The accident

• The initial event is of course the accident itself.
• The accident is where liability arises – someone has negligently failed to exercise their due duty of care.
• If such a liability is established, UK law says that anyone suffering loss or personal injury as a result is entitled to compensation, which you may also hear referred to as “damages”.

Your injuries

• Injuries suffered in car accidents may be minor or serious and the effects can be immediate or emerge only after some (potentially quite lengthy) delay.
• The full extent of some whiplash injuries, for example, may take some time to develop.
• Car accident injuries can include both physical and psychological elements of injury.
• Typically, your claim for compensation is based on the extent of the pain and psychological distress you suffer from and the effect of your injuries and how they prevent you from enjoying your normal family or social life, doing your normal job of work.

Your claim

• Given these possible elements it may be easy to understand some of the difficulties in assessing the full and fair level of any accident compensation to be claimed.
• The principle is typically not only to compensate you for any pain and distress, but also to help ensure a rapid recuperation and, if appropriate, a return to normal working as soon as possible.
• The problem lies in putting a monetary value on such elements

Your advocate

• For that reason, you should entrust your claim to an experienced and qualified personal injury lawyer.
• As the title suggests, a qualified personal injury lawyer is a solicitor with experience and specific training to help an injured person make a personal injury claim.
• As a practising solicitor his or her professional conduct is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
• For the high degree of professional specialisation you are seeking, such lawyers may also be members of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, where accreditation comes only after demonstrating competence in the field of personal injury, including claims for car accidents.

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Driving can be risky. In 2009 alone, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports more than 33,000 people died, and there were millions of accidents. Each of these accidents came at a considerable cost, with repair and medical bills ranging from a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands. With the average American household making $44,800 every year, hitting and totaling a $20,000 car, let alone a $50,000 or more luxury car, can have devastating financial results. Auto insurance protects you from footing the bill in these situations.

Required by Law

While many people understand the benefits of insuring themselves against possible financial ruin, there are those who aren’t afraid of taking risks. It was with those people in mind that states began mandating insurance coverage in the 50s. But liability laws began much earlier than that.

As early as 1925, Massachusetts had passed the first compulsory insurance proposal into law. Already a few decades old, the automobile was already a source of many accidents. What used to once be a toy for the wealthy was now increasingly used by the masses. The need for financial responsibility became apparent as incidents of people not paying for accidents rose in number.

Following Massachusetts in 1925, New York was the second to require car insurance in 1956, followed by North Carolina the following year. Today, all 49 states require compulsory insurance coverage, with New Hampshire as the exception.

The Reasons Behind the Mandates

Most people are familiar with auto insurance as a requirement by state law, but many don’t realize the arguments behind the mandate. The primary arguments rely on financial responsibility. Accidents result in damage to vehicles and property, and sometimes people are injured. Auto shop repair bills and hospital costs often are much higher than most people can afford on their own. Most accidents would not be paid for if insurance wasn’t around, and owning a car would be out of reach for most due to the high risk of financial ruin. While personal financial responsibility laws, attempt to address this issue, these laws are often inadequate and difficult to enforce. This leaves other drivers at risk of getting hit by drivers who can’t pay for the damages.

A car insurance policy is vital for ensuring financial health. If you are without a policy, it’s important to get insured and stop taking risks. After all, it’s not just your life and well-being that you’re risking, but also that of those around you.

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1. Saving your bucks on your auto insurance policy – Steps to take

• Shop around: The first step that you need to take is to shop around and get multiple quotes from multiple auto insurance companies so that you may get to know that you’re choosing the best policy in the market. Get quotes from at least 5-6 companies and then choose the one that suits your present needs and affordability. Don’t forget to compare the coverage in accordance with the price too.
• Raise your deductible: Before taking out an auto insurance policy, you have to agree on a deductible amount that is the money that you’ll pay out of pocket when you file the claim and before the auto insurance company starts paying for you. If you choose to pay a higher deductible, you can easily be deemed to be a creditworthy borrower and the premium rates will be lower for you. However, decide on an amount that is within your budget.
• Show a clean driving record: When you take out an auto insurance policy, you have to show a clean driving record so that the insurer is sure that lending you a policy won’t be at their risk. Make sure your driving report is free of accidents, traffic violations and red ticket charges. If it is free of all the aforementioned charges, you can get an affordable premium rate.
• Install safety devices: If you can reduce the risk of your vehicle being prone to road accidents, you can grab an auto insurance policy at a covetable cost. Install features like anti-lock brakes, alarms so that you may reduce the chances of your car being stolen. If they see that there is less risk in insuring your car, they will charge you favorable premium rates.
• Have a good credit score: Your credit score speaks about your financial history and shows the lender whether or not you were timely while paying all your debt obligations. With a poor score, they will charge you high rates and with a good score, you can get reasonable rates.

