Of course if money is no object, or the rental duration is short, then buying the coverages from rental company might actually a good idea.
These days rental companies offer many kinds of insurances so you need to make sure what to buy.
First of all, you need to understand some basics about car insurances.
First - this applies to renting in U.S. domestically,
In most states, if not all, the liability insurance is included in the rental rate, therefore, it is no need to buy liability insurance whether you have your own car insurance or not.
There is some better coverage mandated by State of NY, probably due to the fact 90% of NYC residents dont own a car, does not even carry a car insurance policy. You need to go to NY State website to search for the info. I forgot the details off the top of my head as it does not relate to us.
Case 1:
If you own a car, and carry FULL coverage (i.e. including the collision coverage), your own policy would become the Primary insurance when you rent a car, IF you choose NOT to buy the rental car insurance which is usually very expensive and unnecessary.
Of course, your car insurance rate would go UP after you file a claim. This is another subj.
Many credit cards, Visa, MC, and AMEX, also provide Secondary insurance coverage, when you rent a car with the card. The coverage is called Secondary, because it only becomes effective AFTER your Primary insurance which is your own car policy. It does not have to be "Gold" card, and DIFFER from issuer to issuer. You should receive documents of benefits when you first sign up a CC. If in doubt, call your card company to ask for a latest plamphet of your benefits.
For example, Citicards no longer handle insurance itself for all its MCs - now they are handled by MC Assist. (BTW, the program works - we had to invoke the benefit in Dec 2005. I posted a detailed write-up here.)
In many cases, this coverage would cover the deductible of your own car policy.
In order to receive the CC coverage (whether it is secondary, or become primary) you MUST DECLINE the insurance offered by the rental companies.
Of course in the case of claim, there are procedures to follow. Refer to your CC docs.
Case 2:
You own a car policy but it is liability only (mainly because your own car is kind of old, and not worth to carry the full coverage).
Your CC coverage in this case becomes the Primary and would cover you for up to $50K claim - However, it is very difficult to claim against the "Loss of Usage" and MC does not cover the "Admin Fee" (Visa covers).
In this case, if you incur claim - youw own car insurance is totally out of the picture. You deal with the CC coverage only.
Of course you need to satisfy the CC by providing them the Declaration Page of your car policy to prove that you only carry Liability coverage. The CC coverage usually cover the costs of repair without much question, as long as the costs are deemed reasonable, and you have good documentation to prove the damage (in our case we videoed the damage and made a DVD which we sent to the MC Claim Dept together w/ other necessary docs.)
However, when it comes to pay the "Loss of Usage" - it becomes sticky - the Rental companies naturally tried to fleece you by claiming they lost so many days of revenues because the car was in the shop... The CC requires the rental company to provide a "Fleet Usage Log" or something like that to sustain the claim. The rental company usually wouldn't give the specific details required, and you as the customer is caught between the battle of this. At the end, 99% of such "Loss of Usage" claims were denied and customer ended up to pay. Sometimes if the rental location is owned by Franchisee, not Corp Office, you also would get billed the "Admin Fee" - which is not covered by MC, but Visa docs said it covers.
You could, of course, choose to fight these claims from rental company - but it probably is not worth the effort and time, plus the potential damage on your credit report, should the rental company plays hardball and send your bill to the collection agency. This is the rental company's killer way to make you pay, usually just a few hundreds, so many, incl us, opt to pay.
Internationally, CC coverage is your primary coverage. There are limitation of countries - Israel is NOT covered by any card for example. Italy, Greece, Spain, Northern Ireland, Ireland, are on / off on each card's list - need to check the latest info when you would use the coverage. New Zealand is NOT covered basically because NZ is a no-fault country and local insurance is Mandatory. I believe Mexico is also mandatory for local insurance.
There are 30 days limitation on the rental period covered by CC. International coverage could be shorter.
In any case one needs to verify it before one goes on a long rental trip.
These days rental companies offer many kinds of insurances so you need to make sure what to buy.
First of all, you need to understand some basics about car insurances.
First - this applies to renting in U.S. domestically,
In most states, if not all, the liability insurance is included in the rental rate, therefore, it is no need to buy liability insurance whether you have your own car insurance or not.
There is some better coverage mandated by State of NY, probably due to the fact 90% of NYC residents dont own a car, does not even carry a car insurance policy. You need to go to NY State website to search for the info. I forgot the details off the top of my head as it does not relate to us.
Case 1:
If you own a car, and carry FULL coverage (i.e. including the collision coverage), your own policy would become the Primary insurance when you rent a car, IF you choose NOT to buy the rental car insurance which is usually very expensive and unnecessary.
Of course, your car insurance rate would go UP after you file a claim. This is another subj.
Many credit cards, Visa, MC, and AMEX, also provide Secondary insurance coverage, when you rent a car with the card. The coverage is called Secondary, because it only becomes effective AFTER your Primary insurance which is your own car policy. It does not have to be "Gold" card, and DIFFER from issuer to issuer. You should receive documents of benefits when you first sign up a CC. If in doubt, call your card company to ask for a latest plamphet of your benefits.
For example, Citicards no longer handle insurance itself for all its MCs - now they are handled by MC Assist. (BTW, the program works - we had to invoke the benefit in Dec 2005. I posted a detailed write-up here.)
In many cases, this coverage would cover the deductible of your own car policy.
In order to receive the CC coverage (whether it is secondary, or become primary) you MUST DECLINE the insurance offered by the rental companies.
Of course in the case of claim, there are procedures to follow. Refer to your CC docs.
Case 2:
You own a car policy but it is liability only (mainly because your own car is kind of old, and not worth to carry the full coverage).
Your CC coverage in this case becomes the Primary and would cover you for up to $50K claim - However, it is very difficult to claim against the "Loss of Usage" and MC does not cover the "Admin Fee" (Visa covers).
In this case, if you incur claim - youw own car insurance is totally out of the picture. You deal with the CC coverage only.
Of course you need to satisfy the CC by providing them the Declaration Page of your car policy to prove that you only carry Liability coverage. The CC coverage usually cover the costs of repair without much question, as long as the costs are deemed reasonable, and you have good documentation to prove the damage (in our case we videoed the damage and made a DVD which we sent to the MC Claim Dept together w/ other necessary docs.)
However, when it comes to pay the "Loss of Usage" - it becomes sticky - the Rental companies naturally tried to fleece you by claiming they lost so many days of revenues because the car was in the shop... The CC requires the rental company to provide a "Fleet Usage Log" or something like that to sustain the claim. The rental company usually wouldn't give the specific details required, and you as the customer is caught between the battle of this. At the end, 99% of such "Loss of Usage" claims were denied and customer ended up to pay. Sometimes if the rental location is owned by Franchisee, not Corp Office, you also would get billed the "Admin Fee" - which is not covered by MC, but Visa docs said it covers.
You could, of course, choose to fight these claims from rental company - but it probably is not worth the effort and time, plus the potential damage on your credit report, should the rental company plays hardball and send your bill to the collection agency. This is the rental company's killer way to make you pay, usually just a few hundreds, so many, incl us, opt to pay.
Internationally, CC coverage is your primary coverage. There are limitation of countries - Israel is NOT covered by any card for example. Italy, Greece, Spain, Northern Ireland, Ireland, are on / off on each card's list - need to check the latest info when you would use the coverage. New Zealand is NOT covered basically because NZ is a no-fault country and local insurance is Mandatory. I believe Mexico is also mandatory for local insurance.
There are 30 days limitation on the rental period covered by CC. International coverage could be shorter.
In any case one needs to verify it before one goes on a long rental trip.
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