Car Hire - Daily Insurance, why pay more?

As some of you will know, my beloved car of 11 years died two weeks ago. Despite attempts to revive it, it was pronounced well and truly dead last week (after a cost of £350!!).

In order to ensure my housebound disabled mother still gets out to the shops, hospital and doctor's appointments, I have needed to hire a car.

Last week, I did so a day before I needed it and took out their insurance cover. At a cost of £52.00. Today I repeated the same approach for a hire on Thursday, firstly booking the car in advance meant I paid £34.85 for a 24 hour hire and sourced an online insurance, which provides a waiver for the costs associated with hiring a car and especially the small print for £2.50, where Europcar charged me £12.00 for their one.

Total cost of the hire for Thursday £37.35 a saving of £14.65.

So my advice if you need to hire a car.

Call the central number and ask for a quote for car hire, as many days as you can in advance. Don't go into the car hire shop itself at the last minute, you will definitely pay more, as they will financially exploit your need.

Don't accept their offer of insurance, this will be at a vastly overpriced rate. I found www.carhire-excess-insurance.com, who offer a supremely good cover for £2.50 but other insurers might be available and cheaper.