Therefore, if you want to save your bucks on your auto insurance policy, follow the points mentioned above. Manage your finances and pay the premiums on time so that you don’t hurt your credit score.

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1. The Importance of a Car Insurance Policy

• peace of mind;
• security; and
• the reassurance that being in charge of an expensive vehicle – which is also capable of causing damage or injury to others – will not leave you personally liable for making financial reparations (to the rental company for repairs to or replacement of the vehicle or to third parties for any injury or damage).

Some element of rental car hire insurance is widely included in the rate you see advertised by your chosen rental company. The typical insurance package included in this way is designed to give you the security and peace of mind that you will be meeting the minimum insurance cover required by law in the country in which you will be driving.

It is possible that your peace of mind is disturbed, however, by the knowledge that the level of cover being offered in this way is also subject to a significant insurance excess. Depending on the part of the world in which you are likely to be driving, and on the vehicle itself, this excess could range from several hundred to well over a thousand pounds. An excess, of course, is the first part of any claim which will be borne by you personally – it is, effectively, an uninsured risk you agree to bear.

Because this excess can represent such a potentially large uninsured risk, therefore, many drivers seek to enhance their basic rental car hire insurance with excess insurance to protect themselves against such risks.

Similarly, and once again depending on just where you’re likely to be driving, the minimum level of third party cover extended via your vehicle rental agreement might be enough to meet local legal requirements but could fall far short of the insurance you might need to meet all potential third party claims. In those cases, you might want to consider Supplemental Liability Insurance, which gives considerably enhanced indemnity against third party claims – typically up to as much as one million US dollars (or its equivalent in local currency).

For complete security and peace of mind regarding your rental car hire insurance, therefore, you might wish to arrange cover from an independent insurance provider (many of whom advertise online), to ensure that your insurance includes any necessary excess insurance, adequate third party cover, and full protection against your potential liability for any other damage to the hired vehicle.

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• providing you with a level of insurance cover that is required by law before a vehicle can be driven on the roads in practically every country you are likely to be driving; and
• providing you with a level of financial protection (an indemnity) against the cost of replacing the vehicle or having it repaired if it is stolen, lost or damaged whilst in your care.

The first of these, of course, is designed to ensure that you meet at least the minimum legal requirement to drive the vehicle you have hired.

Problems can arise, however, because cars are expensive pieces of equipment and can cause considerable damage and/or injury to third parties. Claims involving your hired vehicle, therefore, could involve such considerable sums of money that the insurance cover provided by the bare minimum of insurance is unlikely to offer you complete financial protection – you remain exposed to the risk of bearing any uninsured losses personally, from your own pocket.

In some countries, for example, the bar is kept relatively low as far as the legal requirement for cover for third party claims is concerned. In other words, you could be faced with potentially huge uninsured losses if you are found liable for serious injury or damage to a third party or parties. There are instances, therefore, when Supplemental Liability Insurance may prove a very prudent addition to your car hire insurance.

But it is not just third party claims, of course. The vehicle you have rented is also a valuable and expensive piece of machinery. It could be damaged in any number of different ways, it could be stolen, it might even be so seriously damaged as to be written off and have to be replaced. A closer examination of the car hire insurance offered by your vehicle rental company is likely to reveal that there would be insufficient cover in place to meet all such losses – and without that cover, of course, you will be held personally liable.

The reason for gap between the car hire insurance that is in place and the potential losses that could be incurred is typically the result of an insurance excess that you agree with the rental company and the exclusion of certain areas of the hired vehicle from such insurance (typically, the windscreen and windows, tyres, wheels, top and underneath of the vehicle).

In order to close that gap, therefore, you might want to consider taking out separate car hire insurance from an independent provider in advance so that you have an insurance package that includes any excess insurance, full cover for any theft of loss or damage to the vehicle, and enhanced financial protection against any third party claims.

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1. What might you need from your rental car hire insurance?

Do you need excess car cover?

First you need to decide whether you need excess car cover. The answer to this question depends on what the maximum is that you are prepared to pay for damage to the car that is subject to the main policy. It is not unusual for the excess in rental car policies to be over £1,500. So if the car is damaged and the repair bill costs £1,450, for example, the driver will have to pay for the whole bill himself. In that situation, had he purchased excess car cover, the excess insurer would have stepped up to pay the bill.

Also, some drivers do not realise that the excess applies to the first portion of any larger claim. So in the example above if the damage repair bill had come to £2,000, the driver would still have to pay the first £1,500, with the main insurer typically picking up the remaining £500. Again, if the driver has excess car insurance, the excess insurer would pay the first £1,500 and the main insurer the final £500.

