<p>So I’m going to be renting a car this week for a trip and have not done this in a while. I spent a few minutes reading info about insurance and rental cars and am now even more confused than when I started. I’d obviously like to not buy any of the insurance products offered by the rental car places, but I want to make sure I’m covered if, God forbid, something happens. </p>
<p>From what I read, I think the info below is what will happen with coverage but I’d appreciate any feedback (if this isn’t correct) or suggestions. Thanks!</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I own a car and have full insurance for it (including decent liability and property damage insurance). As I understand it, this liability insurance extends to cover me whilst driving a rental car (or any other car that I happen to be using temporarily). Specifically my policy say’s I’m covered for “the maintenance or use of a non-owned car.”</p></li>
<li><p>I’m booking and paying for the car with a credit card (an AMEX). My AMEX benefits info says that I have ‘Rental Car Loss and Damage’ insurance for up to $50k. It say’s “you’re automatically covered when you charge the entire cost of your rental car from a licensed rental agency with your card and decline the car rental company’s collision, loss/damage waiver insurance.”</p></li>
</ul>
<p>So as I understand those two things, my credit card would pay for any damage I incur to the rental car and my personal auto insurance would cover me for any liability (eg someone else gets injured or damaging their property). </p>
<p>Finally, my insurance contract (State Farm) says “Any physical damage coverage that you may have on this policy does not apply to rented recreational vehicles.” So a ‘recreational vehicle’ is not just a normal rental car right?</p>
<p>So if I plow down someone’s fence with a normal rental car I’m fine, but if plow down someone’s fence with an RV I’m not covered?</p>
<p>I’d appreciate any comments or suggestions on this subject.</p>
<p>(PS Yes, I realized I should call my insurance agent, but I’m renting the car first thing Monday morning (last second trip) and they’re not open on weekends ;-( )</p>
<p>You should be covered and be able to skip the overly expensive rental company’s insurance as long as you’re renting in the USA. You should be doubly covered - by State Farm and by AmEx. I always skip the rental company insurance - and I also have State Farm and AmEx. I haven’t ever had to collect though.</p>
<p>“You should be covered and be able to skip the overly expensive rental company’s insurance as long as you’re renting in the USA.”</p>
<p>Yes, this is an appropriate choice IMHO. It’s what I do. But the details are a bit murky. I also use AMEX exclusively because of its rental car coverage. But when I had a minor incident recently and called AMEX, I got a response that was, how shall I put this, um, somewhat different from what I expected it to be. AMEX has a telephone number for it’s rental car insurance plan. You may want to call it to see what AMEX actually covers. In general though, paying $10/day (or more) for rental insurance is a poor bet.</p>
<p>But from ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad’s response wouldn’t by normal car insurance collision coverage extend to the rental car too? </p>
<p>My policy says “If you have ‘collision’ coverage on this policy you also have ‘collision’ coverage on any rented car while it is being driven by or in the custody of the insured individual”</p>
<p>So I think that would cover also cover physical damage to the rental car if it was in an accident (minus my deductible of course) right? </p>
<p>The liability coverage, as I understand it, applies to the driver and not so much the vehicle (hence why it generally follows the driver to whatever car they happen to be driving).</p>
<p>It’s really the liability coverage that I’m most worried about since that’s generally where one is totally screwed if you’re not covered and something happens (since most of your assets are fair game in collecting any settlement decided by a court).</p>
<p>The one big thing I learned when reading was that the normal credit card coverage does not include ANY liability coverage. A friend of mine that often rents cars (but does not own one and thus has no auto insurance) waives all the insurance and says ‘oh I get insurance with my AMEX so it’s fine’… so I will definitely let them know that they’re not really covered since if they got into an accident the AMEX would only cover damage to the rental car and NOT damage to another car or liability for other persons or property (which is where most of the ‘cost’ of an accident can come from)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I have found out, the hard way. By getting in an accident while in a rental car on my way to the Philly airport last year. Called my State Farm agent right away (because I ALWAYS decline the rental car insurance) and they said I needn’t worry. And this was all before the state police arrived and the truck who hit me admitted fault.</p>
<p>The issue here is what is covered if YOU are at fault. I ALWAYS decline the rental agency’s daily insurance. What I was told by the AMEX customer service rep is not what I would expect “rental car coverage” to be. I think your regular insurance company coverage would apply to a rental also. But you should think about what that means (ie., what is your deductible and would an accident increase your insurance rates?).</p>
<p>I suppose my thinking here would be that driving a rental car is really no different than driving your normal car. You’re really no more or less likely to be in an accident… so I don’t really see this an a risk (above the normal risk of driving a car).</p>
<p>I suppose that the issue which comes into play is if you have some minor damage to the car (eg a scratch) that one might not pay to have repaired on your own car but which the rental car agency demands payment to have fixed.</p>
<p>While driving a rental car visiting a college, we ran into a bird. Or rather, that’s what I realized after the ‘thunk’ on the highway, and then viewing the rather large dent just above the windshield passenger side after getting to our destination. I was terrified of financial repercussions. Dropping off the car, the agent wasn’t in, so left a note with the keys. </p>
<p>I always rent cars with my Visa gold for the insurance protection. They started a claim for me, assured me damage would be covered. But never heard another word from the rental company about the damage, so dropped the claim.</p>
<p>Make sure you check the rental car for dents/scratches before and after so you won’t get hit for damage you weren’t involved with. There was a thread on this on CC a short while back.</p>
<p>You can check but I think since you’ll essentially have two forms of coverage one will become primary an dthe other secondary. I think I remember reading in the AmEx one that it becomes secondary.</p>
<p>With State Farm, and perhaps with other insurance companies as well, there is a limit to the number of days per year that you are covered when driving a rental car.</p>
<p>Last summer, I had to rent a car for three months – which is over the limit. The cost of getting insurance through the rental car company (Enterprise) would have been extraordinarily high. Fortunately, my insurance agent was able to put a rider on my policy that dealt with the situation for less than $100.</p>
<p>As someone else mentioned, make sure that you inspect the rental car for any damage before driving it. Someone from the rental car company should be doing this, too, but two sets of eyes are better than one, especially since you are the one who will be liable for the damage if the rental car person didn’t notice it.</p>
<p>“I suppose my thinking here would be that driving a rental car is really no different than driving your normal car. You’re really no more or less likely to be in an accident… so I don’t really see this an a risk (above the normal risk of driving a car). I suppose that the issue which comes into play is if you have some minor damage to the car (eg a scratch) that one might not pay to have repaired on your own car but which the rental car agency demands payment to have fixed.”</p>
<p>Rocketman has summarized this much better than I. </p>
<p>I interpreted AMEX’s rental car insurance benefit (that is, the one that comes with the card, not the one you can purchase separately from them) as “In event of damage, AMEX will pay whatever your regular auto insurance doesn’t.” Recently a rental company claimed I returned a car damaged. When I called AMEX to warn them a claim might be coming, I was told that AMEX covers any damage that EXCEEDS your regular auto policy limits. I don’t know that this is true, but the response was unsettling regardless.</p>