Richym99

This certainly applies to hires for European residents booking through the Hertz website, but may apply to others as well so it is worth checking.

It is well known that almost every hire car company in Europe have a CDW excess of around €900 or more, hoping that they can pursuade you to purchase their excess waiver policy for anything up to €30 a day. Of course, there are plenty of companies that will sell much cheaper policies to cover this excess, almost all of their websites using these words or something similar.

In many countries, car rental insurance policies include CDW and SLI as standard. However, if you are renting in certain countries, such as those in North, South or Central America, you may need to purchase CDW and SLI separately.

In fact, it is VERY difficult to find a company in Europe that will sell insurance to cover CDW on the basis that all car hire companies include it. They are only interested in covering the excess, above what they think the car hire companies are offering. Recently SIXT, have stopped including CDW in their rates, and now Hertz have followed. Insurance is now being offered as a extra, to be bought at the counter. Of course, Gold Canopy and President's Circle members never go to the counter, so may well be driving off, completely unaware that if they have an accident, they may be liable for the full cost of the damage, not to mention being prosecuted for having no insurance.

A booking that I did yesterday for a hire out of Frankfurt had the following notes.

Dave Noble

There is nothing to suggest there that insurance is not included - only that CDW is not included - CDW is not insurance

If you are a 5* or PC member, then it is up to you to ensure that your preferences are set accordingly. If you have CDW set for Europe, it will quote inclusive of CDW

Doing a dummy booking whilst not logged in from FRA and the rate showing includes CDW

Richym99

Interesting. I did have my preferences set to decline CDW, so I changed that to accept. The quote for the car I was planning on hiring went from £96 to £270 !

Then logged out, and did a dummy booking as a guest, and got a quote for £100 with CDW included. But of course, you lose your President's Circle benefits then.

Am I missing a trick somewhere ?

Often1

No, you are not.

Dave Noble

Were you using a CDP number when you were logged in but not when logged out? It seems that you were with the display showing "HERTZ MEMBER PROGRAM"
Also was your country of residence same as country of website?
Were there any other options set? e.g. was Theft protection set to decline in your profile whereas the logged out quote had it included?

If everything is the same, then you should get the same price either way

seawolf

I don't think there is anything new here.

The quote indicates CDW (as in full coverage with $0 excess is NOT included in rate); you will have an excess (deductible) and I'm sure you can buy something with less excess on-site. This is normal even if a US renter rents with Hertz Germany.

SLI is not sold in (Western) Europe because coverage in excess of several million Euros are already included.

Richym99

Disagree sorry. If CDW was included in that quote, but subject to an excess, it would have been in the list of what is included. I have dummy bookings to prove that is the case.

Dave Noble

That quote indicates that CDW is not included and that it is GBP45.02 to add - this is in line with the profile preferences that the OP indicated that he had set

Super Cover would be that to add on top of CDW when CDW is included (•Super Cover (Excess Waiver)* ) •daily30.33 GBP

Richym99

I was using the hertz.co.uk website as I am located in the UK.

I've tried doing a number of dummy bookings this morning, using different sets of conditions, but all for the same dates and the same car. There is something very worng with their pricing system.

The booking was for pick up and set down in FRA, 27 Sept @ 1300 until 30 Sept @1800. Car of choice is an IDAR (Mondeo, Insignia or similar) Group N

Booking as a guest, no CBP. -
£100.16. (Theft protection and CDW included, both subject to an excess)

Booking as a member, No CBP.. Profile set up to decline all insurances.
£106.66 (CDW, Theft protection and Super cover all listed as optional add-ons payable at the desk on pick up)

Booking as a member. CBP - Hertz member. Profile set to decline all insurances.
£112.11 (CDW, Theft protection and Super cover all listed as optional add-ons payable at the desk on pick up)

Booking as a member. CBP - Hertz member. Profile set to accept CDW only
£334.49 (CDW included subject to excess. Theft protection and super cover optional add-ons payable at the desk)
(Yes, I did run this twice to make sure it was correct!)

Booking as a member. CBP - Hertz member. Profile set to accept CDW, theft protection and super cover.
£249.99 (CDW, theft protection and super cover included)
(So total coverage is £85 less than just having CDW. You explain it, because I can't)

Making the same booking via Expedia.
£100.00 (CDW included subject to same excess as through Hertz. Theft and super cover optional add-ons payable at the desk)

So even in the best case scenario, it seems that to get the beneift of President's Circle at the best rate, The purchaser is expected to either pay £150 for their insurance for four days, (half of what I pay annually for my own car, for which I get far more comprehensive cover), or find a company that sells CDW insurance which will cover any and all damage to a vehicle being hired.

Alternatively, they can book it as a non member or go to a third party provider, both options include CDW at the same price, but lose the option of an upgraded vehicle, and simply driving away with the vehicle of my chosing from the PC lot.

Dave Noble

and the rate to have CDW , TP but no super cover ?

Richym99

The one combination that I didn't try.

£100.16. CBP _ Hertz member. Profile set to accept CDW and theft protection but not super cover.


Now you have to admit, that's bloody crazy. £334 if you don't have theft protection, but £100 if you do.

Still, thanks a lot for the guidance.

I can book this one, then cancel the other booking and the CDW policy now as I have a 14 day colling off period.

Dave Noble

See - with exactly the same booking conditions, the rates have come out the same

When logged out, the system will just give the lowest rate
When logged in, the system will give the lowest rate that meets your profile requirements

In UK , it is common ime for rates excluding CDW/TP to be very high and a lot more expensive than taking them

Richym99

Lesson learnt, and my profile settings amended accordingly for the future.

Thanks for the assistance Dave.

Firstboss

Dave Noble

Seems a really bizarre idea - pay more , get less coverage and then gamble ( if you have a credit card that covers rentals ) that the car is within the allowed coverage limits

I will stick to taking the lower rate and then letting American Express's insurer reimburse any excess that ends up being paid if damage occurs