Rental Car Insurance Coverage

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Reader’s Question:

Is it worth purchasing a rental car insurance coverage?

Nicole

Sacramento, CA

Ask your current car insurance company first. Purchasing rental car insurance coverage won’t be necessary if your current car policy covers rental cars. However, if your own insurance policy covers rental cars, it’s a good idea to check if you have a collision and liability coverage. To refresh your memory, collision coverage means your car insurance company will pay for any damage done to the vehicle you’re driving and if you have done damage to someone else’s vehicle, you’re liability coverage will have it covered.

So, if your current insurance policy covers rental cars, and has collision and liability coverage, the next step would be to check what your limit is when it comes to collision coverage. Here is an example scenario; lets say you rented a car that cost $20,000 and your current insurance policy only covers damage expense worth $2,000, the remaining balance will come out of your pocket, so check you’re limitations.

Now, if you think rental car insurance coverage is the way to go, you still need to ask a few questions.

Is there any exclusion on their collision coverage? There are instances that tires or windshields are excluded on their policy, so read the exclusion page thoroughly.

And one last reminder, even though you purchase a rental car insurance coverage, in an occurrence of an accident, your no claims bonus will get tainted and a price increase in your insurance cost will still occur.