Hi everyone,
I'm going on a vacation and would like to rent a car for 2 days of the trip. I wish to minimize costs but ensure I'm adequately insured. Any advice? I took a vacation last year and paid $40 a day to Avis for insurance, road service for breakdowns, etc. Can I do better? (FYI: I don't own a car nor do I have an insurance policy on someone else's vehicle. I plan to rent the smallest/cheapest vehicle on offer.)
Car Rental
Re: Car Rental
Look at Turo. If you are travelling to a reasonably populated area you should be able to find a few options at $25/day or lower.
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unemployable
- Posts: 1007
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- Location: Homeless
Re: Car Rental
Basically all credit cards offer car rental collision coverage, so don't ever pay for a collision add-on from the agency. I have invoked it before and the process was relatively straightforward.
For liability, the rental agency has its own liability insurance to meet the legal requirement. Usually the windshield or visor has a sticker saying something such as "Covered by Certificate of Self-Insurance No. XXX". If you are at fault in an accident it will be a matter between the opposing party's insurance company and the rental agency's insurance (or the rental agency directly if it self-insures). The agency can still come after you for the damages, however, as a civil matter*. If you don't rent cars a lot the best option is probably the "Liability Insurance Supplement". Most major insurers also offer "Non-Owners Insurance" or something similarly named, but this doesn't pencil out unless you rent pretty often, like more than once a month.
*So Avis can sue you for what they had to pay out to the other party. They cannot however fine you, suspend your license or do anything only a government can. You may of course have received a ticket as a result of the accident, but you do not commit "driving without insurance".
Unless you're driving very long distances and/or in remote areas, I'd skip emergency road service, and probably not even get it then.
TL;DR: Get the liability insurance supplement if you're worried about this, skip everything else.
For liability, the rental agency has its own liability insurance to meet the legal requirement. Usually the windshield or visor has a sticker saying something such as "Covered by Certificate of Self-Insurance No. XXX". If you are at fault in an accident it will be a matter between the opposing party's insurance company and the rental agency's insurance (or the rental agency directly if it self-insures). The agency can still come after you for the damages, however, as a civil matter*. If you don't rent cars a lot the best option is probably the "Liability Insurance Supplement". Most major insurers also offer "Non-Owners Insurance" or something similarly named, but this doesn't pencil out unless you rent pretty often, like more than once a month.
*So Avis can sue you for what they had to pay out to the other party. They cannot however fine you, suspend your license or do anything only a government can. You may of course have received a ticket as a result of the accident, but you do not commit "driving without insurance".
Unless you're driving very long distances and/or in remote areas, I'd skip emergency road service, and probably not even get it then.
TL;DR: Get the liability insurance supplement if you're worried about this, skip everything else.
Re: Car Rental
Another thing my spouse does is book early. If the price goes down, cancel and rebook without penalty.
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EdithKeeler
- Posts: 1099
- Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 7:55 pm
Re: Car Rental
I've been an insurance claims adjuster for 30 years and I deal with this stuff on the reg.
This is technically true:
HOWEVER. You are not an insured on Avis's policy: Avis is. So if you cause catastrophic injury to someone, and the other party sues you and Avis, Avis has coverage, but you don't. Avis has coverage for its legal fees on its own policy; you do not. Avis has no duty to provide a defense to you for a lawsuit under their contract. The plaintiff can collect damages under Avis's policy, and then technically still come after you, and Avis can still collect what it paid out from you (because when you sign a rental contract with Avis, you're also agreeing to indemnify them for any liability losses they pay out, well, typically in a rental contract, at least--I don't know the exact wording of Avis's contract).
It's not that big a deal if you have a fender bender: Avis will pay the other party and collect what they paid the other party back from you, plus considerable fees (typically their contract has a provision to collect back "claim handling fees" or "administrative fees" and they are grossly inflated). But if you cause a major accident and heaven forbid kill or paralyze someone, you are, to put it bluntly, screwed. They can go after all your personal assets and technically your future assets as well--they will get a judgment against you for the loss and could garnish your wages.
I agree that your credit card probably offers some kind of first party collision coverage (coverage if you damage the rental car and nothing else--ie, back into a pole and don't damage the pole). But definitely double check the provisions of that with your CC company before you rely on it.
But really, don't skimp on the liability coverage. It's one of those things that can be penny wise and pound foolish. There's a really excellent chance you won't need the liability coverage. But if you have a bad accident and you do need it, you'll be really glad you have it. And most people never think about the defense costs provisions of liability coverage.
I feel like I bring up these doom and gloom scenarios on these boards all the time. Sorry--I just see the bad things that can happen and change a person's life in a second, whether it's the person who's hurt, or the person whose financial life could be potentially affected for the rest of their lives.
And I will tell you: it's not just the horrible accidents that can do it. I spent a day this week in a mediation on an auto claim. It was a essentially a small fender bender, but we have a commercial policy and the plaintiff thinks he just won the lottery. He's trying to claim his surgery for his pre-existing injury paid for by alleging that it was caused by this really minor impact. It's about $100K in medical, plus about $100K in wage loss he's claiming. There's a good chance that his doctor when deposed will say something like "well, I can't say with absolute certainty this wasn't caused by the accident, and he never complained of pain prior to this accident," and there's at least a 50/50 chance a jury could award him something around $300K if they decide they don't like my client. We're looking at spending close to $100K to get thru trial once we pay a biomechanical engineer (who will testify that the forces on this guy's body were equivalent to jumping off a curb) and at least two doctors who will testify that there's no way his injury happened in this accident. (Engineers and doctors have to be paid: they are expensive).
