Car Rental Insurance

[Baldie]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Am I wasting my money by opting to pay extra for the rental insurance instead of taking advantage of the rental coverage offered by my Visa card??

 

[Roo]

The credit card insurance offering will only pay for damages to the rental car, not the other car or medical bills. You could call your own agent and see if your collision & comprehensive is extended to a rental.

 

[ecmst12]

Do you own a car and have insurance on it? Full coverage or liability only?

 

[Baldie]

Do you own a car and have insurance on it? Full coverage or liability only?

Yes I own a car and have full coverage.

 

[Some Random Guy]

Either read your auto insurance coverage policy (not the invoice, the 20-40 page booklet they sent you in the mail) and see if it has a section on rental cars. Or, simply call your agent who will know the answer to this.

The rental car companies will often try to sell their insurance to you saying that by buying the insurance, you won't have to pay your deductible or pay for a replacement rental during your trip. Check out the coverage that your VISA offers (they usually end you details on the program in the mail once a year) or call them up for more info.

If you already have full coverage on your own vehicle, it is unlikely that buying insurance from the rental car comanies will be a good deal.

 

[ecmst12]

Call your insurance company to confirm, but usually they will cover a rental car the same as your regular car. The only thing you would potentially be responsible for is your deductible, and your Visa coverage will usually cover that. So yes, it's a total rip off and a scam. The only people who would need such insurance are people who don't own a car and so don't have any insurance in their own name.

 

[You Are Guilty]

Not necessarily - some policies, like some cards, won't cover "loss of use" for the rental, in which case the rental insurance comes in handy. But for most people most of the time, it's unnecessary.

 

[ecmst12]

The reason Loss Of Use wouldn't be covered is because the vast majority of the time, it's a BS claim. Unless the car was out of service for a LONG time due to serious damage (and then they can't claim every day but only the number of days they could actually have expected to rent the car out of the total down time), or the rental company actually had NO CARS AT ALL to rent on those particular days and so actually lost business, it's not a valid claim and they can't reasonably expect to be able to collect it.

 

[You Are Guilty]

The reason Loss Of Use wouldn't be covered is because the vast majority of the time, it's a BS claim. Unless the car was out of service for a LONG time due to serious damage (and then they can't claim every day but only the number of days they could actually have expected to rent the car out of the total down time), or the rental company actually had NO CARS AT ALL to rent on those particular days and so actually lost business, it's not a valid claim and they can't reasonably expect to be able to collect it.

I don't disagree, but that doesn't stop them from asking for it! (And most laypeople, particularly left to their own devices when there's no insurance, don't know any better than to challenge the claim.)

But to be hyper-technical, the reason it's not covered is because it's excluded. The reason its excluded is for the reason you list

 

[ecmst12]

It does depend on the policy, but speaking for my company, if the insured were to be sued for a LOU charge and lose despite our defense, we'd pay. I've never seen it happen and we always make the rental company sign a release before we pay for the repairs, so they can't charge the insured any further, and I tell them they're not responsible.

 

[Baldie]

Well I did speak with my insurance company, Esurance, and they told me my coverage does apply to rental vehicles as well however it will not cover for "Loss of Use". At this point I feel covered as far as damages but not for LOU. Visa won't cover that will it?

 

[ecmst12]

No one covers it because in almost all cases, there is no legal basis for the rental company to claim it. Don't even worry about it - if a rental company ever tries to charge you for it, tell them to show you proof that they lost business on those days, or get lost.