Have your details to hand

When you are searching for excess car cover, have all of your details to hand including the age make and registration number of the hire car, and the names and drivers’ numbers of the people who will be driving it. You may be asked to fill in an online questionnaire so that the insurer can give you an accurate quote.

Get a number of quotes

Getting a number of quotes allows you to compare the prices, and gives you a feel for what the market rate for excess cover is. Do not be afraid to ask whether the price quoted is the best rate available.

How long do you need the cover?

Excess insurance providers can be really flexible in the lengths of the policies they offer. Some even offer a daily rate, in case you are really unsure about how much longer you will need the hire car.

Check that the insurance schedules meet your requirements

When you receive a draught policy to check, make sure that it meets you needs. For example, if you are hiring a car in Spain but wish to drive to France, check that the policy will continue to cover you if you cross the border.

Another issue to watch out for is the identity of the driver stated on the policy. If there is more than one of you who intends to do the driving, make sure that all of the drivers’ names appear on the hire documents, the main car rental insurance papers, and the excess car insurance details.

Update insurer if there is a change

As with any other insurance policy, the excess car insurance cover is only valid as long as its details are correct. So if you change cars, drivers or countries, make sure that you notify the insurer. Otherwise, the provider could claim that the policy is invalid if you make a claim on the wrong information.

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1. What is car excess insurance?

Get a number of quotes

Although it can be convenient to purchase rental car cover from the company that is hiring the car to you, they may not be the most competitively priced provider. By getting a few quotes for the same cover, you can be satisfied that the provider you eventually choose is offering a good deal.

Study the excess

Excesses vary between rental car policies. The excess is the minimum claim that the insurer will consider, so if your rental car suffers damage that costs less than this amount to repair, you will have to meet the cost from your own pocket. And if the cost of the repair is higher, you will have to pay the amount up to the excess. The excess on some rental policies start at around £500; others can reach in the region of £1,500.

However, if you are unable to find a policy with a lower excess, cover is available to “top up” your rental car insurance by insuring the excess amount. This extra cover need not be expensive, and can give you peace of mind that you will not have to pay a penny if the car gets damaged.

Name your drivers

Naming the people who will be driving the rental car gives the insurer confidence, especially if you including their ages and details of their driving experience. But make sure that their names are also included on the rental documents with the car hire company, and that the hirer also knows who will be driving the car.

Do you fit into a group?

Occasionally insurance providers offer rental car insurance to specific groups which is tailored for their needs. For example, the family holiday market might have different car rental insurance needs than a business who has hired an extra pool car.

Ask for the best deal available

Sometimes the best way to get a good deal is to ask for one. Can the insurer improve on the price they have quoted? Are there any discounts available? It is always worth asking as the worst that can happen is that the insurer says no!

Check the policy’s provisions about crossing borders

Sometimes rental car insurance policies have geographical limits on their application. So if you are planning a road trip in a hired vehicle around Europe, double check that the policy covers you in any part of the continent.

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The reason behind this is that car hire insurance often carries an excess that is often prohibitively high – the chances are that the majority of times a car is damaged the repair costs will be under the excess. With an excess of around £1,000 or even £1,500 for hire cars being commonplace, this is not an insignificant sum, and one that people see fit to insure with car rental excess insurance. If you are unlucky enough to be a victim of a road traffic accident in a hire car abroad, you could find that paying for the car repair bill could cost more than you paid for your holiday!

When purchasing a policy, it is important to give the insurer all the information that you have available. So for example, if you are going on holiday with a group of friends who intend to share the driving, make sure that they are all named on the hire agreement and all of the insurance documents, including the excess policy.

Likewise, check that you have covered the whole car. Standard hire car policies often exclude cover for the tyres and windows, which can be added as optional extras when you are buying your excess cover or may be included as standard,

You might have purchased a policy alongside the hire of the car itself, in which case you may not have noticed the high excess. Whether the excess is in the small print or large on the front cover of the policy documents, if you would not be able to fund the excess amount from your own pocket or would rather insure the amount, make sure that you have the arrangements in place before you have started the hire agreement.

If any of your travel or hire arrangements should change during the course of the hire period, make sure that you inform all of your insurers. For example, check that you do not stray outside the area in which the policy is valid. Or if you do change your plans and travel further afield, inform the insurance provider so that they can update the car rental excess insurance policy.

Depending on the length of the hire agreement, many insurance providers typically offer cover for a length of time to suit you. Some even offer a daily rate, so that you can have flexible cover to be extended or cut short as your need for a hire car changes. This can be useful if you want to go travelling with a changeable itinerary, or if you have hired a car while your main vehicle is being repaired (though look out for geographical exclusions, as some policies state that you are only covered if you are x amount of miles away from your home when you rent the car).

