Rental car insurance from third-party insurance companies works, as long as you follow these tips.

Will happen sooner or later

Boaters use to say that there are two types of boaters - those who have run aground, and those who have not yet. This is also the case with rental cars.
 
If you haven't yet dented your rental car, it will probably happen sooner or later. Not necessarily included you behind the wheel. Just park in a place where idiots travel, - and voila, someone has backed into the side of the car, - or something like that. It can easily happen.
 
That's what happened to me. A dusty white van had left obvious damage. Car and driver were of course above all heaps. No message, no witnesses. Just a dented rental car.

Damage report

Check that the rental car has the damage report in the document folder. If an injury occurs while you are present, you must write a damage report regardless of who you think is at fault. You have nothing to lose by it, but probably nothing to gain either. Any victory in the insurance settlement is unlikely to end up in your pocket, at least if the damage occurs abroad. But the claim report is good documentation if you have taken out additional insurance. The fact that you have to pay for damage to the rental car, regardless of fault, is a good reason to take out additional insurance.

LDW

To be on the safe side, you should have LDW insurance (Loss Damage Waiver) which reduces the deductible. International insurance conditions allow sky-high deductibles. For example, if you rent a car from the low-cost company GoldCar in Barcelona, ​​you are responsible for more than NOK 24. With LDW, your liability is reduced to NOK 000 - 3. Full price companies such as Europcar, Sixt and Herz have LDW included in their rental conditions. Check this before ordering.

Additional insurance

Regardless of whether you have LDW or not, it is now possible to take out additional insurance through a third-party insurance company. The insurance covers all additional requirements that the rental car company may demand from you afterwards. In practice, it covers your deductible. I still recommend that you have LDW at the bottom, in the event that the rental car company charges you for a damage you did not know about, and which you are unable to document to the third-party company.
 
The insurance I'm talking about is either an annual insurance that is taken out together with certain types of credit cards, loyalty cards and benefit cards. Insurance can also be taken out for each tenancy. It will be more expensive, but does not entail any deductions in the event of multiple injuries. If you rent a car through Finn.no og Norwegian.no, they connect you to the rental car portal Cartrawler which offers additional insurance through AXIS.
 
What the insurances have in common is that they cover "extra charges" that the rental car company may demand from you, but the extra costs must be carefully documented. You must be able to show all of them the following documents to cover the expenses:
 
1. Bring your credit card with you when picking up
When you collect the car, you must bring a credit card that covers the deposit required by the rental car company. The deposit can vary between NOK 3000 and 6000. Without a credit card, the rental car company requires you to take out full insurance with them In , which costs almost as much as the rent itself. In that case, you will not be reimbursed for the insurance you had taken out with the third-party company.
 
2. Take pictures of the lease.
In the event of damage, the insurance company requires you to show the original rental contract. It reveals whether you have taken out other additional insurance policies with the rental car company, and it confirms that a rental relationship has existed. Take pictures of the lease where your signatures and the amounts appear. In the event of damage, it is not uncommon for the customer recipient to make a note on your copy of the contract and take it with them. It has happened to both me and others I know. You can ask to be sent an electronic copy of the contract afterwards, but the easiest thing is to take pictures straight away.
 
3. Take pictures of the car on collection.
Take pictures of all 4 sides and above the car roof. Make sure that everything that can be unscrewed is present, such as the radio antenna and wheel covers. In the event of damage, the insurance company requires that you can document that the damage was not present at the time of collection.
 
4. Take pictures of the damage
I recommend taking pictures of the damage as soon as possible. You can of course wait until you deliver the car, but then it is not certain that you have good enough lighting conditions, or that there are other factors that destroy the image quality.
 
5. Take care of the invoice from the rental car company
In some cases, the rental car companies can offer you to pay for the damage upon delivery. In that case, the cost is calculated according to a template based on the size and scope of the damage. I have heard of cases where the customer has been offered to pay for another pro forma service instead of the actual damage to the counter. Perhaps it is easier to handle for the customer recipient, and perhaps there will be a lower amount to pay? - but such costs are not covered by your additional insurance. The most common is to have the invoice sent afterwards, as a letter or e-mail, - and then you can count on everything being specified correctly.
 
6. A copy of the driver's license of the person who was driving at the time of the accident must also be sent to the insurance company.
 

My damage consisted of a dent with no paint damage the size of a palm over the side list, a scratch of the lacquered side molding and a small dent under the list. I received an additional bill of €340 including a handling fee. Everything was covered by the additional insurance, which by the way cost a quarter of the damage (for a rental period of 15 days). Then you can ask yourself whether such insurance is worthwhile. Because as long as you have LDW, then er you are already sufficiently covered against the big bang. But considering that you always have to cover damage to the rental car - regardless of fault - and considering the careless parking culture of many big cities, I recommend additional insurance.

It allows you to lower your shoulders.

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