Guide
What happens if you damage a hire supercar?
Updated 7 min read Performance & Prestige
On any claim the policy covers, you pay the repair up to the insurance excess for that car and no more — £2,000 to £10,000 on our own fleet, and up to £35,000 across the wider catalogue. The refundable security deposit is separate money, held against a card in the hirer's own name. Tell us straight away and arrange nothing yourself.
What is the excess, and is it the same as the deposit?
No, and conflating the two is how people end up feeling misled. The excess is a liability limit: on a covered claim you pay the repair bill up to it, and above it the insurance pays. You only ever meet it if there is damage. The deposit is money held and given back at the end of the hire. On our own fleet the excess climbs with the car: £3,000 on the Mercedes-AMG C 63 and the Range Rover Sport SV, £5,000 on the Bentley Bentayga V8 S and the BMW X5 M Competition, £7,500 on the Audi R8 Spyder and the Urus S, and £10,000 on the Urus Performante. On our cars the deposit matches the excess exactly; on some partner-sourced vehicles it is higher, and the Aston Martin Valhalla is the extreme with a £50,000 deposit against a £35,000 excess. Both figures are on the car's page before any form.
Why is the deposit held on a card in the hirer’s own name?
Because the person who is licence-checked, named on the agreement and insured to drive has to be the same person the money sits with. A third party's card cannot be used — not a spouse's, not a company card belonging to someone who is not on the hire, not a friend's. It is a simple identity control and it is also a fraud one: a car of this value handed over against somebody else's payment method is the oldest problem in vehicle rental. Where a business is hiring for a director or an employee, say so at the enquiry stage and we set it up that way from the start rather than untangling it at the kerb. Nothing is taken through this website — no deposit, no card details, no payment at any point in the enquiry.
What can be deducted from the deposit?
Four things, and nothing else: miles above the included allowance, fuel or charge not replaced, damage up to the insurance excess, and any penalty, toll or congestion charge incurred during your hire. The deposit is released once the car is back and checked, and we confirm the release timing in writing when the hire is confirmed rather than leaving you to guess. It is refundable and it is not a payment towards the rate. If the car comes back as it went out, the deposit comes back whole — which is a much less interesting outcome than the internet suggests, and it is the normal one.
What counts as damage, and what is fair wear and tear?
Road film, brake dust, insect marks and the normal tyre wear of a few hundred miles are wear and tear. A kerbed rim, a cracked windscreen, a scuffed front splitter, a scraped wheel arch or a dented panel are damage. The honest complication is that tyre, wheel, glass and underbody damage are treated differently from one policy to the next — sometimes within the excess, sometimes handled separately — so we set out exactly how they are handled on your hire agreement before delivery rather than after the event. Stone chips are the grey area people ask about most. A single motorway chip on a car that has covered 500 miles is a different conversation from a peppered bonnet, and it is a conversation held against photographs, not memory.
How does the condition check protect you?
The car is photographed at both ends of the hire, by us and by you, alongside the odometer and the fuel or charge level. Take your own photographs at handover and keep them: it takes two minutes and it is the single most useful thing a hirer can do. Walk the car with whoever delivers it, point at anything you can see, and have it recorded there and then. This is deliberately symmetrical. The same record that lets us identify a new kerb mark is the record that proves an existing one was already there, and we would far rather resolve that at delivery than argue about it at collection.
What actually happens after an incident?
Five steps. First, make sure everybody is safe — if anyone is hurt or the car is blocking a live carriageway, that is a 999 call before it is anything else. Second, call us before you move the car if you safely can, because recovery of a low car is not a job for a standard flatbed and a strap. Third, photograph everything: the damage, the position of the vehicles, the road, the other registration, the other driver's name and insurer. Do not admit liability at the scene; that is for the insurers, and an apology can complicate a claim you would otherwise have won. Fourth, we open the claim — on a fleet car the vehicle is ours, so the claim is ours to handle and you give us a factual account. Fifth, your liability is settled against the excess.
When does the excess stop protecting you?
When the event is excluded from the policy altogether, which is a different thing from an expensive claim. Excluded: anybody driving who is not named on the hire; circuit, competitive or timed driving of any kind; driving under the influence of drink or drugs; wrong fuel and damage from ignoring a warning light; deliberate damage and use for anything unlawful; and your own belongings left in the car. An exclusion is not a penalty clause with a bigger number attached — if the policy does not cover the event, the excess stops being the ceiling and the liability is the whole cost. That is why an unnamed driver is the one thing we are inflexible about. The full position is at insurance and excess, and driver criteria are at driver requirements.
Common questions
What happens if I kerb a wheel?
You tell us, and it is assessed against the photographs taken at handover. Wheel, tyre, glass and underbody damage are handled differently from one policy to the next, so the treatment that applies to your hire is written into your agreement before delivery — never presented as a surprise at collection.
Am I charged for a stone chip picked up on the motorway?
A single chip on a car that has covered a few hundred miles is normally wear and tear. A bonnet peppered by repeated motorway running is damage. It is judged against the condition photographs from both ends of the hire rather than anyone's recollection.
What if another driver hits me and it was their fault?
We open the claim and deal with their insurer. If liability is accepted by the other side, you may pay nothing at all. Your exposure is capped at the excess for that vehicle in the meantime, not at the value of the repair.
Is the deposit taken when I book online?
Nothing is taken through this website at any point — no deposit, no card details, no payment. The deposit is held against a card in the hirer's own name at handover, and released once the car is back and checked.
What happens if you damage a hire supercar?
Every figure in this guide is published per car, before there is any form to fill in.
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Written by Performance & Prestige against the rates, driver criteria and delivery areas published on this site. Rates are “from” prices inclusive of VAT and are confirmed with you before anything is agreed — see driver requirements, insurance and excess and delivery.