Understanding Fuel and Insurance When Hiring a Car

[Auto Europe]

Fuel and insurance are often two of the most misunderstood issues when it comes to hiring a car. In this article we try to shed some light on these topics!

Fuel Policy

There are two main types of fuel policies in the car hire industry: "full to full" and "full to empty". For many years, "full to full" was the norm. With this type of fuel policy, clients were given the car with a full tank and had to return it with a full tank, thus avoiding any fuel charges by the rental company. Nowadays, most low cost car hire companies work with a "full to empty" fuel policy, under which the client is charged for the initial tank of fuel at pick up and no refund is given for unused fuel.

Things to consider:

a) Companies with a "full to full" policy often - though not always - have higher rental prices than companies with a "full to empty" fuel policy.
b) When you have to pay for the initial tank of fuel, you should expect to pay more per litre of fuel than you would if you refuelled the car yourself. This happens because the companies charge a refuelling fee on top of the fuel price.
c) If you hire a car with a "full to full" fuel option, it is extremely important that you return the car with the same amount of fuel, or the company will charge you for the refuelling. In this situation, the price per litre of fuel will also be significantly higher than if you had refuelled the vehicle yourself.

On the Auto Europe site, you can always see the relevant fuel policy before booking, by clicking on "Product Information" under each result displayed by our booking engine. In order to improve the visibility of the fuel policy in destinations where this issue is more relevant - such as Spain, Portugal or Italy - we've recently added a fuel filter that allows clients to see straight away which fuel policy applies and to sort results by either "Pick up Full & Return Full" or "Pre-purchased Fuel & Return Empty".

Understanding insurance

The basic hire rate always includes all the mandatory insurance for you to drive a car in a given country. This insurance includes an excess, which is the amount for which the client is responsible in case of an accident. Normally, the deposit required from the client at pick-up is the Excess + Fuel + VAT.

There are elements of the car not covered by the basic insurance. These normally include things such as windows, wheels and tyres. You should be able to find a comprehensive list of exclusions on the Terms and Conditions of the car you're looking at. These exclusions are an industry-wide practice and car hire companies offer extra insurance locally to cover those items, as well as extra insurance to reduce the excess.

Generally speaking, extra insurance offered locally is optional and clients are normally under no obligation to take it on. However, the most common situation where clients have to take on extra insurance is if they have no credit card in which the supplier can block the deposit. All the major car hire companies and many of the local ones require the client to present an international credit card in the name of the main driver when picking up a car. In the absence of a credit card, some suppliers allow the client to take on extra insurance in order to reduce the excess and thus forego the need for a deposit. Attention: Some suppliers will refuse the car if the client doesn't have a credit card in the name of the main driver.

Auto Europe has two products to deal with excess. Zero Excess, where available, is automatically included in the basic rate for the vehicle, and basically means you don't have to worry about having to pay the normal excess in case of an accident. Because some items are not covered - again, you can find a complete list of exclusion in the T&C - you will still need to leave a deposit, but it will be much lower than otherwise.

The second product is called Excess Refund and while sometimes this is already included in the basic rate, other times it is considered an extra and you are given the option to include it in your rental when booking online. The Excess Refund does not eliminate the excess, so a deposit will still be necessary. With Excess Refund, Auto Europe will refund you the excess amount in case of an accident. In order for you to make a successful claim, it is extremely important that you provide all the necessary documentation (a list of which can be found on the voucher).

I hope you found this article interesting! You are welcome to leave your comments or questions in the comments section below, or come pay us a visit on Facebook or Twitter ;)