 weeks car hire excess insurance. Amounts over the car hire excess amount are covered by the car hire companies own insurance.

Basically, I was paying the car hire company E250 to insure myself, for 2 weeks, for possible damage to their car, up to a maximum of E1,000. The way I figured, my self insurance would work, if I hired 3 more times and didn't have any claim and didn't pay their extortionate premium. The amount I saved on all car hire excess insurance premiums (250x3 =E750) and all carhire excess premiums on top of that, was free.

On the other hand, an annual premium of E50pa is worth paying, to cover a possible bill of up to E1,000. A premium of E250 to cover a possible bill and claim of E1,000 is not.

I hope I explained this properly, and No, I don't work for blueinsurance, or anybody else for that matter

oldman59 wrote:Hi I used car hire excess insurance the same price as the other message £40 for a year covers all of Europe. May not in the future !

The OP is a resident of Spain, the company you quoted restricts insurance to UK residents only.

Marcliff’s recommended company, insurance4carhire.com, will cover Spanish residents.

The T&Cs for blueInsurance.ie state that you have to be a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA). OK if you are a resident of Spain but for a UK resident, the 31st of October might bring some unwelcome changes

When Brexit was initially scheduled for March 31st insurance4carhire posted a note on their website that new business would not be available to non UK residents after that date, I haven't looked but if that was the policy for then I see no reason for it not to now apply to Oct 31st.

Thank you to all who replied on this - lots to check before taking out a policy!
Cheers