Car rental excess insurance cover is not just for short term or temporary arrangements. The cover can usually be purchased for as long as one year at a time, if that suits you best.

Car hire spain malaga, is the best choice in hiring a car rental agency which offers comfortable and luxury journey at affordable prices and amazing discounts. Prices are negotiable.

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1. What does rental car excess insurance involve?

Most people are familiar with the concept of an excess on an insurance policy. It is the threshold below which an insurer will not pay out for a claim. On many types of policies it is easy to see why the excess has been set at a certain level. For example, you can see why an insurance company would not want to pay out for every £50 scrape to a bumper; or on a house insurance policy for every drainpipe that falls off a roof in a storm. The administrative burden of processing such claims would far outweigh the benefits of the payout to the customer.

So what is the point of car excess insurance? This cover usually applies to cars that have been hired, where the excesses are traditionally higher than those in policies relating to owner-drivers. When you consider that excesses in such policies may stretch to £1,500 and beyond, suddenly a car hire excess seems worth insuring.

Without excess insurance, if a hire car has been damaged, the standard position of the car hirer is to make a claim on their only insurance policy, but only if it is appropriate. If the excess stands at £1,500, the car hirer will typically be liable to pay for all of the cost of repairs, if the total repair bill is under that £1,500 figure. However, if the cost is over £1,500, the car hirer may find himself paying the first £1,500 to the hire car company, with their insurer picking up the rest of the bill.

This is where car excess insurance steps in. If the damage to the car is worth less than £1,500, the excess insurer can typically pick up the whole cost. And if the repair bill comes to more than £1,500, the excess insurer will pay the first £1,500 to the hire company, and then your “main” policy takes over and pays the rest. Effectively, they step into your shoes from the point of view of the excess part of the main cover.

But such excess insurance can benefit you in other ways too. Insurance policies for hire cars are often kept quite basic to keep them affordable, which means that they sometimes exclude cover for the cost of repairs to tyres, glass and even damage under the body of the car. If you purchase excess insurance, you can sometimes “top up” the initial hire cover you purchased to extend to these items. And some policies may even include them as standard.

As with any insurance product, it is important to check that the cover offered by your car excess insurance policy suits your requirements. Check that the schedule mirrors the hire agreement and general insurance. So, for example, check that the geographical limitations are the same and that the same people are covered by the policy.

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1. Purchasing excess car insurance
2. What does rental car excess insurance involve?

Insurance agreements involving hire cars often have higher excesses than policies that cover private motor vehicles. Some policies typically insist on an excess of up to £1,000. So if your hire car is involved in a road traffic accident, you will have to pay the repair bill in full if the damage costs less than that amount. Alternatively, you will have to meet the first £1,000 of repair costs if they are above that amount (or whatever the excess amount is).

Rental car excess insurance is designed to bridge that gap, and ensure that you do not have to fund the cost of the excess on your “main” policy.

Here are a number of questions to ask yourself about the excess policy before you sign on the dotted line.

Who does the policy cover?

If a group of you are using the hire car on holiday, make sure that everyone who intends to drive the vehicle is named on the policy. Otherwise the policy could be found to be void (in which case the insurer would not pay out) if there is an accident when someone else was driving.

How long does the cover last for?

Policies are usually able to mirror the length of the hire agreement, and may sometimes be available on a daily rate or annual basis. This is helpful if you are unsure how much longer you will need the hire car. For example, perhaps a garage is taking a while to repair your own car, and you need to drive and insure the hire car on a day by day basis.

Is there a geographical limit for the cover?

Whether you have rented the car for a holiday or for business use, make sure that the rental car excess insurance applies in the country or countries that you will be visiting. Some European policies have restrictions about crossing borders, and it is always safest to check if you are unsure about any part of the cover.

Does the policy cover glass?

When hiring a car most people just arrange their insurance and put it to the back of their mind. After all, the point of insurance is not to have to worry about the costs of repairs. However, there might be a number of “holes” in the cover offered by many car hire policies. Some exclude damage to glass or tyres. So if you were unlucky enough to experience an accident or an act of vandalism where damage was caused to the glass and/or tyres of the hire car, you could find yourself in the position of having to account for the cost of the repairs for these items to the rental company.

The safest way to insure your hire car may be to look at rental car excess insurance in conjunction with your regular policy, to make sure that the excess insurance plugs any gaps. That way you can have peace of mind that you have the cover you need, at a price that suits your budget.

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1. What is car rental excess insurance?