Zero Excess Liability and Excess Reimbursement Insurance Explained

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Zero Excess Liability | ERI | Differences | Which one do I have? | Top Up Insurance

Car hire insurance can sound complicated and daunting but it really doesn’t have to be. Booking your car hire through us ensures that one way or another your excess is covered. Your excess is simply the amount of money you’d be required to pay in the event of any damage.

To make sure you’re not left footing the bill, we have two main ways of covering you, one of which is included with every booking. These are:

• Zero Excess Liability
• Excess Reimbursement Insurance (ERI)

Zero Excess Liability

Zero Excess Liability is what we try to provide with all our bookings. It offers maximum peace of mind in the case of a collision with another vehicle. In the case of an accident, you won’t have to pay the excess, providing you follow the correct procedure which we’ve outlined below.

This kind of protection doesn’t always cover every bit of the car though, damage to certain parts of the car are excluded. This is normally bits like the wheels, tyres and glass parts. You should always check with us to be sure.

I’ve got Zero Excess liability and I’ve had an accident, what do I do?

1. Contact the provider and let them know. Their contact details are on your car hire voucher. If you can’t get hold of the provider, let us know.
2. Complete a damage report on the car, take photos of the damage, the roads, find witnesses as evidence
3. Obtain a police report immediately, this is essential
4. If a third party is involved, get their details too

If you follow all these steps properly and you haven’t been negligent, you won’t be liable to pay the excess for the collision.

Excess Reimbursement Insurance (ERI)

Sometimes known as Excess Protection, ERI allows you to be reimbursed for the insurance excess should your hire car be damaged or stolen.

Excess Reimbursement Insurance allows you to claim back the excess amount after you return home. You’ll still have to pay the excess at first, but as soon as you get home you can claim this money back. This process is really simple and easy to do.

I’ve got Excess Reimbursement Insurance and I’ve had an accident, what do I do?

1. Inform the provider immediately, their contact details are on your car hire voucher. If you can’t get hold of the provider, let us know instead
2. Complete a damage report, take pictures of the car, the road conditions, any third parties involved and find good witnesses
3. Obtain a police report straight away, this is essential, you may need this as evidence

If you follow these steps properly and you haven’t been negligent. You should be able to claim back the excess.

Key differences

These types of cover ultimately aim to protect your excess after an accident, they work slightly differently to do this. Here’s some of the key differences between them.

How can I tell which one I’ve got?

After booking: You can check on the car hire voucher you received on the page titled “Rental Conditions” under the heading “Insurance”.

While booking: See which kind of cover you’ve got under the “What’s included when you rent with Zest” heading in the right hand panel.

What about Top Up insurance?

Top up insurance is the ultimate cover available when you book your hire car through us. It provides reimbursement cover against any loss or damage to your hire car, including the bits not normally covered.

Quick Notes

Car hire insurance is complicated, we’ve tried to make everything as clear and easy as possible but if you’ve got any questions always feel free to get in touch with us. If you’ve ever got any doubts about something, get in touch and we’ll clear everything up.

What do we mean by “negligent”?

By negligence we simply mean cases where the proper care hasn’t been taken. An example of this is driving your hire car off-road.

About the author: Luke

Luke’s passion for giving customers what they want is evident in his specialised consumer advice blogs. He’s always looking for the next piece of advice to give travellers.