Growth of New Insurance Category in Australia

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Over the last 4 years there has been the sprouting of a new category in Australia in the car insurance – car rental industry, that of car rental excess insurance.

Initiated  by Des and Steve Sherlock of Tripcover, at the start of 2012, it now includes some 5 players in the Australian market. They inlcude:

  1. Tripcover – Car Rental Excess Insurance
  2. Allianz Rental Vehicle Excess Cover
  3. Hiccup
  4. Rental Cover
  5. Car Trawler

This category has the potential to eat into the large profits that the car rental companies have been enjoying for decades. What is different about this category is that unlike using
travel insurance or credit cards to hope you are covered for what you think you should be covered for, this car rental excess insurance is designed specifically for  competing head to head with the car rental companies.

The main difference between the insurance product and the car rental companys’ product, is that in the event of an accident you would need to claim with the insurers such as Allianz Global Assistance, QBE, whereas if you use the more expensive car rental companies waiver (CDW) they handle any damage issues.

And by expensive we mean very expensive. The car rental companies waiver can cost as much if not more than the rental per day with the car rental excess insurance supplied by Tripcover coming in as low as $5.60 per day.

The category has seen amazing growth over the last 4 years with estimates that some
$12M in sales in the last financial year, from these companies. This represents about 200,000 policies sold out of 6.5M rentals in Australia per year or around of 3% of the market so far.

It is predicted that by 2020 the car rental excess insurance market in Australia will be 10% of the car rental market, worth $38M.

We Recommend Not to Use This Car Rental Company

Latest posts on ProductReview from one of our customers tells two tales sad and sorry tale of abuse and bad behavior from a car rental company and a happy ending by using Tripcover

Here is the review the same customer left about Tripcover and Allianz Global Assistance team.
Tripcover Product Review by Jun L

Excellent Service
5 out of 5, reviewed on Feb 21, 2016

“I’ve registered for Tripcover’s insurance cover prior to renting a car while on holiday in Australia.

After wrongly accused of causing damages on a car I’ve rented which the damages are there to begin with, the car rental company had charged AUD 1k worth of repair costs. It was a stressful situation to be in where the rental company doesn’t respond in an appropriate manner and take accountability of solving the dispute.

Tripcover provided excellent customer service and my insurance claim was settled within their specified assessment days. Tripcover has made an otherwise stressful situation, hopeful. I would recommend Tripcover to anyone who is looking for insurance cover on car rentals and not pay the high excess charge offered by rental companies”.

Out of 410 reviews Europcar has 1.4 stars.
Read for yourselves and make your own judgement:
Europcar on Product Review by Jun L

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Car rental scam charging $1000 for damages

1 out of 5, reviewed on Feb 21, 2016,

“Used this awful car rental service (Europcar) in October last year and that will be the first and the last.

In short, I was accused of causing damages to the vehicle, rear bumper, windshield, dents in the car when returning the car at Melbourne airport. The car was given with damages in on the day of rental itself but the staff over at St Kilda office failed to note them down in the rental agreement even though they have, in person, came and look at the the car with me. Fortunately, I have snapped photos with a time stamp to capture this. Unfortunately though, when the photos were sent to Europcar as part of the dispute settlement, they do not own up to it by not responding.

Horrible service and unethical practices. Do not use this SCAM of a car rental company”.

Easy to book and understand!

http://www.autogaleria.hu -
Latest Product Review
5 out of 5, reviewed on Jan 27, 2016,

“Have just booked Tripcover insurance for the first time and hope it won’t be necessary to make a claim! I’ve been disgusted with all of the car rental companies prices for insurance – basically doubling (or more) the daily rental car rate – what a rip off! If all goes well, will continue to use this service.”

Car Rental Excess Insurance Made…..Too Easy!

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Latest Product Review by Bernie on Tripcover – Car Rental Excess Insurance

5 out of 5, reviewed on Jan 05, 2016,

“Having been offered ‘Total Protection’ by the hire company I decided to look around for a company that wouldn’t double my hire costs. I found Tripcover via my own car insurer and was very pleasantly surprised at the reasonable cost and options and the simplicity of creating the cover I wanted. Hopefully I won’t actually NEED it but I’ll be back on site after my hire period to complete my review”.

This is awesome…Economical solution for rental Excess

Crashing dollar
Latest post from a customer on Product Review for car rental excess insurance
“I have been using this since I have been in Australia since 2014 and trust me but this is an amazing service. This not only helps to reduce the Excess but the policy provides more coverage than the one usually provided by the rental companies…..Also, this is an great economical option considering the cost at which the service is provided with an additional personal theft cover & relocation cover.By gods grace I have not yet required to log a claim however, I am pretty confident that this would be hassle free considering this is being managed by a reputed company like “Allianz”

Great policy, great features and amazing economical cost….”

Car Rental Giant’s ‘Collision Damage Monopoly’ Under Pressure from Insurance Backed Startups

PR4

Global insurance companies in Australia have the major car rental giants in their sights as they continue to make inroads into the car rental insurance monopoly or Collision Damage Waiver  (CDW) as it is called in the industry.

Companies like Allianz Global Assistance, AXA, Chubb and QBE are partnering with next generation startups that allow consumers to conveniently insure their rental cars at a fraction of the cost of the rental companies……more>

Another Kangaroo Review….

Australia Northern Territory outback Kangaroo road sign
5 out of 5, reviewed on Nov 02, 2015
http://www.productreview.com.au/r/tripcover/830125.html
Though we only went to Darwin for 11-days, I thought not to take a chance of taking extra insurance that is reasonable and affordable. I must admit I had apprehension in taking insurance. Often I heard dodgy stories but after searching online review, Tripcover appeared on the toplist and opted to take insurance through them. We hired a car through Thrifty but unfortunately our car was hit by kanga roo on our way to Katherine Gorge and damaged and split the front skirt. Upon our return, I rang Tripcover and reported the incident. Immediately they sent me the Claim # and all the requirements. I submitted all the official and necessary documents to expedite my claim. Within 5-working days, I was refunded all the expense I incurred. Tripcover has kept to its standard of honesty and integrity….I’ll definitely make another transaction again with them in our future trip and would highly recommend. Thanks to all Tripcover staff as each of those I talked to, were very helpful…”

A Typical Greedy Car Rental Company

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Check this out and see why finding an alternative to the car rental companies’ insurance is a necessity. If you have ever rented a car in Australia or New Zealand you will notice the sinking feeling you get while at the rental desk.

We have been in the car rental industry for over 15 years and the one thing that we found that the customer hated is dealing with the insurance.

Below are the rates of a typical greedy car rental company for their CDW
(Collision Damage Waiver – they are not allowed to refer to it as insurance)

  • They leave you with $6000 liability
  • For $38 a day they reduce your liability to $1100
  • For $49 a day they will reduce your liability to $550

That can be more than the rental itself!

Alternatively Tripcover’s rates start from $9.30 per day with a $300 excess and
reduces down to $5.61 over a 15 day rental.

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