This is a subject which causes a great deal of confusion with customers who are hiring cars in the UK.

As a result of many options available you are never confident what you can afford to [refuse decline] and what you need .

Seasoned can often get confused with this.

The part I am going to cover relates more to customers arriving in the UK from North America. Often credit card companies in North America make available additional advantages with their cards . One of these is car rental insurance. Very often car rental customers from North America when booking a car in the UK will ask that the car hire company insurance is not included in the price as they have insurance with their credit card company.

The car rental company would only consider this if the credit card was a Gold card or a Platinum card, as these cards can cover, the whole cost of the car.

As a car renter you should be aware of this. If you choose to use a Gold card for example to cover the insurance and you are involved in an accident. If the damage to the car was extensive and the car had to be replaced, the car hire company would take the total cost of replacing a car from the credit card.

To have his money paid back the renter would have to contact his credit card company .

If you have an ordinary credit card, not the Gold or Platinum card, you can still reduce insurance cost by making use of the credit card cover on your credit card . The insurance cost I am referring to is  for the damage excess. Damage excess is referred to in Canada as a deductible. Briefly this the maximum amount of money that the car hire company will hold you responsible for if the vehicle is damaged . The cost could be about £600 .

You cannot directly use your credit card to cover the excess in these circumstances. In this situation you would decline the insurance option offered to you at the car rental desk by the car rental company . The person at the desk would authorise your card for the total excess amount. If the car was brought back damaged they would deduct the cost of the repair damage from your credit card up to the maximum amount of the excess . You would then use your card cover to claim the deductible amount back.

Some local independent car hire companies will offer you low cost insurance deals.

See Car Hire Prestwick Airport Cheap