Sorting out rental car insurance options

[reveal]

If you live in the US and you're like me, you use rental cars to travel to places. I use them to travel to our closest offices rather than put mileage on my own car. I found an interesting article on CNN about how the car insurance that is offered to you works. I've always turned it down because it's pricey. I'm glad I did.

So drivers who have comprehensive and collision coverage as well as liability coverage in their personal policies can decline coverage offered by rental car agencies, she said.

This is good because I happen to have all the coverages mentioned in my personal policy. It's a good read for anyone thinking about renting a car in the US.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/ADVISOR/07/15/rental.car.insurance.ap/index.html

 

[Joshua Randall]

I used to work for a company that handled rental car claims. Here is some advice, from me, a guy who used to work there. If you take my advice and it turns out to be bad advice -- well, that's not my problem.

* If you currently own an automobile and have automobile insurance, read your policy carefully to see if it covers rentals. Some do, some don't.

* Regardless of the above, if you rent the car with a major credit card (Visa, MC, etc.) you MAY be covered and not need to purchase the rental comapny's insurance. READ YOUR CARDMEMBER AGREEMENT to see if you're covered, and what the restrictions are. For example, you may only be covered in certain types of passenger vehicles (so no vans or even SUVs) or you may only be covered for a certain length of time (up to 14 days or up to 30 days or whatever).

* If you do decide to accept the rental company's insurance, READ THE FINE PRINT to see what is covered and what is not. Also, remember that even if you accept their insurance, you still have to abide by their rules. That means filing claims speedily, not using the vehicle to do stupid or illegal stuff, etc.

Also -- whenever you rent a car, INSIST upon a walk-around inspection and INSIST the rental company mark EVERY SINGLE nick and scratch on their form. DO NOT let them talk you out of it. Because if you don't, they can legally charge you for damages even months after you return the vehicle.