Insurance for Rental Cars

[mikaelroth]

Hi
We are a Swedish family that will visit DisneyWorld (and Florida) Oct24 (wow only 2 months left) and plan to rent a car (will be in Tampa, Orlando , Cape Kennedy, Ft.Lauderdale and leave through Miami, total 24 days). I have looked into it at found that Premium Class will be large enough (bet we will shop a lot ;-).
The rental prices are resonable but then the extras kick in and insurance is the worst (around $30 a day).
Me and DW are safe and responsible drivers and I am not sure we need the insurance (we will have all kind of travel insurences bought from home).
Could You give me advise? How is the traffic in Florida? What insurence should I have ? Is there a way to get those prices down?
Any advise is valueable and thankfully accepted
Regards
Mike

 

[ceecee]

Our auto insurance we have for our own cars cover us for rentals as well. I don't know about yours but it is certainly worth checking with your agent to see if yours will cover you here as well.

 

[swilshire]

Also, in the US at least, many of the premium credit cards cover rental insurance. Check with your credit cards and your personal auto insurance.

If you are not covered by any other policy, by all means, take the rental company's insurance. Some may be higher than others, so shop around.

Orlando is no more dangerous than any other US city for accidents, but any time you get a bunch of cars in one place, somebody is going to make a mistake. It doesn't have to be you to be a problem if you're in the wrong place at the right time. You could get into all sorts of legal tangles, compounded by the fact that it would be a long way for you to come back if you had to go to court. In your situation, I would want to make 100% sure I was covered.

Sheila

 

[maxie]

For Canadians we can buy car insurance here at home that is way cheaper. I think it is about $6-$8/day and that covers all driver so you don't have to pay extra for additional drivers. It would be worth check out buying insurance at home.

 

[Lewisc]

Originally posted by maxie
and that covers all driver so you don't have to pay extra for additional drivers. It would be worth check out buying insurance at home.

DOUBLE CHECK.

Almost all insurance excludes coverage IF you don't operate the car in accordance with the terms of the rental agreement. Generally additional drivers must be listed on the rental agreement, if you don't list the additional driver you may have problems.

 

[HappyLawyer]

YOU SHOULD SEE IF YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR POLICY TO COVER RENTALS FOR THE MONTH YOU ARE GOING AND WHEN YOU RETURN CHANGE IT BACK TO THE WAY YOU HAD IT

 

[mikaelroth]

Thanks for the advises.
I will start to check them. I do not think our car-insurance cover rentals since , in Sweden, the insurance are written on the car not the driver. But the tip on rental - through credit card - sounds interesting.
Thanks
Mike

 

[Lewisc]

Originally posted by mikaelroth
Thanks for the advises.
I will start to check them. I do not think our car-insurance cover rentals since , in Sweden, the insurance are written on the car not the driver. But the tip on rental - through credit card - sounds interesting.
Thanks
Mike

In the US car insurance covers the car. Many policies have a rider that also cover a rental car. Generally you're not going to be driving a rental car and your own car.

 

[mrspaha]

Definitely check with your insurance company. We have excellent insurance ourselves that covers us in rental cars also, BUT we are NOT covered in foreign countries. We need a special rider if we want to drive outside of the US.

 

[cinda65]

There was a piece on our local news about purchasing insurance with rented cars.

They said that your regular car insurance would probably cover the rental car also, but that it would not cover "loss of use". Loss of use is apparantly something the car rental places can charge you if there is an accident and the car is out of service being repaired.

The reported on the station mentioned that this could run upwards of $3,000.

We were unsure what to do on a recent trip to Texas because of this "loss of use" clause so we went ahead and paid for the insurance. It added a significant amount but I guess I had more peace of mine.

Had I never heard the report on the news station I would not, and have not, purchased the insurance.