To cancel holiday due to anxiety over driving

[anxious88]

I’ve done something incredibly stupid and am feeling terrible. I’m fully prepared to be told that I’m a total idiot but please try to be a bit kind.

I’m off on holiday in the UK tomorrow with DH. I collected a rental car earlier today and declined to take out the car hire company’s insurance, because I was planning to buy third party insurance with one of those online companies that are much more affordable. However, what I stupidly didn’t realise is that I had to purchase the insurance before collecting the car, which in hindsight of course makes complete sense.

I’m now feeling incredibly anxious about driving without additional insurance, because if I do have an accident or even just a scrape then I’ll be liable for up to £1,000 per incident in damages. The holiday is a 250 mile round trip and will involve leaving the car parked in a car park for some of the time, as well as a bit of driving while we’re there.

If we were to cancel the trip now, we would have to pay the full rental fee for the cottage we’ve hired as it’s less than 24 hours notice, and would also have to pay a £130 penalty refund fee if we cut the car hire booking short and took the vehicle back now.

I’ve told DH that I want to cancel because I’m too anxious to drive and he’s really upset, as we were really looking forward to getting away after lockdown. However he has said that if I really don’t feel up to driving then I can cancel if I want.

DH doesn’t drive, so there’s no option but for me to do all the driving. Our destination is hard to get to by train and we also have a new baby with all the additional stuff that requires, so a car is just far more convenient.

I know I’ve been a total idiot messing up such a basic detail like insurance and am feeling so nervous and panicky about driving without it. AIBU to take the car back now and cancel the trip, with all the fees that will incur?

Thanks for reading.

@user1496146479

Do car hire places close at weekends?

Depends where. I sometimes book cars from St. Malo harbour in France and they close at about 6pm every day of the week, they have a key collection point that they give you a code for after hours.

Insurance is also date and time stamped.

If you insure now, and are accident free, then any further occurrence would be covered due to the times.
I’m not sure what you’re worried about

Did you get sorted?

I couldn't face going back to the car hire place the next morning, so (probably recklessly) decided not to add the extra insurance and take the risk. In the end all was fine and I returned the car with no damage!

Lesson learned though - next time I will most definitely be taking out additional third party insurance before collecting the hire car.

So it's only insurance for if you cause minor damage yourself. You'll be fine. Just dont crash into any bollards while you're away.

Could've sworn I'd read all the updates 🤣

@anxious88
So pleased that you got away and that the driving was event-free.
You sounded completely frazzled when you originally posted. I hope you had a restorative break.

Thank you @Etinox

Glad you had a good time x

Glad you had a good time I can understand why you were nervous. Sometimes reading the small print on car hire feels like you could lose your home in the event of a ding! I managed to reverse a hire car into a lamp post in Spain last year and even though we pointed it out when we returned the car the guy was like “oh ok thanks for telling us” no extra charge at the time and never heard a word about it since!

Great update, glad it all went off without a hitch! Do you feel more confident driving now?

It's great that it turned out well. But get your husband to take driving lessons and get his licence! Unless he has medical issues, there is no excuse for him not to. Men usually want to drive.