Car Insurance In Eu

[iloveglee]

Does anyone know how to obtain insurance to cover the cost of car hire in Europe in the case of accident. We are taking our car to France and Spain and our policy covers us for cost of damage to our and other cars, but does not cover the cost of a replacement car when out of the UK. Is it possible to get a stand alone policy for this eventuality.

[VHG]

Surely your insurance company can offer this (at a cost).

Or try the AA or RAC web sites.

[EDDIE51]

Would this not be covered by your travel insurance along with health care costs and the rest ?

[iloveglee]

don't think travel insurance covers this kind of thing as its primarily medical insurance. I will have a look at the policy though because i'm not sure what criteria are operated for cancellation or curtailment of the holiday. I have been in touch with our car insurance company, we can get an optional extra to cover the cost of car rental in case of accidents but this only applies to the UK not Europe. our Honda happiness policy with the aa does cover for car rental in case of breakdown but only for 3 days. this would be enough to get us home but would mean loss of the holiday.

[EDDIE51]

There are many different types of travel insurance , you get what you pay for. Some are only for medical needs others cover loss of luggage and extra travel costs, you need one that covers excess travel cost so you can use it to hire another car. But beware you may pay nearly as much as the hire cost anyway if you go 'over the top' with insurance.
Have you though about taking a cheap flight and then hiring a car ? it may work out cheaper.

[iloveglee]

the plan was to do a road tour as part of the holiday so taking a flight and hiring a car wouldnt be much help - especially as we are going to be away for five weeks. normally flying and car rental is the way we go but this is a different type of trip for us. after much phoning around to honda/dealer/rac we have managed to discover that we are covered for 3 days car rental should we have an accident so if the worst came to the worst it would at least get us to where we are going and minimise the amount of time we need to rent a car for. the car is less than a year old so it would be very bad luck to break down but of course no-one can legislate for the stupid things other drivers do even if you are careful yourself. having looked at our travel policy it covers for medical events and cancellation/curtailment etc due to health problems or emergencies with family members. we dont usually take expensive travel cover for europe because the european health card is very comprehensive in many countries. i think the answer to our question is probably no we cant get a stand alone policy - something possibly for insurance companies to consider!!

[jake-the-peg]

I think all the main Breakdown organisations offer this sort of policy - are you with the RAC or AA or the like have you not tried them?