What is damage liability waiver?

Damage liability waiver (sometimes called collision damage waiver or CDW) is a form of insurance that affects the risks and exposures of someone hiring a car.

If you are renting a car then in many countries it will come with certain insurance included in the price. This insurance may be limited to third party or it may include some cover for damage to the rented vehicle itself via protection against theft. Whether it is just third party or third party and theft, you as the renter need to be aware that any collision damage to the rented vehicle itself will NOT be covered and you will have to pay for it should it happen.

Understandably, many renters are uneasy about the possibility of having an accident that could result in massive bills for rental vehicle repair being presented to them. To avoid this, many car hire companies now also include in the basic rental price, something called damage liability waiver. What this does is offer the renter some insurance protection for any damage that occurs to the hired vehicle.

Even where this cover is not included in the basic hire price, the car rental company will most likely offer it to you as a chargeable extra.

It is worth noting through that damage liability waiver does not always cover exactly the same thing as it can vary between companies. In some cases the car rental company will exclude from this cover accidents arising to areas of the car such as the roof, wheels, tyres and windscreens. They may also state that the insurance carries what is called excess – this is an amount of money (typically between 500-1500pounds sterling) that you the renter will be expected to pay as the first part of any accident and claim arising.

It is possible to reduce the excess payable by paying the car hire company for top-up insurance that is sometimes called ‘supercover’ or ‘super CDW’. You may also be able to pay to secure some form of cover for those parts of the vehicle typically excluded from ‘standard’ damage liability waiver as outlined above.

These additional charges and insurances can offer peace of mind, but they can also mount up and prove expensive.

One way of possibly reducing the cost and improving the cover available is to investigate the car insurance offerings of the specialist insurance companies and insurance brokers because you are not obliged to accept the insurance offered by the car rental company. Many of these specialist car insurance products are sold to you the policyholder for a period of time and not just for a given car hire. Due to that fact, they will often provide cover for any vehicle hired for the life of the policy and this could yield significant price reductions. Typically they also include coverage for those vehicle areas excluded by many car hire company policies and their excess cover is often superior.

So if you’re looking for car rental insurance in general, or damage liability waiver specifically, it is worth checking out these companies. Their products can be easily purchased online and could result in a significantly better deal than that available through the car hire company.