Extra insurance on car rental?

[AZMyers]

For those of you Canadians that have rented a vehicle, do you purchase the extra insurance/ Being from Canada I'm not sure if our insurance covers rentals in the US. When adding the insurance online it increases the cost by at least $100. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ferris198]

You should check with your insurance company, as it my alreay be covered on your policy.

 

[Disney_Mama]

Also you should check your credit card co. My visa has extra insurance with it when I use it to rent the car.

 

[michelle1]

Those rental car companies make alot of extra money off of insurance and upgrades. We had a 4 day rental booked and when we went to pick up the car it was suggested we pay for extra insurance. The insurance offered was $139 for the 4 days...our rental rate was only $97! Many of those gold and platinum credit cards have insurance as long as you pay with that card or, as another poster suggested, check with your insurance company.

 

[surfer_ed]

Buy it if needed at home with your insurance comapany. Remember that gold cards only have collision not liability!!!

 

[EEYORERULES]

As an insurance broker I always recommend to my clients to buy the extra insurance when you rent in Florida. Just because you have the coverage on your car here in Canada, depending on your Company it may not cover everything in the event of a claim ie: down time. Plus, if you buy the insurance & have a claim, your Company here will never know about it. If you use the Sef 27 endorsment to extend your coverage to the rental, then the claim gets charged to your policy here. Plus, I would ask what limit of Liability they have on the car from the rental company. I believe the limits start at $15,000 in Florida & if you have a claim that will not pay for anything. You can increase the limit & I would suggest a mininum of $1,000,000. If you have a gold card you usually get the extra coverage automatically. Everyone thinks they won't have a claim but remember, you are in Orlando where 90% of the people are on vacation & either don't know where they are going or aren't paying attention or worse - both!

 

[minnie56]

I'm a TA and just heard of a horror story with someone who rented a car and declined the insurance as they 'had it on their Aerogold--CC"! Be really careful...and make sure that your own auto policy covers you as mentioned above. Mine does and I always tell my Broker when I will be renting out of country.

 

[grover]

We always buy insurance here before we go..from the same place we buy our regular auto insurance. They sell insurance specifically for rental cars, cost is only 15.00 plus 5.00/day..worth the peace of mind and it doesn't cost a arm & a leg and can pay in CAD. Good stuff

 

[sugar1967]

We just purchased our insurance from our local broker here in Canada and the total was $130.00 for 2 full weeks. That was for a $100 deductible and $1,000,000. Waaaayyy cheaper. We always do this when renting a car, even locally.

Only downfall, if you have a bad driving record and can't afford to have points, demerits, etc on your license, then this is not the way to go because if you do have an accident down there then it does go through your local insurance therefore will go on your license/insurance.

 

[Canadamom]

We are considering renting from uscarhire.co.uk this next trip. They're a UK company but Canadians and Americans can rent through them. From what I understand from their website, full insurance is included and their prices don't seem that out of line.

 

[MaryannF]

Has anyone from Canada used this company when renting a car at the Orlando airport?
I couldn't believe the difference when I plugged in my dates. I have a car booked with Alamo but the rate is double what I was quoted by uscarhire.co.uk. I'm just a little unsure because I need to have full insurance as well as having my dd23 on as an additional driver. I would feel better if someone else could say they used them without incident.

 

[Canadamom]

MaryannF, I haven't used them but we are really seriously considering them. I went through all the FAQ's on their website and they gave a link to www.orlando-guide.info/forums which is a UK based Florida travel website (kind of like the DIS I think). I scrolled through a lot of the posts under the topic "car hire" and felt a lot better about it. uscarhire. is affiliated with this website and from what I could tell, one of the owners is "Roger". Look for his posts or for what others say about his service. Someone on another travel board was recommending them...that's where I got the information.

You could always email them and ask about the insurance. From either the timeliness of their response or the response itself, you may get a better idea.

Also keep in mind they are showing rates in British pounds...you'll have to convert to CD or USD.

 

[ferris198]

If you are in Ontario and have the OPCF 27 on your current insurance policy, anything that is covered on your policy here will be covered on your rental.
If your liabilty is $1,000,000.00, it is there.

 

[Canadamom]

MaryannF, I just wanted to say that I went ahead and booked with uscarhire and got a rate of $238USD including taxes and every imaginable insurance for my 8 days starting next week. This was for an intermediate car at Budget with a free upgrade (pending availability) to a full size. I emailed with a question prior to booking and had a response within an hour. I received a confirmation immediately upon booking/paying and then they emailed my rental voucher (that I have to take along) the very next day. From what I understand, there is no charge to make changes. Hope this helps.

 

[Miss LD]

We get the extra insurance. we've been told time and again that it's a rip-off. But, the cost of it, to me, is worth the peace of mind.
When we went in July we saw a LOT of accidents. My husband narrowly avoided an accident because someone made a stupid U-Turn.
When I called our insurance broker he suggested that we get it because it wouldn't show on our insurance if we had an accident.

 

[joech]

MaryannF, I just wanted to say that I went ahead and booked with uscarhire and got a rate of $238USD including taxes and every imaginable insurance for my 8 days starting next week. This was for an intermediate car at Budget with a free upgrade (pending availability) to a full size. I emailed with a question prior to booking and had a response within an hour. I received a confirmation immediately upon booking/paying and then they emailed my rental voucher (that I have to take along) the very next day. From what I understand, there is no charge to make changes. Hope this helps.

Would you mind sharing your experience with uscarhire when you returned? Have a magical trip.

 

[Grayce]

I checked with my insurance company and we are covered. I also use a gold card to pay just in case I need to use their insurance.

 

[mermaid&cinderella]

I'm a TA and just heard of a horror story with someone who rented a car and declined the insurance as they 'had it on their Aerogold--CC"! Be really careful...and make sure that your own auto policy covers you as mentioned above. Mine does and I always tell my Broker when I will be renting out of country.

My Aerogold CC says there is insurance covered on it. Can you explain the horror story? We have a car rental waiting in FL in 2 weeks and I want to ensure I am fully covered.
Thanks

 

[MaryannF]

Canadamom, Looking forward to your return to find out your experience with uscarhire. Have a great trip. I'll probably be booking with them as I can't beat the price no matter which coupon, code or special rate I try.

 

[Canadamom]

I had reservations from several months ago, but booked with uscarhire this week (only 10 days before our trip) and still got a decent price. It included insurance and my other reservations didn't. Hoping it'll go well! And yes, I'll be happy to let you know how it goes.

If you do a search of the threads for "uscarhire" you will find more posts about the company, the vast majority being from the UK planning part of the Dis. It seems that people there have used them successfully.