Collision Damage Waiver

[VW31]

Do I need to get the Collision Damage Waiver (CDW)?

I don't have my own insurance and my credit card offers insurance only if I have my own.
However, the CDW adds about $100 to my car rental.
Is there another option?

Thanks

 

[seashoreCM]

There are no other options.

If you neither have your own collision insurance (on your own car) nor collision benefits on your credit card, you don't need to but you ought to buy the expensive coverage from the rental agency.

Reread your credit card agreement. If your agreement says "$25,000 or so collision coverage which is secondary" you are covered even though you have no collision on your own car.

"Secondary" means that some other (insurance) company pays first to its limit with no sharing or proportioning. Whatever is left over like the deductible is covered by the secondary company.

In your case your own insurance company is primary but none of the coverages you chose this year apply and the company therefore pays zero. The credit card company being secondary (probably) pays everything else which is everything.

Again, double check your credit card agreement.

Car rental hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/carrent.htm

A few rental companies (including L&M) reserve the right to require you to buy their coverage if you don't bring proof you have collision on your own car. A few companies require that non-citizens buy their coverage.

Co-insurance -- When two companies or entities insure the loss but neither says it is secondary. They usually share the payment needed according to a complicated formula. Often the two companies' shares don[t add up to the amount needed and you have to pay what is left over. If you don[t buy enough insurance, you become one of the co-insuring entities.

 

[VW31]

Thanks.

I did check my card and they said they will cover the CDW ONLY if I have my own insurance.

I will check into American Express. I believe they offer the CDW on their cards. All I have to do is decline insurance at the rental counter and they will cover the CDW even if I don't have my own insurance.

I'm a little nervous about declining the insurance at the counter after hearing all the stories of agencies trying to push the insurance and even denying people cars, etc.

 

[seashoreCM]

Also check the "policies" (rules and reg's) of the rental company you are deling with. Go to their web site and also to travelocity.com car rentals and assume that the more unfavorable of the two applies. Yes, some companies include in their policies the right to refuse to rent to people who have various non-combinations of insurance coverages although they tend to exercise that right only during busy times.

Also be prepared to be insistent about declining the rental agency coverage (if that is what you want) and don't accept "basic" coverage, you want "no" coverage.

Some American Express cards (mostly gold and platinum) have good rental collision coverage, some (mostly "green") do not.

I forgot to mention that be most rental companies also charge you for "loss of use" which is the time the car spends in the repair shop if there is an accident. Some credit cards cover that, some do not. This is a complicated topic.

And don't forget to check the preliminary price calculations on your rental contract before signing it and taking the keys. You don't want to find figures surreptitiously slipped in for coverages you don[t want. You want everything to be correct right now, not come back the next day to continue arguing it.

Bring a printout of your reservation, the rental agency policies as you saw them, and also (anyway) the page of your own insurance policy showing what coverages (lots of liability hopefully)( you do have.

 

[VW31]

Thanks seashore!

I printed out the policies and both say CDW is optional. I will bring a copy of this with me.

American Express green doesn't have CDW? On their website is says it does.

I keep hearing about this "busy" or "peak" time at MCO,
approx what time is that?

Thanks you have been a great help!

 

[seashoreCM]

Peak times -- Holidays like Christmas, Easter, etc. also some regional or local events (I don[t recall the dates) such as Daytona week.

I believe that American Express cards green or platinum (also some banks' Master Cards and Visa cards) come in different versions, some have rebate points, some have airline miles, some have car rental collision, etc. When checking their web site be sure to match up your version, sometimes called an "affinity", if several versions are named.

 

[inkkognito]

Another thing to watch for is if the insurance on your charge card is "primary" or if it will only pay after your regular car insurance. I learned about that after reading other posts on this board, and I found a charge card that actually offers primary rental insurance as one of its benefits. They also cover "loss of use" so the rental company can't soak for for that. If you rent quite a bit, you might want to look into getting a specific card geared toward good benefits for rentals. The one I found also offers rewards points. It's a platinum from Capitol One.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[manning]

Diners Club


Their's is primary coverage.

 

[marn913]

It is also a good idea to check on the law in Florida regarding car insurance. Here in Illinois, all drivers are required to be insured -- I am not familiar with the law in Florida. Most reports of people complaining about paying extra for the insurance offered by the car rental agency is usually because they would have already been covered by their own "at home" car insurance policy and got suckered into buying the add-on at the counter (then they are in effect double covered). In my experience you are absolutely required to have some sort of insurance to rent a car (either a regular policy, thru your credit card - or as a last resort, through the rental company). In the event of an accident, you will be very glad that you spent that extra $100 and not thousands out of pocket if you skip out on the coverage.

 

[GoofyB]

Do you really need to rent a car? WDW transportation is so good, and it's pretty easy to get to and from the airport. Might be better to avoid the whole rental hassle altogther if you can.

 

[seashoreCM]

Law or no law, you ought to have liability, "comprehensive", and collision coverage or insurance, either your own, your credit card's, or the rental company's.

As far as I know, no state requires that the renter buy or have "comp" or collision coverage.

Finance companies almost require require that cars have collision insurance, but the renter is not obliged to buy it or have it unless the rental company's rules or policies say so. The renter has no contract with, relationship with, or obligation to, the rental company's car financier until after a lawsuit favoring the latter has finished.