4 Things Your Car Insurance May NOT Cover!

Most people enjoy their problem-free holiday without worry; however, it’s estimated that as many as one in six holidays have something go wrong due to trip cancellation, lost baggage, stolen items, car rental damage and more. While some of these mishaps are totally unforeseen, most are predictable or even preventable.

Car accidents are one of those problems that are predictable, and while they’re not always completely preventable, there are certain steps that you can take in order to protect your financial well being before putting the rubber to the road. Conversely, the other option is to not purchase insurance, which can ultimately lead to a hefty bill if your insurance company refuses to pay out on your claim.

Steve Sherlock, co-founder and CEO of Bonzah.com and licensed agent in 50 states, recommends the following approach, “You should take a closer look at your insurance policies next time you rent a car or go on vacation. Chances are that you’ll be surprised what isn’t covered and how many excess charges and fees could arise. To prevent losing your money, you should understand what coverage is provided for your vacation and supplement it where needed.”

  1. There’s a Limit for Your Car Insurance 

Standard auto insurance is legally required and important for all drivers, but it will not always cover damages, accidents or theft when renting a car. Even if your auto insurance policy covers rental cars both at home and abroad, chances are you’ll still find yourself with a $2,000 to $4,000 bill for certain damages, deductible payments or bills that exceed your coverage limit if you get into an accident. The challenge is that many rental companies don’t inform policyholders of the potential out-of-pocket expenses unless you seek them out or before it’s too late.

  1. There’s a Lack of Personal Accident Coverage

When travelling outside of the country, it’s important to ensure that you and your family are covered in the event of an accident. In most foreign countries your medical insurance will not be valid and unless you purchase insurance to protect your family you’ll be on the hook for medical emergencies, evacuation and anything else that could potentially occur. For this reason you’ll see many travellers purchase travel insurance or some sort of specific medical coverage for an upcoming trip.

  1. The Liability Coverage May be Inadequate

It’s also important to have insurance coverage to pay for claims against you from people who may sue after an accident. Personal liability insurance should protect you from bearing the cost of injury and damage litigation in the event that you cause an accident in your rental car. In addition, in countries where auto insurance is non-mandatory or unpopular, you may want to consider purchasing a policy that provides you with coverage if a third party is liable for an accident, but does not have any insurance.

  1. What Damage is Not Typically Covered?

If you are planning a vacation with a rental car, consider what you’re willing to pay for in the event of damage or an accident. If you accidentally damage your windshield, lights, bumpers, trim, overheads, undercarriage, wheels or tires and you haven’t purchased rental car insurance (aka collision damage waiver) then there’s a good chance you’re paying out of pocket.

However, if you’d rather have the peace of mind of paying $7.99 a day and having everything covered versus risking having to pay a deductible, for damage or theft of the car, then car rental damage insurance is probably the best bet for your trip. Car rental damage insurance can increase the likelihood of a smooth vacation and can help keep everyone a little more at ease in case of an accident. To learn more about car rental damage insurance visit Bonzah.com, one of the few companies that offers primary insurance that will reimburse you up to $35,000 in repairs, replacement of the rental car for any reason out of your control and any deductible at a fraction of the cost of major car rental companies.

Satisfied Customers Are Not Advocates

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According to the authors of:
First Break All the Rules:What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
the 4 rules of thumbs for customer satisfaction on P128,  the first 2 rules are not going to get you any more than satisfied customers, that is having Accuracy and Availability.

But if you really want to get your converts and advocates for your company you are going to need the last 2 rules of thumb which are Partnership and Advice.

“Partnership and advice are the most advanced levels of customer expectation. If you consistently meet these expectations, you will have successfully transformed prospects into advocates”

Growth of New Insurance Category in Australia

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Over the last 4 years there has been the sprouting of a new category in Australia in the car insurance – car rental industry, that of car rental excess insurance.

Initiated  by Des and Steve Sherlock of Tripcover, at the start of 2012, it now includes some 5 players in the Australian market. They inlcude:

  1. Tripcover – Car Rental Excess Insurance
  2. Allianz Rental Vehicle Excess Cover
  3. Hiccup
  4. Rental Cover
  5. Car Trawler

This category has the potential to eat into the large profits that the car rental companies have been enjoying for decades. What is different about this category is that unlike using
travel insurance or credit cards to hope you are covered for what you think you should be covered for, this car rental excess insurance is designed specifically for  competing head to head with the car rental companies.

The main difference between the insurance product and the car rental companys’ product, is that in the event of an accident you would need to claim with the insurers such as Allianz Global Assistance, QBE, whereas if you use the more expensive car rental companies waiver (CDW) they handle any damage issues.

