Where to get your car rental insurance?

Buying the insurance when you pick up, will likely cost you close to €10 a day. If you book it in advance the rates will be around €4-€6.

But there are even better options! Keep on reading to find the option that works best for you.

Where to get your car insurance?

Pre-booking your insurance can save you a lot of money. But also here, there are different options.

When picking up the car (not recommended; €10 a day)
Online when booking the car (€4-€6 a day)
Using free car insurance from Revolut metal plan (€11.25 p/month, many other benefits)
External websites like IcarHireInsurance (from €3.30 a day)

If you only rent a car for a few days, it might be easier to just order the standard package offered by the booking website.

However, if you want to rent the car for a week or longer, you can also book a car insurance on external websites for much better prices. Or even better, receive free car insurance with the Revolut Metal plan (up to 30 days per trip) as one of the many benefits.

Tip #1 Free car insurance as a Revolut Metal plan cardholder

Revolut Card for car hire excess insurance

Planning to rent a car multiple times in a year?

Then make sure to check out the premium debit cards from Revolut and N26.

With the Metal plan of Revolut, you will get excess car damage insurance whenever you book the car rental with this card. The Metal plan costs just €13,99 a month or €135 if you pay upfront.

Besides car insurance, this metal plan comes with many extra advantages like travel insurance, mobile phone insurance, free cross-border transfers, free excess to airport lounges when your flight is delayed and many more extra perks.

Revolut is a fast-growing start-up in the UK, but also the the German start-up bank N26 offers this free car insurance with their card. I tried both premium plans, but I concluded that Revolut Metal Card offered more benefits for a lower price.

Tip #2 Book the car insurance at an external website

Not interested in all the extra benefits of the Revolut paymentcard? Another option is to book car insurance at an external booking website.

You can book these additional car insurances on travel insurance companies like Alliance, but this won’t really save you any money.

The real savings start when you book with a provider that solely focuses on car rental insurance. A friend of mine used iCarhireInsurance.com and managed to get cheap car rental insurance for only about 50 euros a year.

IcarhireInsurance also offers daily car insurance, starting at £3 (€3.30) a day. Even if you only rent a car for one week, it can already save you up tens of euros compared to booking directly with the car rental company.

Note that the actual price depends on your country of origin, the part of the world where you want to travel and potential add-ons to the basic coverage.

About the author(s)

Maarten

Based in Bali, Maarten’s passion for travel is undeniable. In 2016, he decided to quit his job as a stock analyst and started doing what he always dreamed of: travelling through South East Asia and helping other people plan their trips. When he is not working on Gecko Routes, you’ll find him surfing in the ocean or exploring the best gems of Indonesia.