When you hire a car, rental companies usually charge a high excess for any claims that arise from loss or damage to the rental vehicle. This excess can range from hundreds to over a thousand pounds per incident. So if you have an accident, or the vehicle is stolen, or damaged, you have to pay the excess amount to the car hire company, even if the incident wasn’t your fault! Most car hire companies will offer you Collision Damage Waiver Insurance, which enables you to remove or reduce the excess. This is nearly always very expensive and you will almost certainly be able to find similar cover cheaper – maybe even 60% cheaper.