Truck rental is not something that people have to do every day. Usually an event such as a breakdown or house move preceeds your need to rent a truck. The area that causes the most confusion is the issue of truck rental insurance. Most people do not understand how to approach their insurance company to organise a transfer. This guide is written with the Irish Truck rental market and insurance comanies in mind.
With a standard car policy your options for a transfer are limited. The reason for this is that your standard policy cannot be transferred onto any rental truck larger than 3,500kgs gross. This does not limit you to only vans, you can still drive rental trucks in this class.
What you need to ask your insurance company for is a Temporary Substitution, this puts the Rental Truck on cover while removing your car from cover. If you require to use your car at the same time you need to request a temporary addition. You will find that many insurance companies can be wary about adding a commercial rental vehicle to your policy. This is because of the higher risk premium attached to the vehicle. Generally you have a much higher chance of having a transfer approved if you are moving home and you should make the insurance company aware of this.
Using your own cover does have some advantages. Firstly, the excess you are operating on will be the same as what your car cover carries. THis will be lower than purchased insurance from the truck rental company. Secondly , quite often your car insurance company may well do the transfer for free.
To take Ireland as an example, it can be difficuly to organise an insurance tranfer onto a rental truck. The insurance companies have become more restrictive over the last 36 months and you will find that you are more likely to end up purchasing insurance from the truck rental company.
When purchasing insurance from a hire company, make sure you find out exactly what the insurance cover and what the excess level is. Also ask about the grace period that the truck insurance carries. This can vary between truck rental companies.
