Rental car optional services

There is no need to get this. If the car is stolen under normal circumstances you'll be liable for the excess, this fee means you will not be liable for the excess.

However, car theft is rare in the UK, and what statistics there are are massively inflated by people committing insurance fraud - the actual numbers of cars taken is very small indeed. I never bother with any additional insurance beyond the most basic package.

Right, just lock the doors anytime you park and aren’t near the car. I’ve seen “special” coverage options for theft, as well as specifically for windshield and wheel damage, but haven’t taken it, nor needed it.

By the way, are you renting a basic car, or a Rolls Royce? Nondescript would seem to be less of a target, if there actually was a thief lurking about.

Maybe what’s being referred to is an ‘excess’? It’s possible to buy third party insurance policies to cover the excess. These are usually cheaper than the excess coverage offered by the rental company.

For coming to Scotland ensure you have coverage for wheels and tyres and some sort of breakdown/recovery coverage. Many, many visitors get punctures from being unfamiliar with driving on the left and straying into the frequent potholes, which can be difficult to see when full of rain water. In rural areas the roads are often in bad condition. We don’t have ‘shoulders’ like in the USA. As an B&B owner I have had to make calls for several guests who didn’t take the wheel/tyres/breakdown & recovery insurance. A single tyre fitted by a local garage who have to drive out many miles to reach your rental car can cost £400+.

By the way, many forum members over on the Scotland forum recommend using Arnold Clark (the largest car dealership and car rental company in Scotland) who also supply rental cars via Celtic Legend.

Now that Skyegirl has mentioned it, we rented from Arnold Clark a few years ago, picking up in Inverness, driving to Isle of Skye, and eventually dropping the off at the Edinburgh airport. I don’t recall whether there was any extra charge to do the one-way rental, rather than returning it to the office where we first got it, but if there was a charge, it wasn’t enormous, maybe £50. I would’ve remembered a large charge.

We didn’t buy insurance coverage as I recall, and managed to not blow a tire, dent a wheel, or wind up with a sheep as a hood ornament, even though there were several times on Skye where sheep were in the road!

Thanks for the helpful replies. Skyegirl, we defintely plan on getting extra coverage. I wasn't aware of third party possibilities.Cyn, we were looking into Arnold Clarke but we have an early morning flight and they charge 80 GBP fee for an airport dropoff before they open, which seems a bit steep. However, I have heard good things about Arnold Clark on a Scottish travel FB group. Still deciding.

Whilst getting third party insurance to cover excess fees for hire cars is very much available in the UK I'm not sure that it is in all other jurisdictions. You won't be able to buy it here if you are not a UK resident. Maybe there is an equivalent in North America but you would need to check.

It is an excellent product, especially for someone like me who usually hires cars outside the UK a few times a year and can buy annual cover. I had need to make a claim in February for damage to a hire car in Mallorca. 1,800 euros worth of damage refunded within 3 days of putting in a claim. For a c£65 annual fee.