Rental Car Insurance for NZ Citizen\Resident 25+ renting in NZ

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Rental Car Insurance for NZ Citizen\Resident 25+ renting in NZ

WyleECoyoteNZ

1055 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 372

#215568 3-Jul-2017 13:40

Hey all,

More of a questions for NZ drivers 25+, when renting a car in NZ do you take out the insurance or take the risk of not having it?

Next year, I'll be needing to rent a vehicle from Christchurch and return to same (I'm lower north island based, won't be ferry\then driving as time constrained) and looking through the main players, the insurance becomes a big chunk of the expense.

Do people bother with it for a few days or take the chance?

Spoke with my vehicle insurer (AA), and even under the comprehensive policy I'm not covered as I don't own the rental vehicle.

On that point the cynical part of me says I don't really own my house (if I had one) when a mortgage is in place or car (if financed) until all the payments are made....but never mind, but they'll happily take insurance payments\policies on those....

1 | 2

4962 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2638
Inactive user

#1810899 3-Jul-2017 13:44

I use Go Rentals and pay their $15/day insurance (or whatever it is) purely because it seems to speed up check-out/check-in type stuff. I hate nothing more than doing the inspection of the car and pretending I care when all I want to do is get on with my day/get in to Koru and have a drink.

MikeAqua

8030 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3819

#1810948 3-Jul-2017 14:27

NZ rental companies normally won't let an individual rent without insurance.

Mike

WyleECoyoteNZ

1055 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 372

#1810952 3-Jul-2017 14:29

In an effort to avoid being fleeced for every cent for the car rental companies, has anyone used Tripcover ?

They look to be good value at $15.00 a day versus either $39\$30 a day through the major players

EDIT: Spelling

jnimmo

1098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 255

#1810965 3-Jul-2017 14:35

I've just used 1Cover domestic travel insurance in the past, not sure how it compares to others for price, but definitely was cheaper than doing it through the rental car company

NightStalker

327 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 159

#1810975 3-Jul-2017 14:43

As you are with AA ask them about Travel Insurance as you may be able to get a deal. "Make sure you’re covered with AA Travel Insurance when you’re next travelling, whether internationally or within New Zealand. Get a quote or buy online today".

Another avenue is that some credit cards cover the insurance so long as you use them to make the rental payment. You need to read the small print with these though.

Dulouz

887 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 384

#1810981 3-Jul-2017 14:50

I always rent with Thrifty. If you're an AA member they have an $0 excess rate which is pretty good. - https://www.thrifty.co.nz/aa-members/aa.aspx

Amanon

Geekzone

Want to support Geekzone and browse the site without the ads? Subscribe to Geekzone now (monthly, annual and lifetime options).

mudguard

2327 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1250

#1810988 3-Jul-2017 14:56

I guess it depends. Through Budget, the insurance is compulsory so I'm assuming you're talking about the excess reduction insurance? Which is the daily charge that adds quite a bit?

For work we never take the excess reduction, we just accept that if we have an issue we will pay the excess.

So I guess it depends how comfortable you are with an excess. In our case it's $3000 and it gets charged virtually instantly in case of an issue. For example a mid size car for 5 days is roughly $60 per day (with compulsory insurance) but the excess reduction adds another $130.

Where this has caused an issue for me was a broken windscreen. They were going to charge the excess ($3000) then refund the difference less the windscreen. However between my colleague and I we've had over 70 rental cars in the past few years so they didn't charge it. Our Corporate Card limit is only $4000 so having the excess charged early in the month is somewhat detrimental! Glass is included with excess reduction only.

Personally I've hired rental cars for holidays in NZ and just included the excess reduction mainly as you could write it off or get a dent and it's not an issue.

WyleECoyoteNZ

1055 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 372

#1810990 3-Jul-2017 15:01

Dulouz:

I always rent with Thrifty. If you're an AA member they have an $0 excess rate which is pretty good. - https://www.thrifty.co.nz/aa-members/aa.aspx

Yes, I'm an AA member, but there booking only saves you roughly $20.00 tops.

Did a booking search:

Pickup 2/3/2018 9:30am at Christchurch Airport, returning to same location 9/3/2018 3pm.

Without AA member or insurance $833.75 (Estimate), add $0 Damage excess, jumps to $1,118.95 (Insurance $35.65\day)

Same booking time and dates, with AA membership number entered, $1,112.00

Both bookings were for a large car (Commodore, Captiva, Aurion or similar)

I'd be better off going no Thrifty insurance and going Tripcover!

SATTV

1670 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 658

ID Verified

#1811001 3-Jul-2017 15:13

In a company I worked for we always took out the excess reductions.

Our sister company never took it until their MD ( our MD's Brother ) had a supermarket ding about the size of a 20c piece, had to pay the full $2500 excess, they said the repair was about $500 but we had to pay the full excess.

