Morning chaps
Off to Italy soon, not driving for the first time in 25 years, keeping the miles off the fatty and off me!
Need to hire a car from the airport for 25 days. Bit of minefield - only want an economy type thing.
Was getting quotes of circa £450/500 with insurance excesses of up to about £1800 with a massive lump extra to lower them. Did some digging on Martyn Lewis' expert site - they link to 3/4 comparison sites. All of a sudden there are quotes falling over themselves around the £300/350 mark with cdw of say £1000 (one is autoclick via holiday autos via kayak.co.uk). They also offer excess insurance via Axa for about £55 where you can claim back any excess you end up paying for damage in full. Italian hire companies notorious for spurious damage claims on returning car according to several friends/family - so we will be doing a video walkaround before and after.
There has to be a catch - yet after loads of digging I am struggling to find one.
Thoughts?
Thanks 2007 Vogue TDV8 with 255/55/20's fitted

Separate excess insurance is a must in my opinion. I rent cars for work about 6 times/year and always take out an annual policy. Last one cost me about £30 for the year. Rental companies diss them saying that you have to pay then claim back but I got details (and discount) for this from the MSE site which I think gives it a bit more credibility..

In Ravello now - the worldwide annual excess policy is a good shout- a FFRR up here is not-only small cars can navigate these roads filled with outrageous Italian drivers!

I'm currently in Spain on holiday and am renting a decent-ish car via an online comparison site (Do You Spain) with Europcar.

Not only is the hire cost less, but the insurance is a considerable saving. Europcar wanted nearly £300 extra for 12 days 'no quibble' insurance. I found the same via the online place for £65. Si. <This is my name.

I eat rat poison.

A man ain't truly been insulted until he stands buck naked in front of a woman and she didn't even notice. Or care.

Just back from Italy last month. We rented a 500 using Autoclick, which we picked up at Bologna airport. Even paying the full, all singing, all dancing insurance so I had no liability whatsoever, came in at less than £200 for the full week. 2004 Vogue TD6 - Remapped
2008 Porsche Cayenne S
1998 Lotus Elise

We're in Spain currently and have hired a Citroen Cactus which is actually a bloody good drive... friends are here too and have hired a Fiat 500 which is soooooooo woefully underpowered and small it's not even funny!
Cost for nearly 3 weeks was a touch over £400 and I am fully covered for any damages included in that 👍

Hope that helps

We're not long back.
Had the usual about trying to add on the extra insurance including 'no breakdown cover'.
Ended up paying a bit extra but not the full CDW.
Somewhere around 500 euros for 25 days but upgraded to a Golf bluemotion thing which was as boring as hell but did its job admirably. As it turned out I did about 900km back and forth to Bologna airport several times, Ikea runs, the whole lot.
Just awaiting the barclaycard statement to ensure they havent tried it on with the battered and bruised-ness that was the Golf as it came to me!!!!! 2007 Vogue TDV8 with 255/55/20's fitted

picked up a car at Stockholm airport, Toyota hybrid nastiness thing, the damage report noted a few small wheel dings, they tried it on with the extra cover to reduce the excess, didn't accept, "but what if you have an accident sir,for £21 per day you can reduce the excess to zero" .......so £210 for the hire period..... to reduce a £700 excess, so I would only save £490 in the event I did crash, and in the event I don't I would be £210 worse off

had a walk around, and there was a whacking great scuff on the rear quarter, so I got them to note that, photos etc and, guess what, I didn't crash it, because I can drive properly, and generally don't have accidents every 10 days, and so far I've not seen any charges extra for the damage I didn't cause! There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Just to revisit this - we are off later in the week. Shorter holiday this time but managed to get the hire car via BA for an astonishing £110 for the two weeks. Not the smallest car they do either - its an astra estate or similar. 2007 Vogue TDV8 with 255/55/20's fitted

We go in two weeks- was it british airways you used for a car??

I have had an annual policy for the last few years with “insurance 4carhire.com�. It has been £39.99 for at least the last 3 years. I have never needed to claim, but still seems good value for peace of mind.
Mike. G reg 2.5VM Vogue Portofino red 1991- 1999
V reg 2.5td P38 Rioja red 1999- 2006
53 reg td6 Vogue Oslo blue 2006- 2015
11 reg 4.4 TdV8 Vogue SE. Baltic blue 2015- date.
https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic56162...tty+affair

Arrived at Venice airport recently having booked a car via Expedia. Got to the desk and they told me breakdown wasn't covered and tried to sell me extra cover (I already have annual hire car excess insurance). We had a tricky exchange in which I tried to express my view that if their car that I'd paid for broke down, that wasn't really my fault. Didn't get anywhere and was left totally unsure who would foot the recovery bill should it have happened. Fortunately it didn't but I'll be careful next time to watch out for this nonsense. 2016 Skoda Octavia VRS Estate
<gone>2009 FF Vogue TDV8 Buckingham Blue</gone>
<gone>2015 BMW 520D SE (not my favourite car)</gone>
<gone>2009 D3 HSE Galway Green</gone>

Just to weigh in on car hire , I've had a bit of experiance with car hire in Gatwick in the last few years and would like to warn people to stay clear of a crowd called Green Motion. Truly a nightmare and they should be hiring horses and Stetsons instead of cars !!!!! 2015 4.4 AB
GSXR 1000 K5
R1 1998

Might as well all chip in with horror stories
Abridged version of the saga that I'm in the middle of, Alicante Airport May this year, Go Record car rental booked through "do you Spain" and I have my own annual excess policy.
I returned the car and after a torchlight examination they found a tiny chip on the front bumper " That will be 231 Euros sir",
I couldn't be bothered to argue as I have the excess insurance. Their printer "wasn't working" so they couldn't provide a receipt or any other paperwork but they would Email it to me - they didn't but they did put £485 on my credit card. I've had no response from them but Barclaycard have refunded my money until GO RECORD justify their bill.

Alicante are know for their shady tactics. We hired from an offsite company a few years back, I missed some damage on the rear tailgate handle, at this point you are in their locked compound, , pay up £280 or we call the police basically, complete & utter shower of sh*ts. Had an annual excess policy, bit of a ball ache but got the money back eventually.

Mate of mine got hit for £576 for rim damage last year at Alicante, again the common thread is be very wary & always pay by credit card, he disputed and I think is still waiting on them..

We've now found a local guy with a fleet of older cars, 10 euros per day all in, couldn't give a rats ass if they get scratched either..