It has been a while since I hired someone else’s car, but I don’t really recall considering any excess waiver … or even thinking about it in general beyond the cost of the insurance.
However, …
Someone recently rented my car, and I am sure, like me, they consider themselves a careful driver and therefore also did not pay this waiver. They only borrowed it for 24 hours, and despite all the warning indicators and cameras on cars these days, managed to damage a rear door with quite a bit more than just a scratch.
If you don’t own a car, you are probably not aware of quite how MASSIVELY EXPENSIVE insurance has become, so it might be a surprise to find out that a repair like this is likely to cost ££ hundreds, if not a couple of thousand £££ pounds.
The standard excess is already at least £1000 (apparently can be up to £2000) and while that seems like it is a lot, if the repairs (and administration) are very expensive, it means that there is a good chance that whatever damage occurs, the driver will end up paying this full amount.
I know there are help topics on this issue (linked below), but I wonder whether, just for fairness, there is more that Hiyacar, and also owners, can do to warn drivers to seriously consider taking up this option?
Maybe some additional onboarding video for new drivers?
At the moment there’s not much an owner can do once the booking is made. What if it was possible for the insurance to be amended after the initial booking but before driving away? Maybe it could be a last reminder opportunity?
Maybe at pick-up, drivers could be given a final chance to upgrade to the waiver?
I’m not sure how many claims there are each year, but if I can save any of my renters the pain of paying £1000+ I would like to think I’ve done my bit.
(note to the Hiyacar team: the gif in the second link shows reducing excess to £0, but the text in the first link implies it is only reduced by up to 90% - which is correct? @Mohammed_Sheen )