Van Hire Excess Insurance

Insurance for Van Hire Excess

Protect yourself against any excess charges for your van hire and rental through a van hire excess insurance policy. Excess charges on hire vehicles such as vans can end up being ruinously expensive. This sets out to protect you from the financial burden of excess claims by reimbursing any excess claims made on the insurance policy of the van that you hired.

Compare van hire excess insurance quotes

A van hire excess insurance policy will allow you to claim back the cost of any excess claims, up to an agreed upon maximum level of cover. If you take out a van hire excess insurance policy, the insurer will reimburse you the amount that you had to pay out, rather than paying directly for the costs.

For most van hire excess insurance UK policies, a hired van is classified as:

A vehicle not exceeding 3.5 tonnes in unladen weight, which is to say when it is not carrying any passengers, goods or other items
Hired from a rental company for a short-term contract
Has a maximum of 8 seats plus the driver

Whilst every van hire excess insurance policy is different, the standard things covered by a policy include:

Ability to add additional named drivers to the policy (most policies will insist other drivers are named to ensure cover)
Only cover non-commercial use, such as renting a van to move your own furniture. Most van hire excess insurances do not cover commercial uses unless specifically stated
Most policies will insure cover for upto 60 day rental periods, although this figure does vary
Fire, theft and vandalism excess cover is typically included
Excess cover for repair or replacement for tyres and windscreen is usual, as well as cover against damage to the windows, roof, undercarriage and lights.

What typically isn’t covered on a van hire excess insurance policy?

As previously mentioned, most van hire excess insurance policies only cover non-commercial uses of the vehicle, so will not provide cover if the vehicle has been used for a commercial purpose.

This is similarly true for most policies if an unnamed driver is driving at the time of an accident. Many insurers will also insist that the policyholder is the lead driver stated on the rental agreement.

There will be restrictions on the age and value of the vehicle, so ensure to check your vehicle is compliant. Some insurers will also only provide cover if the insurance is arranged before the van has been collected.

Typically, the Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI) will be included within the rental agreements, rather than in the excess cover insurance, but ensure you check the paperwork.