European Car Hire
Excess Insurance

DON'T STRESS THE EXCESS

Protect your finances from hefty excess fees. Our single-trip and annual policies cover you for excesses of up to £6,500, including late pick-up charges due to unexpected flight delays.

UK & EU cover included as standard. Available for residents of the UK and the Isle of Man only.

Single-trip Car Hire Excess Insurance from £12.79.

Price shown is for EU & UK cover for trips up to 3 days, additional days can be added as required (charges apply). Policyholder must be the lead driver on the rental agreement and the policy must be purchased prior to collecting the rental vehicle.

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Car Hire Excess Insurance covers the costs of your excess (up to your cover limit) if you need to make an insurance claim on a hired car. Your hire company will have car insurance in place, but you would still need to pay an excess fee if a claim on that insurance needs to be made. Therefore, insuring your excess means that you'd be reimbursed for the excess charge you've agreed to pay. 

When you choose UK & EU Car Hire Excess Insurance with insurance4carhire at Swinton, you’ll be covered for excess charges on claims you make while driving a rental car in Europe. We provide cover for countries like Germany, Spain, and France, and you'll also be covered in some non-mainland countries, like Iceland. 

When booking your rental car, you may find that providers might attempt to sell you some car hire excess insurance directly from them, but you could get it cheaper by buying your cover up to 364 days in advance with insurance4carhire at Swinton instead.

Single-trip vs Annual multi-trip policies

When you choose European Car Hire Excess Insurance with insurance4carhire at Swinton, there are two types of policy you can select from:

Single-trip policies

Covers you for a single trip, for up to 60 days. Our single trip policy will also cover you for worldwide trips.

Ideal if you're only renting a car for a one-off occasion.

Annual multi-trip policies

If you often travel and use rental cars, an annual multi-trip policy could be more cost-effective for you in the long run.

It covers unlimited individual trips for up to 60 days at a time in Europe, per year at a fixed cost.

What’s covered by insurance4carhire at Swinton European Car Hire Excess Insurance?

  • Cover to drive in the UK - Our UK & EU Car Hire Excess Insurance includes European and UK cover as standard.
  • Excesses of up to £6,500 — The excess on damage and theft up to a maximum of £6,500 cover in total, per year.
  • A wide age range — Cover for drivers aged between 21 and 84.
  • Additional drivers — Cover for up to seven additional drivers, and there’s no need to add them to your rental policy as long as they’re named in your rental agreement.
  • 60-day rental periods — Covers excesses on claims made during rental periods of up to 60 consecutive days.
  • Misfuelling and car key cover — Each up to £500 per claim to a maximum total of £2,000 a year.
  • Late pick-up charges — Cover for late pick-up charges caused by unexpected flight delays.
  • Excess cover for your courtesy car — Covers excess charges on any vehicle that’s loaned to you while your rental car is being repaired, or when your own car is in the garage and you’re given a courtesy car.
  • Fire, theft, and vandalism cover — Covers the excess of claims relating to fires, theft, and malicious damage.
  • Tyres and windscreen cover — Provides reimbursement of the repair or replacement costs incurred under the rental agreement for damage to the windows, tyres, wheels, undercarriage, and roof of the rental vehicle.
  • Personal effects and baggage cover — Cover for claims made on personal effects and baggage stolen from your hire car.

 

Important to know

Our UK & EU Car Hire Excess Insurance is only available for UK and Isle of Man residents only.

  • Our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance is only available for residents of the UK and Isle of Man
  • The policy must be purchase prior to collecting of your vehicle, insurance purchased after collection are not valid.
  • The policyholder must be named as the lead driver on the car rental agreement 
  • The rental car must be less than 10 years old and worth less than £120,000 
  • Claims related to off-road driving are not covered 
  • This policy covers non-commercial, standard passenger cars. Commercial vehicles, motorbikes, campervans, mobile homes, vans, or any vehicle with more than nine seats is not covered. Van Hire Excess Insurance is available for non-commercial van hire cover

 

In which countries is my excess covered with an insurance4carhire at Swinton European Car Hire Excess Insurance policy?

