Renting a car, insurance and coverage

[lacrosse_lady72]

This is going to be our first time renting a car for more than a day. We used to get some kind of coverage through the rental company but I have since learned that it's pretty much a rip off, also it's pretty expensive as the per day cost add up to a lot when you're needing it for 1-2 weeks.

In what ways are rental cars covered?

I've heard a major credit card usually covers anything that should happen during the rental agreement, given the person who is driving is the person on the credit card. But what if the driver only has a debit card? (I know rental companies are weird about debit cards, we know how it works to use debit cards to rent a car.)

What about AAA?

Or your car insurance for your own personal car?

How do we get insurance?

I'm trying to get it for myself to drive. I do not have a credit card. I have AAA and I have personal car insurance through Progressive.

 

[rwdavis2]

I suggest you call AAA and your insurance company. In general your car insurance will cover you but the car rental company will charge for loss of use. Besides actual damage. Many credit cards will cover everything. Maybe get a card just to do the car rental. The Disney visa works.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm not sure that the insurance is actually a ripoff. It's just that it is worth knowing if you hav coverage in a different way. If you don't know and don't check, buy the insurance and then it turns out you had coverage, in a way you've ripped yourself off.
So find out.

I don't think aaa covers rental cars (other than changing a tire etc), but check, and ask your car insurance people specifically about rental cars.

As rw mentioned, it's the loss of use charges that'll get you. Car insurance doesn't cover those. Not to mention, quite often people don't actually have their deductible sitting in a savings account, so filing a claim is a hardship even before you get the agency billing you for the time it took them to fix the car.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

What does loss of use charges mean?

 

[rwdavis2]

What does loss of use charges mean?

The amount of daily rental charges the company loses by not being able to rent the car. This is where you can get royally screwed. My Disney VISA covers it, I believe.

 

[DebbieB]

If you have full coverage on your own auto, most likely you have coverage for a rental car (double check with your agent). That would pay first. Then if you have a credit card with rental car insurance, that will pay the rest including loss of use and your deductible (again, check with your card). I never pay for the insurance through the rental car. The last few times I rented with National I used my corporate code and that has automatic full coverage. It came in handy when I was in Dallas on a business trip last summer and somehow the lower right front bumper had a scuff on it. Not sure where it came from, someone could have backed into me in a parking lot or I didn't notice it when I picked it up. All I had to do was fill out a report.

 

[DVC-Don]

I used to work for the USA's largest insurance company in auto claims. Normally if you have an auto policy it will extend the same coverages to a short term rental (under 30 continuous days). I handled several claims where our policy holder purchased the rental companies extra coverages only to be denied coverage by the rental company in an accident. The rental company policies have clauses that exclude coverage if you are at are ticketed for a traffic violation that contributed to the accident. Hence if you were charged for following too closely, speeding, illegal turn, ect they can deny coverage and will. Your own auto policy will not deny coverage for those examples.

A combination of a personal auto policy with suplimental coverage from a credit card is the ideal.