Tripcover International is about to radically disrupt the car rental market with their latest excess insurance policy.
Launching in 2012, the startup’s first policy was a derivative of a travel insurance policy but, like existing travel insurance plans, there was limitations on what was covered and what was not. Their latest policy release, underwritten by Allianz, now covers ALL excess fees for ANY car rental damage including single vehicle accidents (SVA), windscreens, tyres, lights, undercarriage & overhead damage.

Now car rental customers can rent a car from any car rental company in Australia and internationally and know that they are completely covered for all the excess component of their rental. – The “excess” is the first $3000 or so, that the customer is required to pay in the event of an accident. The car rental companies offer to reduce this excess at the rental desk but at around $25 to $35 which is almost as much as the customer is paying for the rental. Tripcover’s rates start from $9.30 and reduce as the number of rental days increase.

Tripcover was the first standalone car rental excess insurance site in Australia and use their Australian and New Zealand mobile sites, websites and apps to allow rental customers to bypass the car rental companies’ expensive rates and purchase the car rental excess, even as they are picking up their rental, which is pretty cool.