Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance

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.

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.

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?

• Car rentals where the Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance policyholder doesn’t match the name of the lead driver on the rental agreement.
• Policies purchased after the collection of your rental vehicle.
• Cars worth more than £120,000 or which are over 10 years old.
• Cover for off-road driving.
• Commercial vehicles, motorbikes, camper vans, mobile homes, vans, or any vehicle with more than nine seats. Visit our Van Hire Excess Insurance page for cover for non-commercial vans.
• Cover for policyholders that are not residents of the UK or the Isle of Man.

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. 

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. 

Single-trip vs annual multi-trip policies

• 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.

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.

Frequently asked questions about Worldwide Car Hire Excess Insurance