After that, everyone renting a car for the company had to take the insurance reduction.

Personally I would take the reduction, the ding might be small and not your fault but the headache / stress / argument is just not worth it.

John

I know enough to be dangerous

Dulouz

887 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 384

#1811008 3-Jul-2017 15:28

WyleECoyoteNZ:

Dulouz:

I always rent with Thrifty. If you're an AA member they have an $0 excess rate which is pretty good. - https://www.thrifty.co.nz/aa-members/aa.aspx

Yes, I'm an AA member, but there booking only saves you roughly $20.00 tops.

Did a booking search:

Pickup 2/3/2018 9:30am at Christchurch Airport, returning to same location 9/3/2018 3pm.

Without AA member or insurance $833.75 (Estimate), add $0 Damage excess, jumps to $1,118.95 (Insurance $35.65\day)

Same booking time and dates, with AA membership number entered, $1,112.00

Both bookings were for a large car (Commodore, Captiva, Aurion or similar)

I'd be better off going no Thrifty insurance and going Tripcover!

I forgot to mention I generally only book for a day or two. I had no idea what a week would cost.

Amanon

KrazyKid

1247 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 616

#1811011 3-Jul-2017 15:34

We took the full cover option for our last weekend in Auckland. Worth it as were hit while parked in a carpark.

No hassles since it was with the car hire company. Just dropped the car off at the end of the weekend, said look at that dent, and walked away.

With a third party I can see you having to pay the excess and then claim it back from your insurer.

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

sen8or

1897 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1402

#1811095 3-Jul-2017 16:43

you roll the dice, you take your chances. For a few extra $ per day for excess rental reduction, why take the risk.

StarBlazer

961 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 218

Trusted

#1811118 3-Jul-2017 17:17

We've just booked a Motor Home and had a similar quandary. Pay the Maui excess reduction ($675 for 15 days - $45/day) or get a third party excess reduction for around $250. My asking around is that "travel" insurance often does not include excess cover.

The problem is that if you don't take Maui's own option they will *charge* the $7000 excess to your credit card when you pick-up the vehicle and then give it you back at the end of the holiday if there is no damage.

If there was damage, then I would have to claim through a 3rd party and wait for the claim to settle before I got the $7000 back. I decided it wasn't worth the hassle.

What I am saying is that if you don't take the excess reduction, they may charge your credit card the excess at the time of rental. If they are charging you $35/day excess cover for a car that seems a lot - the excess cover is not much more than that on the motor home.

In my example above, the possible $7000 loss is mitigated well against both the cost of hire ($400+/day) and the excess. As with any insurance, you have to look at what you are prepared to lose - if it's $1000's then I'd buy the cover.

*Edit:Spelling*

Procrastination eventually pays off.

floydbloke

3646 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4554

ID Verified

#1811126 3-Jul-2017 17:22

AMI offer domestic travel insurance which covers car rental insurance excess. Discount for existing AMI customers. Might be cheaper than uying excess reduction from the rental company. Has been for me a couple of times.

Downside is that you're then dealing with more than one company, car rental companies are very quick to charge their excess to your card when you've suffered damage and very slow to act to chase up the other party and recover that money when it's not your fault.

Sometimes I use big words I don't always fully understand in an effort to make myself sound more photosynthesis.

Scott3

4177 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2990

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1812272 3-Jul-2017 21:52

If you only have one driver, getting a 1-cover domestic travel insurance policy (covers rental vehicle excess) can be a very cost effective option (usually $30 to $60 depending on duration). If you have multiple drivers, you will need one policy per driver.

Rented an 8 seater imax van from hertz (I have a work discount code that gets the price to be reasonable) when we had my partners family here. Excess was around $4000, daily reduction fee was $35. very expensive given I rented for over two weeks. 1-cover policy was under $60.

Note that if you damage the vehicle (including not at fault damage, and minor damage such as supermarket dings etc), then you will need to pay the full excess yourself, and claim it back from the insurance company.

Last time I rented a car for personal use I went with a smaller company (omega). Because of the short duration (two days), I just paid the excess reduction (to zero). Very handy not needing to check the car for damage. Windscreen picked up a stone chip during our travels (in drivers line of sight). Very handy to just hand the keys back, and tell the rental company there is a stone chip that needs fixed, and jump straight into the shuttle to the airport.

Watch out for major exclusions in rental insurance cover. Apex don't cover damage associated with use of Apex supplied accessories (Roof racks, chains etc)... Kiwi Campers doesn't cover allow the use of their vehicles (and thereby invalidates insurance) on any gravel roads. Only found that out when we went to pick up the van, purpose of the rental involved visiting my grandparents who live on a gravel road....

1 | 2