I've recently been on holiday to France. I thought i'd got a great deal with my car hire, but little did i know that there were no full excesses built into the price. I thought i'd bought a fully inclusive policy, but when i went to pick the car up i was offered an additional excess policy of £15.00 per day - over £100 extra for the week! I declined to take this thinking i had ample cover (and the benefits weren't properly outlined to me). However, i've since learned that if i'd have had a crash i would have been expected to pay over £600 excess or over £1000 if the car had been stolen. Has anyone had any bad experiences with car hire excesses and had to pay a lot of money out?

I had a similar situation in spain last year. Got a "good" deal but when I went to collect car found deal was not comprehensive. ended up paying twice as much as expected!!. Good deal my a. this was with a "reputable", well known, international company!

Why don't you go with a broker and take the excess refund? I did with Auto Europe and I am sure all the car hire brokers do. You don't take any insurances locally and if you do have an accident and a supplier like Europcar take the excess from your CC then you just claim it back off the broker. Didn't crash myself but for the extra £10 it was nice to have peace of mind!

I got charged another £140 for 4 days rental as they told me that the car they had quoted 99 Euros for had no insurance whatsoever. Even with the extra £140 the excess was still over £500. I complained because they told me I couldn't drive the car without paying this money. At first they denied but now state that I would have had to provide a certificate of my own cover (which I'm sure we can all call up at a minutes notice abroad) or I couldn't take the car. They say because I signed the contract I agreed to it but in reality I had no choice. Even so they still refuse to refund anything. Its just corporate mugging. Wish I'd gone with Auto Europe who quote £105 for the same car rental, insurance and all excess covered.

Hi Greenman, your suggestion sounds intriguing ! How exactly does this work (could you please explain exactly what you mean) ? Like mist people, I'm only used to hiring direct from an internet site of car company at the airport of my destination, although I always read the small print and make sure It has everything I need. I always pay by credit card then they can refund me if the vender tries to con me or goes bust as with EUjet last year. Cheers! Trekker.

Hi Sally, sorry to hear of your misfortune with car hire in France. We are going to Spain in two weeks time and have hired a car at upto a third of the price most others are charging, and that's with a fully comprehensive, all inclusive insurance policy and FREE cover for an additional driver, if required too ! This company was recommended by the people whom own the villa we have rented, as they are more familiar with local businesses than I am. The money saved pays for half the cost of the villa ! I would love to mention the name of the company but I'm not sure we are allowed to do that via a 'notice board'. Good luck to you all and have an even happier holiday with the extra cash saved ! In love & light, TREKKER.

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Yes it seems all brokers are either including a zero excess or offering their own refundable excess policies at a premium. I prefer the refundable excess because the two times I have taken zero excess in Spain I ended up having to pay for a tank of fuel and bring it back empty. The tank of fuel of course costing more than at the local pumps!! The refundable excess (in my case with Auto Europe but others do the same) is between you and the broker. You refuse all extra insurances at the supplier's desk and off you go. In my case Auto Europe explained that if I had a n accident to get the local supplier's accident form and the local police report and they would refund the full amount to my credit card on my return to blighty. The only cases that they refuse to refund is extreme negligence like reversing into the supplier's office or driving off the end of a pier becuase the sea looks nice. (I have tried neither in case anyone is wondering although like everyone I did drive away from a shop once with my carrier bag of shopping still on the roof of the car!)

Well TREKKER, as it goes i did go to the not named site and they DO require insurance excess, and not so small... this is what came in my quote: " Insurance Excess : 1250.00 EUR Daily buy-out value : 14.00 EUR p/day " So it looks like we better walk...

If you use Economy Car rentals .com you can expect the same experience I felt when I recently entered a contract to hire a car with them for my holidays in Italy. I had to pay €140 extra.Otherwise, I was told, I was not covered for a plethora of conditions and the excess was €5000. This was by Locoauto who acted as agent for Economy Car rentals .com even though Economy Car rentals .com advertise Unlimited mileage Third party insurance Fire Insurance with NO excess CDW-Collision Damage Waiver with NO excess ASC-Airport Service Charge where applicable ,VAT All local taxes EconomyCarRentals.com also state that some car rental companies might offer extra insurances upon delivery of the car, which is not necessary to buy as EconomyCarRentals.com will refund any excess paid. Not so according to Locoauto.I tried ti sort this out but Economy Car rentals .com blamed Locoauto and Locoauto blamed Economy Car rentals .com .and guess who ended up out of pocket!!!!! So my advice is BEWARE and dont use Economy Car rentals .com no matter how good the deal seems. Mike

Hello Mike. I have had this problem too. I hierd a car in Italy and had to pay extra money. But I contacted the people in economycarrentals, and i got a full refund! Apperantly the problem was the paperworks. So now im confident in using them again! I hope you will get your money back too

Hi Zenita You have been fortunate! In my case economycarrentals have refused point blank to entertain my complaint. I think their problem is that if they advertise the full cost of thier insurance they will turn out to be more expensive than their competitors. and they know that ,as they are based in Greece ,they are unlikely to be taken to task. I hope in the next few weeks to lodge a complaint to the European Commission in an effort to stamp out this sharp practice. Mike

Greenman:Why don't you go with a broker and take the excess refund? I did with Auto Europe and I am sure all the car hire brokers do. You don't take any insurances locally and if you do have an accident and a supplier like Europcar take the excess from your CC then you just claim it back off the broker. Didn't crash myself but for the extra £10 it was nice to have peace of mind!

I have just booked car hire through Auto Europe for a holiday in Cyprus in November. Car hire is with Europcar. There is no mention of "excess refund" and Europcar UK can't tell us what EDW is likely to be in Cyprus. Insurance4carhire.com offers Excess Reimbursement Insurance at £3.30 plus insurance premium tax per day which covers rentals with all companies. Ever heard of them, good or bad? Thanks.

From my experience with Economy, it looks like they are ok, you just need to get to know their policy. I booked a car with them in Portugal. They write on their web page that Full Damage Waiver (no excess) is included in the rates and that it is refundable from EconomyCarRentals.com. As I wasn't sure what it meant in practice, I called them and they explained that: when I go to Portugal, the local company will offer me an additional insurance - FDW, but I actually don't have to take it, because I already have it. The difference is that if I take it additionaly, I am free from the formalities. If I don't take it, in case of a damage to the car, I will be charged locally and refunded by Economy (so it will take a bit longer). In order to get my money back, I need to send them some documents they require, which are: "Theft/ damage report and police report. Copy of the rental contract. Receipts of payment, to prove what you have paid, and your credit card statement where we can see which amount that was taken from your credit card." It is a fair deal, becasue it works and the rates they offer are reall and as good as they seem. You just need to know what the deal is. I recommend it, cause it does save you money!!

I am sure this must be a problem with the Italian rental partner company. I have hired a car in Malta 3 times now with economy car rentals and have had excellent service with no problems. I will continue to use them as I get a really good deal and a decent car too.

I have hired cars (4x4) on line from Economy Car Rentals twice a year for the last three years for holidays in Cyprus. They have always been excellent and much cheaper than anything else I could find - including a free additional driver. The insurance cover is total and I have never been asked to pay any additional excess or supplement on collection. They have always been waiting for me on time and the collection procedure is simple. I have been driving away within minutes. Likewise the drop off procedure is absolutely painless. The cars have alwayss been virtually new and as specified. Perhaps I've just been lucky