Rental Car Insurance Cost in Turkey

Car insurance is one of the most essential requirements for driving in any country, and this becomes more important when you rent a car in another country. In this regard, considering the popularity of Turkey as an attractive tourist destination, knowing the cost of rental car insurance in Turkey and their types can reduce the costs of travelers and make their trips safer.

Types of Car Insurance in Turkey

As you know, every year, many travelers from different countries come to popular cities like Istanbul in Turkey to spend vacations; therefore, these people rent a car in Turkey for easy transportation to their desired places and also to reduce the cost of travel to different destinations in the city or around them.

In such a situation, one of the things that can increase the reliability of renting a car by travelers is having necessary insurance policies for driving. Based on this, the word "Insurance," which is called "Sigorta" in Turkish, is actually a written and official contract between the insurance company to compensate for financial losses from the events listed in the insurance policy and the owner of the damaged property.

Thus, according to the traffic laws of Turkey, there are two types of insurance for all types of cars and vehicles: the first type, "Zorunlu Trafik Sigorta (Mandatory/Compulsory Insurance)," and the second type, optional "İsteğe Bağlı Sigorta (Optional/ Coverage Insurance)".

Mandatory and Optional Car Insurance in Turkey

As mentioned earlier, there are two types of mandatory and optional insurance in Turkey, "Third Party" insurance is mandatory, and insurances such as "Body, Minor Damage, Supplemental, Catching Fire, Theft, etc." are among the optional insurance. Based on this, vehicle owners in Turkey are required to provide third-party insurance for their cars, and other types of insurance are not required to be provided but are recommended to them.

Thus, when travelers, for example, rent a car in Istanbul, all these cars have third-party insurance by default; however, the use of other optional insurances depends on the car rental company and the choice of customers who can choose according to the recommendation of the relevant company or at their own desire.

The Cost of Rental Car Insurance in Turkey

First of all, it should be noted that due to the reason mentioned below, it is not possible to give an exact rate of the cost of insurance in Turkey, especially its optional types; this cost, which is generally between 800 and 3 million liras for car owners, is affected by the following factors for travelers interested in renting a car in Izmir or other Turkish cities and for optional insurances:

·         Rules unique to each car rental company

·         Type of vehicle (in terms of: financial value of the car, model, its year of production, type of use, the place where the car will be parked or driven, capabilities and driving history of the owner, etc.)

·         Type of vehicle

·         The minimum and maximum amount determined by the insurance company

·         Features and services requested by the customer when renting a car

·         The number of requested optional insurances for the rental car

·         And...

Important Note: Just like in the spring and summer seasons when you have to buy flight tickets to Turkey and your desired city several weeks in advance, this issue also applies to car rentals due to the increase in the number of tourists traveling to this country.

Compulsory Insurance Policy for Cars in Turkey

According to the traffic laws in Turkey, the only compulsory insurance in this country for all types of vehicles is "Third Party Insurance (Üçüncü Şahıs Sigortası)"; in other words, if a car does not have this insurance policy, it will not be allowed to drive, and driving such a car will be accompanied by a heavy fine and legal actions.

Accordingly, when you, for example, rent a car in Antalya so that you can easily visit its tourist attractions, the car in question must have third-party insurance; note, this insurance covers the responsibility of the owner and driver of the vehicle towards others and any accident that results in the injury of another person. Therefore, regardless of whether the driver of the insured car is at fault or not, the insurance company assumes the responsibility of paying all damages up to the specified limit, which includes the following:

·         Paying all relevant expenses until the party's car is completely repaired or the injuries are healed

·         Compensation for all financial obligations caused by the accident

·         Payment of dowry in case of death due to accident

Optional Insurance Policies for Cars in Turkey

As the name of this type of insurance suggests, according to the rules of the Turkish Traffic Organization, there is no obligation to provide them; at the same time, some car rental companies may emphasize or strongly recommend choosing those insurances in order to increase the safety of cars and drivers. These insurances, which are known as "Supplementary Comprehensive Insurance" and "CASCO (Kasko)" in Turkish, include several insurances with different features, and choosing all or some of them has many benefits for drivers.

In other words, if you did not travel to Turkey on tour and now you want to rent a car in this country, having any of the following optional insurances will help you a lot to drive with peace of mind: LCF Minor Damage Insurance/ TWH, CDW Partial Damage Insurance, Premium Partial Damage Insurance and SCDW+LCF+SMHS Supplemental Insurance. Based on this, the rented car is insured in case of things such as: a broken side mirror, turn signal, falling lines on the body, theft, etc., and the person renting the car will not be charged.

Very Important Note: the condition of using the services of any of the insurances (compulsory and optional), is the negative result of the alcohol test of the person renting the car (driver); in fact, if the result of your alcohol test is declared positive by the police, not only will you not be able to use the benefits associated with the insurances, but you will have to pay all the fines yourself (both your share and the car rental company's share).

What is Minor Damage Insurance?

"Minor Damage Insurance," which is called "Mini Hasar Sigortası" in Turkish, is a type of insurance that only covers up to the limit set by the insurance company, without the need to receive a police report; in fact, because most travelers in a big city like Istanbul are not familiar with the costs and location of car repair shops, for this reason, they can choose one of the types of minor damage insurance and be exempted from paying for the following:

·         Scratches on the body

·         Tire damage

·         Broken side mirror, glass or any of the car's lights

Important Note: In case your car has a technical defect, be sure to inform the support unit of the car rental company before taking any action so that they can do one of the following two actions: 1) Replacing the car with a similar or close model car 2) Send the address of the repair shop approved and considered by the company to check and fix the technical problem of the car.

The Cost of Car Insurance in Turkey

In general, the determination of the total amount of insurance for cars depends on such things as: vehicle model and brand, vehicle age, driver's experience, how the car was used and driven, accident history, vehicle's mileage, etc.; in this regard, one of the important points to consider in Turkey is "HASAR" or the monetary value that insurance companies pay for cars when an accident happens.

Note: Considering that most hotels in Turkey do not have dedicated parking spaces (except for 5 stars), you can, for example, rent a suite in Van, Turkey or other cities of this country; because most of these equipped houses have facilities such as a yard or a parking lot, and you can safely park a rental car there.