There’s no doubt that we all hate hidden costs — and much as the UK’s car and van hire companies will deny it, the cost of van hire excess insurance can seem to fall into that category.

Typically, you collect a vehicle that you’ve booked and the hire company representative will point out that your booking includes insurance, but that it carries an excess of perhaps £500 (I think my personal record is £750).

You will then be offered a chance to take out additional insurance to reduce this excess to a much lower figure, or even zero. This usually costs between £10 and £20 per day — a hefty increase on your daily hire rate.

The problem is that you may not want to manage without it — as you could be left seriously out of pocket if anything goes wrong.

There is another way…

Luckily, there is an alternative — you just need to plan ahead.

You see, even if you want to reduce your van hire insurance excess, you don’t need to purchase additional insurance from your hire company. In fact, you can purchase the extra insurance anywhere you like — and luckily there are several companies that specialist in providing this service and can offer you big savings over the standard hire company rates.

What’s more, buying excess insurance from a company like iCarehireinsurance.com is also likely to give you far more comprehensive coverage than typical hire company insurance, which usually excludes tyre, glass and roof damage (a particular problem with big vans).

iCarhireinsurance offers van hire excess reduction (to zero) from just £7.99 per day*. What’s more all their policies include parts of the vehicle that are often excluded from other insurance policies – such as tyres, windscreen, roof and undercarriage.

Buying excess insurance from a specialist company is a no-brainer in terms of cost savings — the only catch is that you need to do it before you pick up your hire vehicle, but since it’s all done on line, that isn’t a big inconvenience.

Why not try it next time you hire a car or van?