I understand that this is the case, but in many circumstances the accident excess reduction offered by car rental companies has limitations (such as a crack in the windscreen is excluded) and doesn’t necessarily reduce the excess to zero. Our own recent use of a rental car in Tassie, the excess could only be reduced to $1100 (cheaper option) to $550 (most expensive option). We decided it was far better to take out domestic travel insurance which had a zero car rental excess and also was substantially cheaper than that offered by the car rental company.
I suppose one has to decide what is lower risk, say reducing an excess from say $4000 to $1100/550 expensively through a car rental company and still having to pay a considerable excess OR paying less, incurring a potential $4000 amount on ones credit card which may be fully reimbursed by a independent travel insurance company…or taking out independent insurance which could be cheaper. maybe not as convenient and may reduce the excess to $0.
Even if one say pays a few months interest on the $4000 until the claim is paid, one would still be very much ahead with an independent insurance as the excess may be reduced to zero (rather than still being lumped with a higher rental car excess charge).
I would prefer a temporary hit to the credit card rather than still be charged a relatively high excess from a car rental company…or still charging what they like claiming that the particular damage is excluded from cover. One needs to weigh up what it right for their own circumstances and what level of risk one chooses to accept.
One should also not have to feel threatened by the insurance sales tactics on collection of a rental vehicle…as a significant amount of pressure is placed to get one to sign up to their insurance.
If one has time to plan a car rental (say more than an hour or so), then it is best to weigh up all options to see what it the best option for ones own circumstances.
