Excess insurance claim or dispute the damage charge?
Updated
General information, not legal advice. The outcome depends on the facts of your case.
Many renters buy separate car hire excess insurance, or have cover through a credit card. When a damage charge arrives, the obvious move is to claim. Sometimes that is right. But claiming and disputing are not the same thing, and often you can, and should, do both: dispute the charge with the rental company, and keep your insurer informed.
What excess insurance does and does not do
Separate excess insurance usually pays you back after the rental company has taken the money. It does not stop the rental company from charging you. That is why rental companies still block a large deposit at the desk even when you have your own policy; a European Consumer Centre noted deposits of €1,000 to €2,500 even with insurance bought on a booking platform.
The cover from the rental company itself (often called full cover or excess waiver) works differently: it lowers or removes your liability under the rental contract. If you bought it, a damage charge for an amount it should cover is a contract point to raise with the company.
When claiming makes sense
- The damage is real and happened during your rental, and the amount looks fair.
- You signed a return report showing the damage.
- There was an accident.
In those cases a dispute is unlikely to change much, and the insurance is what you paid for.
When to dispute first
- You do not think the damage happened during your rental.
- Nobody checked the car with you at return, for example a key drop-box return.
- The amount comes from a price table, not a repair quote or invoice.
- The mark looks like normal wear. See our guide to wear and tear versus damage.
- The company charged your card without notice or without repair quotes.
A wrong charge paid by an insurer is still a wrong charge. It is also worth knowing that the card rules limit the charge to the real repair cost or the excess, whichever is less (Visa). If the repair cost less than the excess, the company should not charge the full excess.
You often need the same evidence for both
Read the claim section of your policy: it lists what the insurer wants. Expect to need the rental agreement, the damage report or invoice, and proof of the charge. These are the same documents you ask the rental company for when you dispute:
- the check-out and check-in reports;
- the photos of the damage, with dates and times;
- the repair invoice or at least 2 repair quotes;
- how the amount was calculated.
If the company will not send them, that hurts your insurance claim too, and it is a point in a dispute.
Watch the order with the free dispute bodies
ECRCS (for cross-border rentals with its 12 member brands, booked direct) and BVRLA (for UK rentals with its members) are free, and their decisions bind the company. Both refuse cases already raised with your bank or card company. An insurance claim is not a bank dispute, but if your cover is through your credit card, check with the card provider whether its claim counts as one. Read how ECRCS works.
A plan that keeps both options open
- Tell your insurer about the charge now, within the time its policy sets. Say you are disputing it.
- Write to the rental company: dispute the charge, ask for the evidence above, ask for the charge to be put on hold.
- Get the company's final answer.
- If it drops or cuts the charge, tell the insurer. If not, claim with the documents, and decide whether to take the dispute to ECRCS, the European Consumer Centre, or your card issuer (see our card dispute guide).
Honest limits
We do not know your policy. Policies differ on what they cover, what they exclude and how long you have to claim, so read yours. Nothing here is insurance advice, and nobody can promise how a dispute or a claim will end.
If you decide to dispute, our pack writes the letters for your rental for a flat fee after a free check.