Over two million people booked a holiday last week according to ABTA and for those planning several breaks with the use of a hire car, iCarhireinsurance.com, the award-winning car hire insurance broker, recommends that consumers should also purchase an annual policy for excess car hire insurance at the same time..........

......which could save up to £400 a year* (enough to pay for a mini winter sun break!).

Travellers often feel compelled to buy their car hire excess insurance from the rental company on arrival as they pick up their car, which is usually from £17 a day*, with 83% not realising they could purchase it from another supplier and over two thirds (71%) not knowing that this insurance is significantly more expensive than they could buy elsewhere (YouGov research 2011*).

“By the time people have a week’s break in February, a week at Easter and perhaps two weeks in the summer, they could well have spent over £400 on excess car hire insurance if they buy it from the car rental company compared with buying a one off annual policy from £39.99 with iCarhireinsurance.com,” said Ernesto Suarez, CEO and founder of iCarhireinsurance.com.

“We don’t begrudge sales staff at car rental desks trying to earn commission selling excess car hire insurance but we do begrudge the exorbitant cost, which is on average over 80% (see Table 1) more than buying the insurance direct from iCarhireinsurance.com. We recommend you put your hard earned cash to better use and have a free holiday in the autumn instead with the £400 saved.”

Many customers are unaware, until they collect their hire car, that in the event of damage or theft, even if it’s not their fault, they are liable for excess charges of up to £2000. At this point, unless they purchase excess protection from the rental-desk, they are left exposed. These policies are usually expensive, approximately £17 a day (see Table 1) and limited in scope.

Ernesto Suarez, CEO and founder of iCarhireinsurance.com, said: “Even a small chip on a windscreen or a scratch down the side of the car can leave people liable for hundreds of pounds if they don’t have an excess insurance policy. Our advice is simple - buy before you fly - to get the best excess car hire cover, at the most economical price and put the money saved towards another holiday.” iCarhireinsurance.com’s excess insurance also protects vulnerable parts of the rental vehicle that are usually excluded by the rental companies’ policies. As well as annual policies from £39.99, iCarhireinsurance.com also offers daily cover from £2.99.

Key Benefits of Stand-Alone Car Hire Excess Policies:

• Annual or Daily cover
• Protect yourself against excess charges for damage and theft
• Cover for damage to areas usually excluded by the rental company such as windscreens, tyres, roof and undercarriage
• European or Worldwide coverage
• UK automatically included for UK residents
• No distance from home restrictions
• Cover for additional drivers named on the rental agreement

For more information please contact:

• Frances Knox, Frankly PR, Tel: +44 7850 470 123 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Or Ben Wooltorton, Sales and Marketing Director, Halo Insurance Services Ltd
• Tel: +44 7739 719 570 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Survey: The research was undertaken for iCarhireinsurance.com by YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2007 adults, of which 1103 had hired a car. Fieldwork was undertaken between 1 - 4 April 2011. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

Notes to Editors:

iCarhireinsurance.com Prices

Table 1 : Excess Insurance cost for UK resident renting a VW Golf class car in Barcelona (Barcelona Airport) for a three day rental from 06.04.2012 – 09.04.2012

* Daily / ** Daily + 100 Excess

• Therefore average daily excess from the rental companies sampled is €21.20 / £17.58
• This compares with iCarhireinsurance.com excess insurance at £2.99 a day, which gives an 83% saving.
• The £400 saving illustration is based on a customer renting in peak times in Europe over 3 separate periods totalling 28 rental days. At an average cost of £15.75 per day the customer would pay a total of £441, which is £401.01 more than the £39.99 they would pay for an Annual Excess Europe policy with iCarhireinsurance.com

Conversion calculated on 13 January 2012 : 1 EUR = 0.8306 GBP : 1 GBP = 1.2047 EUR

Background on iCarhireinsurance.com:

Founded in 2009, iCarhireinsurance.com is a groundbreaking new online insurance service that takes the hassle out of hire car, car club and van hire insurance. It offers a range of policies that are fully comprehensive, simple to understand, unbeatable value and accepted at all car and van rental locations worldwide. iCarhireinsurance.com is a registered trading name of Halo Insurance Services Limited. Halo Insurance Services Ltd was founded by Ernesto Suarez, a leading insurance professional with 13 years experience in the industry. Halo Insurance Services Limited is registered in England number 6929208. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority Register No. 504629 for the sale and administration of general insurance products in the United Kingdom and throughout the European Economic Area (EEA). Halo Insurance Services won Broker Innovation of the Year at the 2011 Insurance Times Awards. Halo Insurance Services Ltd is backed by Bridges Ventures and Magenta Partners. www.icarhireinsurance.com