Worldwide Car Hire
Excess Insurance

DON'T STRESS THE EXCESS

Get reimbursed for potentially hefty insurance excess charges for your hire car. We offer both single-trip and annual cover for excesses of up to £6,500, including charges related to baggage claims.

    Car icon   Annual Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance from £59.99 a year

    Policyholder must be the lead driver on the rental agreement and the policy must be purchased prior to collecting the rental vehicle. 

    Trustpilot

     

    Based on reviews of all products

    What is Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance?

    Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance is an insurance policy that reimburses you the cost of excess charges when you make a claim on a rented vehicle. 

    If you get into an accident abroad and suffer damage to or the loss of your hire vehicle due to theft, you’ll be liable to pay an excess amount to the hire company’s insurer to repair the damage. This can be costly and may set you back a significant amount of money. 

    With our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance, you’ll be able to claim back the excess cost up to your maximum level of cover.

    Please note that our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance is available for UK and Isle of Man residents driving a rented vehicle around the world, in countries including the USA, Canada, and Australia.

    Single-trip vs Annual multi-trip policies

    Whether you're planning to hire a car for a one-off trip or for an extended period of time, we offer two different types of policy:

    Single-trip policies

    We'll cover you for a single trip, for up to 60 consecutive days.

    This option is great if you're going to rent a car for a one-time journey.

    Annual multi-trip policies

    We'll cover you for multiple individual trips up to 60 days at a time for a year, at a fixed cost.

    This is the most cost-effective option if you frequently hire cars for travel or commuting. Our annual multi-trip policies also provide cover for cars hired from car clubs and rental companies.

     

    What’s covered by our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance?

    • Excess on claims — Cover against excess costs of up to £6,500 in total, per year if your hire car is damaged or stolen.
    • Drivers between 21 and 84 — Cover for a wide age range of insured drivers from 21 and 84.
    • Add additional drivers — Cover for up to seven additional drivers, as long as they’re named in your rental agreement. There’s no need to add them to your hire excess policy.
    • 60-day rental periods — Cover for up to 60 consecutive days.
    • 12-month multi-trip policies – Cover for multiple trips made in a year, at a fixed cost. Car club cover is also included within our annual multi-trip policies.
    • Misfuelling and key cover — Cover for each, up to £500 per claim and to a maximum total of £2,000 per policy period.
    • Flat battery cover — Covers flat battery claims up to £250 per claim and up to £1,000 per policy period.
    • 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 excess costs for claims resulting from damage by fire, 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 relating to personal effects (like clothing) and luggage stolen from your hire car.

     

    What’s not covered?

    • 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 [linked] is available for non-commercial van hire cover

     

    Additional cover

    Collision Damage Waiver (CDW)

    A Collision Damage Waiver, also known as a Loss Damage Waiver (LDW), is a type of insurance that protects you financially if your hire car is damaged or stolen. 

    While some rentals include CDW as standard, in some countries like the USA and Canada, CDW isn’t always included within the rental car policy. Because of this, we offer the option of a Worldwide Car Hire Excess Plus Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI) policy.

    With CDW included in the policy, you’ll receive cover for up to $100,000 (or the value of the rental vehicle, or the value of the claim – whichever is lesser) for damage to the rental car.

    Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI)

    SLI is another type of policy that offers financial protection against third-party claims. With SLI, we’ll cover you for up to $1 million. Or in the US, you’ll be covered for up to $250,000 if the state law deems the policy to provide primary liability coverage.

    Similar to CDW, SLI is often not included in rental policies abroad, which is why we offer it as part of our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance plus CDW & SLI policy. 

    If you have already taken out a Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance policy, you can upgrade to our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance plus CDW & SLI to receive Supplemental Liability Insurance. 

    To arrange Hire Excess Insurance get a quote online

    In which countries is my excess covered with our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance policy?

    With our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance policy, you’re covered in any country in the world, with only a handful of exceptions.

    Our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance policy excludes driving in: 

    • Cuba
    • Iran
    • Syria
    • North Korea
    • Crimea region of Ukraine
    • Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) of Ukraine
    • Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) region of Ukraine

    If you’re a UK or Isle of Man resident looking for European hire car cover, take a look at our Europe Car Hire Excess Insurance. 

     

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

    You’ll receive plenty of benefits when you take out our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance. These include:

      • A high level of cover — Cover excess up to the value of £6,500 in total, per policy period.
      • Add multiple drivers to your policy — Cover up to seven additional drivers when they’re named on your rental agreement.
      • Flexible rental periods — Choose your level of cover from single trip for up to 60 consecutive days, or annual multi-trip for several individual trips up to 60 days at a time, per year.
      • Benefits included as standard — Includes cover as standard for misfuelling, lost keys, flat batteries, and even late pick-up charges due to delayed flights.
    family with young child on tropical beach with palm trees

    Swinton Travel Insurance

    Explore our online exclusive single trip and annual multi-trip travel insurance policies and build a quote to suit you.

    Explore your options

    Frequently asked questions about Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance

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

    If you’re an EU resident, you can purchase a car hire excess policy at 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 Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance policy, you will be repaid the excess subject to your level of cover.

    No, we do not offer excess cover for additional drivers who hire a car on their own. Our Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance only extends to the person named as the lead driver on the car rental agreement.

    However, you can add up to seven additional insured drivers to your insurance4carhire at Swinton Car Hire Excess Insurance policy as long as they are all named on the rental agreement. 

    If two insured family members want to take out car hire excess insurance under one policy, they can purchase a joint policy. This means that both people will be named as the lead driver and they can hire two separate vehicles at the same time or hire cars separately.

    Our joint policy is an add-on that’s available with our Annual Worldwide Car Hire Excess policy. Taking out a single joint policy for two people is a more cost-efficient option than purchasing two separate annual Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance policies.

    After you have purchased your Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance policy, you will receive a welcome email which will include your insurance documents.

    If you are having issues accessing your documents, please contact us with your policy number.

    Useful guides