When buying a car, the next responsible step would be to buy car insurance. You could even say that it is the next legal step after buying a car. Considering that most states require a person to have car insurance on a vehicle that they drive. But what about if you rent a car?
When you decide to rent a car, before you complete your purchase at whatever car rental place you go, they will always ask if you would like to add their insurance to the vehicle. This means you can buy car rental insurance from that company to protect the vehicle during your time of renting. On first sight, this seems like a good idea. But, you may want to slow your roll and consider if whether or not you need their insurance.
First off, car insurance is financial protection against physical damage, bodily injury, and liability resulting from an auto accident or theft. If you have your own personal insurance policy prior to renting the car then you may not need to buy the car rental's insurance. Most personal insurance policies coverage extends to car rentals. Before renting a car you should read through your own car insurance policy again to see if that extension is in your contract. There is a super high chance it is.
With that being said, you may still want to buy the car rental's insurance. Of course, if you do not have any car insurance coverage, then you should buy the rentals company's. But also depending on your policy it may be best to use the car rental's insurance as supplemental protection. Meaning, if there is something that your own personal policy doesn't cover or to offset certain deductibles if something does happen, the rental's insurance would take care of anything your own personal policy left over.
There are four different types of coverage car rentals offer:
1 Liability coverage
2 Personal accident insurance
3 Collision Damage Waiver (CDW)/Loss Damage Waiver
4 Personal Effects Coverage
Liability Coverage comes with all car insurance policies. However, if you have minimal liability coverage you might want to consider using the rental's as supplement.
Personal Accident Insurance is to cover your medical bills in a crash or accident. Once again, most policies have this already in their plan so, you may not need this one. Unless you don't have personal injury protection and reliable health insurance.
Collision Damage Waiver or CDW is a waiver that says the rental car company won’t come after you for any damage to the rental or theft of the car. Collision and Comprehensive Coverage in your own policy will extend to this but adding this as supplement coverage will help offset that deductible if something happens.
Personal Effects Coverage is coverage for any personal items that was stolen through theft. Make sure you check your personal policy to see if whether or not you would need to use the rental's insurance for this coverage.
Note that credit cards often provides insurance for rental cars. Meaning if you have auto insurance, then if there are any gaps in coverage with your personal auto policy, the credit card company could provide secondary coverage. You should check with your credit card company prior to renting the vehicle. Duly note, if you don't have car insurance then your credit card would be considered the primary coverage.
Car rental's insurance do charge on a day to day basis so it is important to do these three things before renting a car:
· Re-read through your personal auto policy (if you have one) to see what car rental protection you have.
· Check with the credit card company of the credit card you are using to rent to see what they can cover.
· Preview the car rental's insurance policy to see their coverage options.
Drive safe and remember, better safe than sorry.
If you, or someone you know have been involved in an auto accident, call Your Accident Your Money at (888) 766-6398.
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