Hiring a car stressful say consumers

Undisclosed damage, given the wrong car and queuing for over an hour are some of the experiences travellers face when hiring a car according to a new survey.

The YouGov survey, conducted on behalf of iCarhireinsurance.com, a leading provider of stand-alone excess car hire insurance, revealed that amongst adults who had hired a car:

Over one in 10 people (11%) queued for more than an hour to pick up their rental car

Over one in ten (12%) found damage on the rental car that was not originally disclosed

Over a sixth of consumers (17%) did not get the rental car they ordered

It’s no wonder that over one in 10 people (11%) have found the process of renting a hire car stressful.

“Our survey reveals that people are not receiving the standards they should expect when hiring a car,” said Ernesto Suarez, founder and chief executive of iCarhireinsurance.com. “They should be able to quickly and easily collect the hire car they ordered and to trust that any existing damage to the car is properly recorded. This doesn’t seem much to ask”.

At the rental desk….

One in seven (14%) car hire respondents said they did not read the small print of the rental agreement with the same number again (14%) saying they couldn’t be bothered to read all the bits of paper. (This is probably not helped by the fact that 5% couldn’t understand the staff at the rental desk.)

At drop off….

Then at the end of the hire period almost a quarter (23%) of these respondents were forced to drop their car off without having it signed off by a representative from the rental company which could be leaving them open to potential additional charges and disputes. Indeed, 2% of respondents believed they were wrongly charged for damage to their hire car.

Any damage to a hire car is subject to an excess amount, which could be up to £2000, and if customers had not bought additional excess insurance to cover this they would be liable for this even if the damage was not their fault, including if the car was stolen.

Research by iCarhireinsurance.com found that the five leading car hire companies surveyed charged an average of £15 a day for excess waiver car hire insurance, with the highest being an eye watering £20.50p a day with Hertz (see iCarhireinsurance.com website, news section).

However, policies from iCarhireinsurance.com can be bought online for only £2.99 a day or £39.99 for an annual policy. They also include cover for vulnerable parts of the vehicle, which are frequently excluded by the rental companies’ policies.

Ernesto Suarez, CEO and founder of Halo Insurance Services Ltd, said: “Our advice is simple, buy your excess insurance before you fly to save you time, bother and most of all money with a better product which gives you absolute peace of mind”.