When to buy car rental insurance?

[Faust Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Faust]

Does it make sense to purchase insurance when I rent a car, or am I already covered?
When to buy car rental insurance - Yahoo! News

[tennisWalt Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tennisWalt]

I was told by my insurance agent to get the Collision Damage Waiver

Does it make sense to purchase insurance when I rent a car, or am I already covered?
When to buy car rental insurance - Yahoo! News

The collision damage waiver, also known as optional vehicle protection or loss damage waiver, can cost as much as $19 per day. This is not technically an insurance product, but instead shifts liability for collision damage from the person renting the car to the car rental company. This also covers for "loss of use," or time a damaged car can't be rented because it is being repaired. Waivers, however, can become void if the accident was caused by driving illegally or on unpaved roads

Most Insurance Companies will not cover "loss of use".

Also you and your Insurance Company do not have an option where the repair is done. Your Insurance Company may or may not pay for some of the cost of the repairs done by the Car Rentals Company's repair shop. This could be like giving the Car Rental Company your blank check for them to fill in. And then there is the added cost of your deductible.

Walt

[brother coony Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close brother coony]

Check with your State Insurance dept.
In New york state you have coverage under your Libility portion of your policy
up to your policy limit in all US territorys, and as for Rental compny jacking up the repair cost,they would have to do more damadge befor the adjuster sees the vehicle, cost of parts are universal across the USA ,
labor maybe drifferent , but insurance adjuster has rates for each state,

Most State Auto policies cover car rental in the USA and most credit cards also covers car rental damadge, so for one that has an auto policy buying rental insurance is a wase of money

[tnale Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tnale]

I always buy full coverage when I rent overseas. Do you really want to argue in a foreign language with either the police or the rental car company about your USA coverage and how it will cover this fender bender you just had?

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

The collision damage waiver, also known as optional vehicle protection or loss damage waiver, can cost as much as $19 per day. This is not technically an insurance product, but instead shifts liability for collision damage from the person renting the car to the car rental company. This also covers for "loss of use," or time a damaged car can't be rented because it is being repaired. Waivers, however, can become void if the accident was caused by driving illegally or on unpaved roads

Most Insurance Companies will not cover "loss of use".

Also you and your Insurance Company do not have an option where the repair is done. Your Insurance Company may or may not pay for some of the cost of the repairs done by the Car Rentals Company's repair shop. This could be like giving the Car Rental Company your blank check for them to fill in. And then there is the added cost of your deductible.

Walt

Actually, many auto insurance companies will cover loss of use but, they'll make the rental agency prove there is an actual loss before paying the claim. In order to prove loss of use there must be no other car available in that class to rent. Otherwise the car wouldn't have been rented in the first place, thus no actual loss.

I have never had a policy nor when I was selling insurance did I ever sell a policy that stated the insurance company had the right to tell the insured where the car must be fixed. The insured always had that right and, if they wanted it to go back to the original dealer and insist on parts from the original manufactorer, that's what happened. While there may have been arguements over the total value of the car I don't recall ever having a client complain that the company only paid an amount for the cheaper or cheapest repair shop and left them holding the bag for the remainder.

Of course all policies are different. It is best to refer to your actual policy to see what it covers and what you are required to do in the event of a claim.

In addition to your own personal coverage you also have coverage provided by your credit card. In most cases this is secondary to your own personal insurance but, in a few cases it is primary coverage and pays out before your own personal insurance. The two CC that offer primary coverage that I can think of are American Express and Diners Club. I know Diners Club is automatically primary when the entire cost of the rental is charge to the card and the rental car companies coverages are declined. I think that American Express may have a small charge associated with their card to make their coveage primary.

Generally speaking, Visa, Mastercard, AE and Diners Club all cover loss of use. Again, depending on the level of the card or the bank issuing the card it may not offer loss of use. Every card in my wallet does have loss of use and I haven't seen one offered me that did not. Because we rent 4 to 6 weeks worth of cars per year I took out a Diners Club card last year and use it exclulsively for car rentals now.

So, after your own personal insurance and the coverage offered by most credit cards, in most cases the coverage offered by the rental car agency become redundant and is not necessary.

It does, however, offer some advantages. In the event of a claim you essentially just give them the damaged car back and pick up another one. No forms, not claims and I'm not even certain there's any paperwork involved. There's also no worries since for the price of damage waiver they take care of everything. If there is no traffic ticket issued your personal insurance company may never find out about the accident and it might not count against your record. Note: just because your personal insurance doesn't pay doesn't mean it won't affect your rates if they find out you've been in an accident that resulted in a loss. They rate policies based upon your known driving record, not just claims paid.

I also take out every ounce of insurance when driving in a foreign country other than Canada. My policy will pay in some countries and our CC may provide coverage in some countries but, as a previous poster stated, who wants to deal with a claim in a foreign country where you maybe don't speak the language fluently and your not certain of their procdures. I'd just as soon pay for the peace of mind knowing that if the car is damaged I won't be dealing very long distance with a claim that may or may not be paid by my personal insurance and my credit card.

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

Amex has a policy for everytime you rent a car and charge it to your card, they have a policy which covers the below. We use this everytime we rent.

here is a link for more detail

I would check with your credit card company for similiar coverages. I always get full insurance coverage when traveling overseas. I believe I used AutoEurope for the car rental in Italy and it came with full insurance coverage with a zero deductible.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

I am "usually" covered by my Visa Signature card. I make a habit of calling both my insurance company and Visa before traveling overseas for verification.

Visa was my coverage in England but surprisingly they would not have covered me if I were renting a car in Ireland.

ALWAYS CHECK!

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

I am "usually" covered by my Visa Signature card. I make a habit of calling both my insurance company and Visa before traveling overseas for verification.

Visa was my coverage in England but surprisingly they would not have covered me if I were renting a car in Ireland.

ALWAYS CHECK!

IMO, Ireland is a whole other ball game when it comes to driving. When we picked up are car the girl asked me if I was comfortable driving a right sided car (drivers seat on the other side). I said yes as we had been in Scotland a couple of years ago. She then said driving in Scotland was nothing like driving in Ireland. Boy did she turn out to be right.

The highways weren't a problem but the rest of the "roads" weren't much more than paved winding goat trails barely large enough for two cars to pass. I closed the outside drivers side rear view mirror twice using someone else's when going past them We flattened two tires on that trip, once by hitting a curb that stuck out into the narrow roadway and once by being sliced by something sharp sticking out of a hedge row along the road.

For anyone use to left hand driving cars it's really quite the challange and would be even if you were driving from you accustomed side of the car, let alone from the opposite side. And of course almost every car you rent will be a stick, adding just a little twist to the challenge.

At first I was like you in thinking it odd that Ireland wasn't covered. After having spent a week there I fully understand why now. It's the only time I've rented a car where there was a claim for damage but not really any accident to speak of, even though everything happened while I was behind the wheel.