Tripcover

I recommend TripCover. Competitively priced vs rental companies. (Haven't had to claim yet.)

I had an issue where PayPal charged me but I never received insurance certificate. Initially difficult to contact, but Tripcover sorted out.

We have used tripcover a few times when hiring cars & thankfully never had to claim. Whilst it is still a much cheaper option than the car hire company - we got caught out with the excess amount this time. We went with Europcar which we don't normally do & did not realise the excess was higher until we picked up the vehicle. As we were driving off, I got straight on the phone to Tripcover to upgrade the excess cover from $4,000 to $5,500, however they refused. [name removed] advised that we would need to go back & cancel the whole hire contract, start a new contract & then cancel the existing Tripcover policy & take out a whole new one. As we were running late for an engagement, this was not an option for us & [name removed] refused to help. So, if we apply the same logic to house insurance, you would never be able to increase the value of that once the house is built or the mortgage signed?? Not happy with the unhelpful service/attitude at all.

I bought many times for domestic and international rentals. Website is easy to navigate and can contact company online and cancel within 14 days cooling off. Purchased for more than ten rentals over four years. Convenient, well priced and efficient service!

Good value have been with your company for apx 40 years no complaints not happy with charges by hire companies (when you have never had a claim and have a good driving record regards David Mckay

Why are so any people putting on a review when they haven't made a claim??? Sure its cheaper and no problem to get cover but the REAL TEST comes when making a claim and that's where you read about people being out of pocket sometimes to the extent that it may have been better to take out the car rental insurance instead. I find these 'non event' reviews really annoying and pointless!

Max and I are now back in England following our motorhome holiday around Western Australia for the past three months.

I just wanted to thank you for providing the reassurance of your policy. We had no mis-haps but it was great to know you were there to cover us if we had!

We'll definitely be doing more motorhome holidays and will contact you again for insurance.

Kind regards,
Shannan and Max

Cheaper than the excess cover offered by car-hire company, and the cover offered was easy to understand. The two options available from TripCover gave reasonable choice as well. Recommended service.

I've used this insurance several times before to hire vehicles in Australia. It costs about $8 per day and covers windscreen damage etc which gives me peace of mind. The only problem is I needed $5000 excess but the only options were $4000 or $6000.

I only discovered this option of insurance recently on the internet. Easy to use and get the cover. As far as the convenience of been insured this works well. I haven't had a claim to see how that works !!George

I have only just purchaed the policy, not needed to claim at all but customer service was great after an initial little bit of confusion with how long I needed cover for. I contacted the service centre via email to clarify and Des was great. Below is the text from an email that I sent him after he looked after my query.

"You are a legend Des, thank you so much. I was not expecting to get the extra day for free, but I guess this is why Choice magazine recommends your company. I will most certainly be recommending you guys to friends and family and never again will I take out the expensive insurance with the hire car company."

Summary of events and observations...

Purchased Allianz's Plan A “Nil Policy excess” cover through Tripcover. (Had done so several times before, the actual process is very easy and straightforward each time)

Unfortunately, ended up colliding with a Kangaroo in rural Victoria that bounded out onto the roadway from behind some bushes directly into the path of the hire car.

Rental company provided a (IMO what I deem as a rather inflated) repair quote for a cracked bumper and two small dents along the side caused by the Roo. This was challenged by myself, but it felt like to me Thrifty Vic had possibly all the scripted push-backs at the ready lined up to fire back at me one by one. Final Repair charge came to 2435 AUD, Excluding all the arbitrary charges that the Rental Car firm lumped on top. (And in my mind which Thrifty Vic did not adequately detail or disclose in any of their legal documentation)

I submitted the claim to Allianz and got paid out less Thrifty Vic's “Admin Fee”, “Transport (to Thrifty Vic’s nominated panel beater) fee”, and Thrifty's “Claim fee” leaving me out of pocket to the tune of 290 AUD (around twice the cost of the actual car hire by itself)

This further excludes the impact of any Foreign Margin Fees and charges that one's home bank may charge when Thrifty Vic takes out 4185 AUD (not just a "hold", but Thrifty Vic actually took it out from my CC as a full charge). While this is not in Tripcover / Allianz realm to really to deal with, International hirers using foreign Credit Cards need to be mindful of this and the consequential charges they may incur with their home bank when car hire companies do this.

While in the past, the Allianz product alone may have been sufficient to act as a stand in replacement to the Excess reduction offered by most of the major car rental firms, the situation looks to have changed. On this occasion, I'm thinking if I had taken up some sort of excess reduction directly with Thrifty in conjunction with the Tripcover policy, I would probably be out of pocket by a fair amount less than 290 AUD (not to mention NZ bank foreign currency charges on top of that).

I would not be surprised to learn that there may be some sort of Cat and Mouse game played by Hire car firms to discourage people taken out excess reduction cover with a 3rd party by landing the hirer, in case of a collision, with as much arbitrary charges as possible (and then seeing if the hirer’s own nominated excess reduction policy will cover it).

All that said, The Frontline Tele reps at Allianz Global Assist were super friendly to deal with, but they are obviously constrained by company policy as to what they can and can't do for you.

I fully intent to continue using Tripcover going forward as in my mind the premiums are very reasonable, though will probably look to now also combine this with some sort of excess reduction from the car hire firm in conjunction and only call upon the Tripcover policy for any shortfall and should applicable damage fall within the Car hire firm's exclusions.

Update / To Add: After writing my original review, Tripcover very kindly offered a refund of the original premium to help defray some of the out of pocket costs.

Easy to understand information. Better cover than that provided by the rental companies. A little pricey for 2 days cover ($57.56). Bought cover for $6000 (domestic) becuase all the rental companies excess was more than $4000. Website wouldn't accept my Frequent Flyer number.

This is great cover for rental cars clearly explains what you are covered for and all ways a great rate.
Thank you.
Greg

Always nice to feel the security of affordable hire car insurance, makes traveling so much more fun without the stress!

Was very disappointed to see an overseas tax charge on top of this insurance charge. Would not use this again for this reason

I use this product every time I rent a car. Saves about 50% off most rental car Excess Insurance Cover.

I love these guys, We use them everytime we get rental a car. such great value, Thankfully we have not had to make a claim yet, but with everything they cover i have fantastic piece of mind when we use them.

Cheapest domestic standalone car rental excess cover I could find (plus frequent flyer 5% discount ! ) Easy to use website with a breakdown of the number of hours protected (no 2nd guessing) - highly recommend

I didn't realize you could book excess insurance other than through the car hire company until I did a little research and this is a far more economical way to do it. We haven't actually needed to use the insurance (as yet) but I will update if we do.

I am a long term Hertz fan and continue to support their brand whenever I rent a car. When I am not on corporate travel or otherwise covered by Travel insurance I refuse to pay for the rip-off $24/day AER charged by all Rental Car companies, instead I cover myself with this excellent product from Tripcover and Allianz.

Their service is great and the price is reasonable.