Europcar in Australia
Jan 8, 2012, 4:00 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 116
Europcar in Australia
Has anybody had any experience with hiring a car with Europcar in Australia?
It seems LDW is mandatory in Australia? If I have personal liability insurance from my home country, would this be sufficient protection?
It seems LDW is mandatory in Australia? If I have personal liability insurance from my home country, would this be sufficient protection?
Jan 12, 2012, 2:43 am
#2
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: QFF NB, Velocity Silver, Hertz 5*, Avis Preferred, Thrifty Blue Chip (Oz), Europcar Privilege Exec.
Posts: 378
I have a reasonable amount of experience hiring a car from Europcar in Australia, most recently in Darwin, a couple of months ago, also in Melbourne. Hiring an Audi A6 from Europcar at OOL next month for 4 days.
LDW is mandatory in Australia - you cannot hire/rent a car without it, nor can you opt out. You are also automatically covered for damage to third party persons and property (other cars, etc).
However, there is a large excess/deductible - Europcar's is $3,850 for standard cars and $5,500 for prestige cars (Audi) and 4WD's. Up to approx. 20% higher from airports (% airport fee generally applies to excess too).
To reduce this excess, you pay excess reduction (I think Europcar call this LDW, which it technically isn't), which is approx. $25 - $50 a day. This reduces the excess on standard cars to a few hundred dollars, or even $0 and to approx. $1,000 on prestige cars.
Be careful with Europcar - my experience is that they are the worst for overcharging and charging for damage.
LDW is mandatory in Australia - you cannot hire/rent a car without it, nor can you opt out. You are also automatically covered for damage to third party persons and property (other cars, etc).
However, there is a large excess/deductible - Europcar's is $3,850 for standard cars and $5,500 for prestige cars (Audi) and 4WD's. Up to approx. 20% higher from airports (% airport fee generally applies to excess too).
To reduce this excess, you pay excess reduction (I think Europcar call this LDW, which it technically isn't), which is approx. $25 - $50 a day. This reduces the excess on standard cars to a few hundred dollars, or even $0 and to approx. $1,000 on prestige cars.
Be careful with Europcar - my experience is that they are the worst for overcharging and charging for damage.