This is a subject which causes a great deal of confusion with customers who are hiring cars in the UK.
As a result of many options available to you are never confident what you can afford to [refuse decline] and what you must have.
Seasoned can often get confused with this.
I am going to cover the part relating to customers coming in from Canada to the UK. In North America many credit card companies offer additional benefits with their card. Car hire insurance cover is one of these benefits . Very often car rental customers from North America when booking a car in the UK will ask that the car rental company insurance is not included in the price as they have insurance with their credit card company.
The car rental company would only consider this if the credit card was a Gold card or a Platinum card, as these cards can cover, the whole cost of the car.
As a car renter you should be aware of this. If you choose to use a Gold card for example to cover the insurance and you are involved in an accident. If the damage to the car was extensive and the car had to be replaced, the car hire company would take the total cost of replacing a car from the credit card.
To have his money paid back the renter would have to contact his credit card companies insurance.
If you have an ordinary credit card, not the Gold or Platinum card, you can still offset insurance cost by making use of the credit card cover on your credit card . I am referring to the deductible when mentioning the insurance cost. Damage excess is referred to in Canada as a deductible. Briefly this the maximum sum of money that the car rental company will hold you responsible for if the vehicle is damaged . The amount is likely to be in the viscinity of GBP 600.00.
You cannot directly use your credit card to cover the excess in these circumstances. You would decline the optional insurance that would be offered by the car rental company representative. The representative would authorise your card for all the excess amount. If the car was returned damaged they would deduct the cost of the repair from your card up to the maximum amount of the excess. You would then use your credit card insurance to claim the excess amount back.
Various independent car rental companies will offer you cheaper insurance packages .
See Prestwick Airport Car Hire