“Check the insurance coverage carefully. You don’t always need the most expensive one”

Summer is coming, the heat, trips to the beach and doubts in front of the rental car counter. Restrictions, company policies that you had not considered and insurance clauses that you did not imagine and that, of course, you can fix with a few more euros.

But the latter is not always the best option. At least, that is what experts consider who are clear about what you should do: read the fine print and sign only if you are convinced. Rastreator, OCU and AXA agree on the latter.

The first thing. “The first thing is to check what coverage the insurance offered by the rental company really includes, since, although all cars have mandatory insurance, it does not always protect against all unforeseen events,” he points out. Patricia Carrilspecialist Tracker.

The insurance and rental car comparison company is clear that “it is not always necessary to hire the most expensive option to travel with peace of mind. A balanced insurance should cover damage to the vehicle, theft and civil liability, in addition to having an acceptable deductible.

The franchise. The excess is the money that we will have to put out of our pocket if the car suffers an unforeseen event. Imagine that you rent a car and that the insurance has a deductible of 150 euros. This means that if the repair costs 80 euros, we will pay the 80 euros. But if the fix costs 1,000 euros, we will only have to face 150 euros.

According to the OCU“companies offer Premium insurance by default, making it difficult for customers to find cheaper options” but, even so, there are many occasions in which they “require users to disproportionate bail (and they do not inform about the deadlines and conditions for returning that money)”.

The restrictions. Another thing that is solved by reading carefully what we are hiring is being aware of the restrictions to which we submit as drivers. Francisco Olmedodirector of P&C Private Offering AXA Spain is clear that the most frequent are:

• The age and years of service of the driver: we must know if there are restrictions based on age or years of driving license since we run the risk that the insurance will not cover the damages.
• Road coverage: it is important to know well what the insurance covers if we have a problem on the road and if there is any type of mileage limitation.
• Know the criteria for the deductibles: Olmedo assures that “in the event of a blow to the front and another graze on the side, two accidents with two deductibles can be considered” so the driver would have to pay twice

Do I add anything? For Rastreator, the most interesting thing is to add window and tire coverage because they are the most common, especially if you are going to drive for a long time, park on the street or travel on secondary roads. “The objective is to find the balance between protection and price; a policy that is too basic can be expensive if an unforeseen event arises,” they explain.

In addition, we must be very clear about all the details that may affect our trip. If we are going to cross the border we must point it out because in some contracts you have to pay extra money. We can also add accessories such as children’s seats.

An essential. What they are clear about at Rastreator is that theft coverage cannot be missing. “If the car disappears during the rental, the driver may have to bear a very high cost,” they explain.

From OCU they point to another essential: knowing what we sign. They remember that in no case should a contract be signed without being clear about what is being signed and that the documents must be clear about details such as when a deposit is returned, how long the money can be withheld and in what amount to pay a deposit or the mandatory requirements to be met when returning the car such as maximum mileage or the level of the gasoline tank.

Photo | Sixt

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