Now I don’t want to be cynical but I cannot work out why Europcar do not include any rates for their excess and the rates to buy down my exposure.

http://www.europcar.com.au/EBE/module/render/liability-buy-down

Their latest site has the tagline “moving your way”. Well if they were moving my way ans the way of the trades practices act they would be including their rates with full disclosure
of any fees on top so that I can make an informed decision.

I have emailed them the following below and am still waiting for their reply stay tuned.

     Can you tell me the excess I would be up for and how much does
     each buy down cost?

     BTY I am wondering why you simply do not have these rates on your website??

     Regards

     Des XS

Europcar’s reply:

Thank you for your enquiry,

We are unable to respond from this address in relations to your enquiry; however we
are more than happy to assist you with your requirements by  contacting us on the
following for an immediate answer.
   Contact Europcar Reservations Centre by Phone

When I rang the reservation centre and asked them if they would send me the buy-down rates to reduce their excess she refused, offering to just tell me over the phone.

Oops we had a little accident with our new billboard this morning.
A rental car hit it. I hope the driver had their car rental excess covered. Posted 1 April

Posted by vBoards

Lean, Clean, Cash Machine

TravelTrends article 06/03/2013
Aussie travel net vet Des Sherlock is back with a new website called Tripcover.com.au, which sells discounted car hire excess insurance.

Des says his site dramatically undercuts the excess insurance offered by Hertz, Budget, Thrifty (not hard) and that business is growing strongly.

“Sales were up 40% in February and by this time next year I think we will have doubled,” Des says.

Car hire companies charge customers $22 to $27 a day to bring their insurance excess down to $300. ….more

There’s a new app that allows you to beat the car rental giants’ (such as Avis, Hertz, Europcar, etc), expensive car hire insurance trap. Now users of iPhone and Android smart phones can save over 60% in just three taps after you download the App.

Beat The Car Rental Trap

You know the drill, you are at the car rental desk and surprise, surprise, the staff ask; “would you like to reduce your $4000 excess by just paying $33 per day?” It’s tempting right, but very expensive! Well what if you could insure that $4000 rental excess from as little as $5.51 per day? (new rates coming by mid January 2013)

Desmond Sherlock , the GM of Tripcover.com.au believes their new App will make it even easier for Australians and overseas visitors to still get the peace-of-mind that excess insurance provides, while on the go and save a bundle. “We’ve been involved in the car rental industry for 15 years and we see this rental trap as the #1 pain point for renters. We’ve designed our car rental excess product in partnership with one of the world’s largest insurance companies, Allianz, to bring it down under”.

iPhone and Android Apps

Sherlock added, “At present this is the only app of its kind, globally, so, as a small Queensland company it is nice to be ahead of the crowd, for now!”

Do we treat hire cars the same as we treat our own cars? There have long been jokes about the invincibility of rental cars. Like most jokes, they are funny because they are based in reality. For some reason, the urge to drive a hire car slightly more aggressively than you drive your own is something that fills even the most meek driver. Why? Because hey, why not? more

(Generic email I have sent to some car rental companies in Australia) 

Hello Sir/Madam,

I know this is a bit left of field and I feel like I am entering into the lion’s den,
but I just thought I would seek out some feedback on our product from a
car rental supplier’s view point, such as yours.

I was thinking, why wouldn’t the suppliers want to finally get on the good side of
their customers and offer them the option of using two excess products.
That is, your premium  product and a low cost or budget product?
Low cost, because customers’ credit cards would be charged if they have an accident
and then they would have to make the claim through the insurer direct.

Instead of looking at it like eating into your market you could look at it growing the excess insurance market  (from less than 50% to say 75%) by offering the two products and become more endearing to your customers, and regulators to boot .

In the research I have done to date, there is not a car rental customer that I have asked about this issue that does not recognise it as the elephant in the room (or rental desk) .
Some car rental excess insurance customers comments:

Anyway, it seem to me that the winds of change are afoot here, in the context of excess cover,  (over the next 5-10 years) We all know what has happened to companies like Kodak, Fairfax, Sony (walkman), blackberry, and a  litany of incumbents that failed to see the writing on the wall until it was too late.

We had an article in the Age and SMH Traveller on Tripcover on the weekend just past:
Sherlock Cracks The Case

Anyway, thanks for your time and as usual any feedback would be much appreciated.
(it might be just interesting for us both to have this email on file over the next 5 years to see how close I was, after all it sounds far fetched today but then again that is the nature of change, I reckon)

Kind regards,

Des Sherlock
General Manager

CAR RENTAL EXCESS INSURANCE Managed by Allianz Global Assistance      Suite 243, 1B 192 Ann Street Brisbane QLD Australia 4000 des@tripcover.com.au 0417  712  601