TAGS
Most people will rent a car either for a business trip, vacation, or while your car is out of service. When you rent a car, you’ll be asked a lot of questions that you might not know the answers to. It’s important to be prepared beforehand so that you know your choices and can make informed decisions.
Liability Coverage vs. Comprehensive Coverage
Remember that liability coverage pays for injury or property damage to others and comprehensive and collision pays for damage to the rental car itself. Your personal automotive policy will extend liability as well as comprehensive and collisions coverage to a rental car if you have the same coverage on at least one of your vehicles.
However, there are some limitations and it is important to always call your agent to go over these.
Supplemental Liability Insurance
Rental car companies offer a supplemental liability option for a small additional cost, but you don’t need it if your personal automotive policy has adequate liability limits. Then they may also offer you a “damage deductible waiver” to limit or remove responsibility from you for damage to the rental car.
Buying this waiver can be expensive, as much as $17-$20 per day – that would be over $7,000 a year! This waiver removes your responsibility for damages to the rental car, meaning you don’t even have to pay a deductible. Always check with your insurance agent to go over the options before you leave for your trip.
CONUS vs. OCONUS Travel
If you plan to rent a car outside of the United States, you may just want to go ahead and pay for the waiver even though it is quite expensive. It may be needed because the auto insurance on your own car limits coverage to the US and Canada.
Also, driving conditions in a foreign country may be a challenge, and damages difficult to resolve. Talk to your insurance agent so you can make an informed decision.
Credit Cards
One way to get insurance on rental cars is to use certain types of credit cards. You may have a credit card already that offers additional coverage; whether liability or comprehensive/collision coverages are provided, will depend on the card. Be sure to call your credit card company to ask about any benefits to using the card for renting.
Once you have that information be sure to talk to your insurance agent about the credit card you will be using so that they can best advise you on any limitations and what coverage you may still need.
Remember that there are special considerations depending on what type of vehicle you’re renting. If you are renting a moving vehicle such as a UHAUL your regular automotive policy will probably not cover any part of it due to the definition in the policy of what is a private passenger vehicle or light truck. Therefore, it may best to buy what the rental company offers to make sure you are covered.
This could also mean no coverage is provided for a truck you rent from Home Depot or Lowes. As always, ask your agent to help you clarify what to do in each individual instance. Taking the time to talk to your agent about each situation will likely save you both stress and money should something happen.
with all your auto insurance questions.
.