And by expensive we mean very expensive. The car rental companies waiver can cost as much if not more than the rental per day with the car rental excess insurance supplied by Tripcover coming in as low as $5.60 per day.

The category has seen amazing growth over the last 4 years with estimates that some
$12M in sales in the last financial year, from these companies. This represents about 200,000 policies sold out of 6.5M rentals in Australia per year or around of 3% of the market so far.

It is predicted that by 2020 the car rental excess insurance market in Australia will be 10% of the car rental market, worth $38M.

Car Rental Excess Insurance Made…..Too Easy!

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Latest Product Review by Bernie on Tripcover – Car Rental Excess Insurance

5 out of 5, reviewed on Jan 05, 2016,

“Having been offered ‘Total Protection’ by the hire company I decided to look around for a company that wouldn’t double my hire costs. I found Tripcover via my own car insurer and was very pleasantly surprised at the reasonable cost and options and the simplicity of creating the cover I wanted. Hopefully I won’t actually NEED it but I’ll be back on site after my hire period to complete my review”.

This is awesome…Economical solution for rental Excess

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Latest post from a customer on Product Review for car rental excess insurance
“I have been using this since I have been in Australia since 2014 and trust me but this is an amazing service. This not only helps to reduce the Excess but the policy provides more coverage than the one usually provided by the rental companies…..Also, this is an great economical option considering the cost at which the service is provided with an additional personal theft cover & relocation cover.By gods grace I have not yet required to log a claim however, I am pretty confident that this would be hassle free considering this is being managed by a reputed company like “Allianz”

Great policy, great features and amazing economical cost….”

Car Rental Giant’s ‘Collision Damage Monopoly’ Under Pressure from Insurance Backed Startups

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Global insurance companies in Australia have the major car rental giants in their sights as they continue to make inroads into the car rental insurance monopoly or Collision Damage Waiver  (CDW) as it is called in the industry.

Companies like Allianz Global Assistance, AXA, Chubb and QBE are partnering with next generation startups that allow consumers to conveniently insure their rental cars at a fraction of the cost of the rental companies……more>

Another Kangaroo Review….

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5 out of 5, reviewed on Nov 02, 2015
http://www.productreview.com.au/r/tripcover/830125.html
Though we only went to Darwin for 11-days, I thought not to take a chance of taking extra insurance that is reasonable and affordable. I must admit I had apprehension in taking insurance. Often I heard dodgy stories but after searching online review, Tripcover appeared on the toplist and opted to take insurance through them. We hired a car through Thrifty but unfortunately our car was hit by kanga roo on our way to Katherine Gorge and damaged and split the front skirt. Upon our return, I rang Tripcover and reported the incident. Immediately they sent me the Claim # and all the requirements. I submitted all the official and necessary documents to expedite my claim. Within 5-working days, I was refunded all the expense I incurred. Tripcover has kept to its standard of honesty and integrity….I’ll definitely make another transaction again with them in our future trip and would highly recommend. Thanks to all Tripcover staff as each of those I talked to, were very helpful…”

A Typical Greedy Car Rental Company

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Check this out and see why finding an alternative to the car rental companies’ insurance is a necessity. If you have ever rented a car in Australia or New Zealand you will notice the sinking feeling you get while at the rental desk.

We have been in the car rental industry for over 15 years and the one thing that we found that the customer hated is dealing with the insurance.

Below are the rates of a typical greedy car rental company for their CDW
(Collision Damage Waiver – they are not allowed to refer to it as insurance)

  • They leave you with $6000 liability
  • For $38 a day they reduce your liability to $1100
  • For $49 a day they will reduce your liability to $550

That can be more than the rental itself!

Alternatively Tripcover’s rates start from $9.30 per day with a $300 excess and
reduces down to $5.61 over a 15 day rental.

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Another Good Reason to Take Out a Tripcover Policy

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ProductReview Quote:
“I rented a car in late June to drive to southern Victoria with my family. On our way to Melbourne, we hit a kangaroo at a very slow speed.It damaged a fog light and broke the bumper. The result was a big repair bill. Thankfully, I bought Tripcover insurance for the trip. After I got the invoice from the car rental company, I filled in the claim form and attached the invoice, rental contract and damage report to the insurance company. They asked for the detailed invoice and within about 10 days, i got my reimbursement less a small amount. I would use Tripcover again.” Alf

And don’t for get that AAA members can now use their 16 digit membership card number to get a 5% discount with Tripcover.