Car hire add ons

[noenergy]

Posting here for traffic.

So looking at hiring a car for a few days at a UK airport. Went online and got a few quotes and prices seem reasonable But it's all so confusing with all the add ons.

Do people reduce excess to 0? Is it worth it?
Still not sure what CDW is I thought reducing the excess to zero covered everything.

Also not sure about how reputable the company is. Went to rental cars.com and they are giving me a good rate with firefly. Anyone used them?
Have looked online and mixed reviews.

What are the essentials I should do?

No one?

CDW is basically insurance if there is damage to the hire car but the excess you would pay if there was damage can often be hundreds of £. So Super cover/excess waiver is another insurance to pay that excess. It is a rip-off to buy excess waiver from the car hire company - often 10x the price of buying it elsewhere. If you don't buy an excess waiver policy from a car hire company, then you will have an amount reserved on your credit card when you hire the car to cover the excess. If you have an accident, they will charge you and then you would need to claim it back on any separate policy you have. It's worth checking what your own car insurance provider will cover in the first instance.
Good article here www.theguardian.com/money/2012/jun/15/holiday-car-hire-10-ways-avoid-being-ripped-off