This policy provides cover for most European countries across mainland Europe and islands including: 

  • The UK
  • The Channel Islands
  • Isle of Man
  • Republic of Ireland
  • Iceland
  • The Mediterranean Islands
  • Morocco
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • The Canary Islands
  • Madeira
  • The Azores 

We cannot provide cover for: 

  • The Region of Crimea
  • The Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) region of Ukraine
  • The Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) region of Ukraine

Claims arising from any areas in which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has advised against non-essential travel to will not be covered. Up to date advice can be found on the FCO’s website.

Just four easy steps to arrange a UK & EU Car Hire Excess Insurance quote

What other types of Car Hire Excess Insurance are available from insurance4carhire at Swinton?

UK cover on our UK & EU Car Hire Excess Insurance

With our UK & EU policy, you can get reimbursed on excess charges of up to £6,500 on our annual multi-trip cover for trips in the UK, valid for 12 months. Includes misfuelling, car key and flat battery cover.

Learn more about UK Car Hire Excess Insurance 

 

Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance

Going further abroad than Europe? Stay covered with our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance, which repays your excess up to a total of £6,500 on trips to Asia, North America, and more.

In some countries like the USA and Canada, you may not get the same cover on your rental car policy that you would in the UK or in Europe. 

You can get greater peace of mind with a Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI), available on our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance Plus CDW & SLI policy.

Learn more about Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance

 

Van Hire Excess Insurance

Hiring a van instead of a car? Get daily cover for single trips in the UK and the Isle of Man with insuremyvanhire at Swinton’s Van Hire Excess Insurance.

Learn more about Van Hire Excess Insurance

 

Why choose insurance4carhire at Swinton to insure your car hire excess?

There are several reasons for you to choose insurance4carhire at Swinton for your European Car Hire Excess Insurance policy: 
  • A high level of cover — Cover excess up to the value of £6,500 in total per year.
  • Multiple drivers — Cover up to seven additional drivers named on your rental agreement.
  • Extensive rental periods — Stay covered for longer rental periods of up to 60 consecutive days.
  • Cover for multiple scenarios — Includes cover for misfuelling, car keys, flat batteries, and even late pick-up charges you incur due to delayed flights.
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Frequently asked questions about European Car Hire Excess Insurance

No; our European Car Hire Excess Insurance is only available to residents of the UK and the Isle of Man.

If you’re an EU resident, you can get a car hire excess policy through our European website Insurance4CarHire instead.

If you need to make a claim on your car hire insurance as a result of damage or theft of your hire car, you will usually be asked to pay the excess costs upfront to initiate the claim. After the excess has been paid, the insurer will open an investigation to find out who was at fault and whether the claim is valid or not.

With a European Car Hire Excess Insurance policy, you will be repaid the excess subject to your level of cover.

If you’re found not to be at fault for an accident, it’s possible that your excess will be waived. However, this isn’t a guarantee, especially since laws and regulations can vary between countries. A Car Hire Excess policy helps ensure you’re financially protected in either scenario.

A Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and Supplementary Liability Insurance (SLI) are usually included in your rental car agreement, in the UK and Europe at least. That’s why we don’t include CDW or SLI on our European or UK excess insurance policies. 

However, you can get CDW and SLI as part of your insurance with our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance Plus CDW & SLI policy.

No, additional drivers can’t hire a car on their own. Your insurance4carhire at Swinton Car Hire Excess Insurance policy will only cover the person named as the lead driver on the car rental agreement. 

However, you can add up to seven additional insured drivers to your Car Hire Excess policy as long as they’re each named on the rental agreement.

A joint policy enables two family members to purchase car hire excess insurance as one policy. This means that each of these two family members can be the lead driver and hire two separate vehicles simultaneously or hire cars separately. 

A joint policy is more cost-effective than purchasing two individual annual car hire excess policies. Our joint policy option is available with Annual Europe and Annual Worldwide Car Hire Excess policies.

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