Trust me, you don't want to be dealing with something like that on your own. Everyone hates insurance companies until they need one. Everyone hates paying premiums until they're glad they had insurance. I work in insurance and i feel the same way!
This is technically true:
If you are at fault in an accident it will be a matter between the opposing party's insurance company and the rental agency's insurance (or the rental agency directly if it self-insures). The agency can still come after you for the damages, however, as a civil matter*. If you don't rent cars a lot the best option is probably the "Liability Insurance Supplement". Most major insurers also offer "Non-Owners Insurance" or something similarly named, but this doesn't pencil out unless you rent pretty often, like more than once a month.
*So Avis can sue you for what they had to pay out to the other party. They cannot however fine you, suspend your license or do anything only a government can. You may of course have received a ticket as a result of the accident, but you do not commit "driving without insurance".
HOWEVER. You are not an insured on Avis's policy: Avis is. So if you cause catastrophic injury to someone, and the other party sues you and Avis, Avis has coverage, but you don't. Avis has coverage for its legal fees on its own policy; you do not. Avis has no duty to provide a defense to you for a lawsuit under their contract. The plaintiff can collect damages under Avis's policy, and then technically still come after you, and Avis can still collect what it paid out from you (because when you sign a rental contract with Avis, you're also agreeing to indemnify them for any liability losses they pay out, well, typically in a rental contract, at least--I don't know the exact wording of Avis's contract).
It's not that big a deal if you have a fender bender: Avis will pay the other party and collect what they paid the other party back from you, plus considerable fees (typically their contract has a provision to collect back "claim handling fees" or "administrative fees" and they are grossly inflated). But if you cause a major accident and heaven forbid kill or paralyze someone, you are, to put it bluntly, screwed. They can go after all your personal assets and technically your future assets as well--they will get a judgment against you for the loss and could garnish your wages.
I agree that your credit card probably offers some kind of first party collision coverage (coverage if you damage the rental car and nothing else--ie, back into a pole and don't damage the pole). But definitely double check the provisions of that with your CC company before you rely on it.
But really, don't skimp on the liability coverage. It's one of those things that can be penny wise and pound foolish. There's a really excellent chance you won't need the liability coverage. But if you have a bad accident and you do need it, you'll be really glad you have it. And most people never think about the defense costs provisions of liability coverage.
I feel like I bring up these doom and gloom scenarios on these boards all the time. Sorry--I just see the bad things that can happen and change a person's life in a second, whether it's the person who's hurt, or the person whose financial life could be potentially affected for the rest of their lives.
And I will tell you: it's not just the horrible accidents that can do it. I spent a day this week in a mediation on an auto claim. It was a essentially a small fender bender, but we have a commercial policy and the plaintiff thinks he just won the lottery. He's trying to claim his surgery for his pre-existing injury paid for by alleging that it was caused by this really minor impact. It's about $100K in medical, plus about $100K in wage loss he's claiming. There's a good chance that his doctor when deposed will say something like "well, I can't say with absolute certainty this wasn't caused by the accident, and he never complained of pain prior to this accident," and there's at least a 50/50 chance a jury could award him something around $300K if they decide they don't like my client. We're looking at spending close to $100K to get thru trial once we pay a biomechanical engineer (who will testify that the forces on this guy's body were equivalent to jumping off a curb) and at least two doctors who will testify that there's no way his injury happened in this accident. (Engineers and doctors have to be paid: they are expensive).
Trust me, you don't want to be dealing with something like that on your own. Everyone hates insurance companies until they need one. Everyone hates paying premiums until they're glad they had insurance. I work in insurance and i feel the same way!
Re: Car Rental
Wow! Edith Keeler thanks for an excellent, thoughtful reply.
It sounds like I need liability insurance. Also, I don't have credit cards anymore (too much temptation) so I'll need to get collision too.
It sounds like I need liability insurance. Also, I don't have credit cards anymore (too much temptation) so I'll need to get collision too.
Re: Car Rental
In terms of getting coverage without paying excessively for it check out third party insurance companies. I usually use Allianz and buy my own insurance (covered only under the days you specify) for a rate per day. Rate depends on where you’re renting and where you hold your license.
NY license renting in Europe for example is $9/day. Much cheaper than using the car rental company’s which offer similar coverage for more like $15-20 per day.
As always with insurance check the T&C’s. It’s usually fine for standard small car rentals but if you’re going off roading, or renting high end vehicles then you need different/additional coverage. I doubt anyone in this forum is renting high end sports cars anyway.
Note that if you do have an accident it’s a bit more work on you to document the paperwork to and from the 3rd party insurance then if you go with the car rental comapanies. Given the low proabability high impact nature of these things I find that to be a fine trade off.
NY license renting in Europe for example is $9/day. Much cheaper than using the car rental company’s which offer similar coverage for more like $15-20 per day.
As always with insurance check the T&C’s. It’s usually fine for standard small car rentals but if you’re going off roading, or renting high end vehicles then you need different/additional coverage. I doubt anyone in this forum is renting high end sports cars anyway.
Note that if you do have an accident it’s a bit more work on you to document the paperwork to and from the 3rd party insurance then if you go with the car rental comapanies. Given the low proabability high impact nature of these things I find that to be a fine trade off.
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The Old Man
- Posts: 504
- Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:55 pm
Re: Car Rental
Yes, to reiterate what others have said: Obtain the liability insurance a well as the property damage insurance. These costs will far exceed the actual costs of the rental car itself. The coverage that comes with the credit card - check to be sure - will only cover the property damage.