Car Hire Excess

Driving abroad has never been particularly easy - those indecipherable road signs, crazy foreign motorists, and the fact that most countries insist on allowing their cars to travel on the right (i.e. wrong) side of the road. It is worse still when you are involved in a car accident through no fault of your own, yet you are forced to pay the excess on your car insurance claim.

To mark the launch of Essential Travel's new Insurance - which will protect you against such costs - we bring you 10 of the funniest and strangest quotes from car insurance claim forms:

"I knocked over a man. He admitted it was his fault as he had been run over before."

"The other car collided with mine without giving any warning of its intention."

"I consider that neither vehicle was to blame but if either were to blame it was the other one."

"I collided with a stationary tramcar coming the other way."

"Car had to turn sharper than was necessary owing to an invisible lorry."

"To avoid a collision I ran into the other car."

"The pedestrian had no idea which way to run, so I ran over him."

"I thought the side window was down but it was up, as I found when I put my head through it."

"I unfortunately ran over a pedestrian and the old gentleman was taken to hospital, much regretting the circumstances."

And finally, perhaps the pick of the bunch:

"Cow wandered into my car. I was afterwards informed that the cow was half-witted."