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Any chance of an article on car rental insurance?
http://www.ridehacks.com/ultimate-guide-to-rental-car-insurance/
This guy has done a bit of a write up but Oz based. Tempted to use AMEX cc after reading that but that doesn’t work for work related rentals. Looks like a bunch of exclusions from the main car companies.
Suppose I should one day get the insurance policies and go through them but even when I’ve asked for clarification on points I’ve been given the run around by cc and underwriter without a clear answer.
I really think car insurance should be easier to understand and laid out in layman’s terms.
Currently I have probably > 3 months worth of renting in the last 12 months and the insurance would be thousands I’m sure and probably more than the cost of the repairs so I figure I’m better off not paying for insurance especially if there are exclusions and I’d end up paying for damage anyway! Chances in NZ and Oz of an accident are pretty slim so I figure worth the risk. I came to this conclusion when my partner and I rented a car and the insurance came to the same amount as the car rental for the week.
Anyone know of any good articles on car insurance?
Any chance of an article on car rental insurance?
Yep, it’s on the list – both in terms of distinct car rental insurance, and also through general travel insurance policies (both purchased and credit card complimentary) as all often have some (wildly differing) levels of coverage.
There are lots of ‘gotchas’ with car rental insurance, but the concepts are generally the same globally so foreign guides will probably give you a good idea.
For the amount of travel you do – I assume you’d have an annual travel insurance policy? If so, look for one that gives good rental liability coverage.
The North American market is particularly problematic. People often think they can decline cover as they have some travel insurance rental excess coverage, however in the US that generally means you have full liability for the vehicle. This is because most auto policies in the US (i.e. insurance for your usual car) cover rental cars too, so domestic renters do not need any insurance at all.
The one thing that is pretty clear (at least outside the US), is that it’s almost never the best option to buy a liability waiver or excess reduction product directly from the rental company – there are far better options available as long as you’re willing to work a little harder to get them.
The main area of concern when renting a car is the US. Because anybody with car needs insurance rental cars typically don’t come with any insurance by default because people are covered by their own insurance.
Even if you add on CDW/LDW to your policy you’ll probably find your travel insurance has a liability clause excluding rental cars. While you may now be covered if you ding the car, the person you hit who now has a mystery sore neck they didn’t have previously will be lawyered up before you can even say lawyerd up.
It’s been a long time since I’ve rented in the US. Never rented in Asia. Actually partner organised the UK car but I don’t know what he did for insurance. Generally if it’s outside of Oz/NZ I’m a fan of car insurance.
Just using cc but Westpac World card for work which sounds like you need to have bought out the excess but no one could clarify for me at Westpac or the underwriter. Tried Koru car insurance but I think it morphed into one of the general travel insurances and got pricier. I haven’t revisited this. Using AMEX charge for personal/joint which looks straightforward but also sometimes book on Kiwibank plat card for personal (which doesn’t include domestic) but sometimes that doesn’t matter e.g. can go home or stay with friends/family at destination and sometimes don’t need a car.
To be honest I’d need a bottle of wine to get through the boredom of these policies but if I finished the bottle then I wouldn’t remember anything! Lame excuse I know. Would be interesting to have a layperson like myself and a lawyer read through a policy then answer T/F questions on whether or not we thought we were covered based on various scenarios but I think I know the results of that already.
Look forward to the article.
Another thing to note is that often you don’t actually have ‘insurance’ with rental cars, you have a ‘liability waiver’. In a practical sense, this is pretty much insurance, but technically there is no actual insurance company involved (and rental car companies are not licensed insurers) so you cannot, for example, rely on protections of laws around insurance in a given country or take them to an ombudsman if you have a disagreement about car damage.
Any residual liability (equivalent to an excess) is usually payable in the event of an accident – regardless of fault and there is no guarantee you can claw that back even if an at fault party pays up
Some of this I just have to accept as part and parcel of travel.
The AMEX car insurance is on page 21 & 22. Seems to cover up to $125,000 unless the car is >20yo and they don’t seem to mention any excess like they do under other categories. The Westpac one isn’t worth posting as it seems to be fluff.
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