Car Rental Insurance Coverage

When you rent a car you will be offered four types of car rental insurance. The four types of insurance coverage are: (1) Liability Insurance; (2) Comprehensive and Collision Coverage; (3) Personal Accident; (4) Personal Property. The rental car companies may call these by different names, but regardless of what they call them, these are the four types of coverage that you need to be familiar with.

Liability Insurance: Liability insurance covers you if you have an accident and injure someone or damage property. Rental companies are required to provide the minimum level of liability insurance. But this may not be enough coverage if you are involved in a serious accident. If you already have insurance coverage for your personal vehicle, then you are probably covered, but check with your insurance agent first to confirm the amount of coverage that you have.

Comprehensive and Collision Coverage: If you are involved in an accident, the rental car companies will hold you responsible for all damages to your rental vehicle. Liability insurance will cover damage to someone else’s vehicle but you will need comprehensive and collision coverage to pay for damages to your rental vehicle.

It is becoming common for car rental companies to also assess you for lost compensation (or Loss of Use) if the vehicle is damaged. Your personal auto insurance probably will not provide coverage for these costs, and you could be liable for them. Your credit card may provide coverage for this cost.

If you use collision coverage from the car rental company, it may not cover an accident if you are speeding, driving on unpaved roads or driving while intoxicated. Also, some car rental insurance may not cover wheels and glass, so if you have a flat or broken windshield, it will cost extra.

You might want to check with your credit card company, a lot of them will provide collision coverage. Check with your credit card company by calling the 1-800 number on the back of the card to see what coverage they provide. Some of the companies will not cover teenage drivers, or for luxury vehicles. Sometimes, the credit card company will only pay the deductible on your car insurance, meaning you will have to file on your personal auto insurance if you are involved in an accident.

Personal Accident: This will provide coverage for your medical and ambulance bills if you and your passengers are injured in an accident. It also pays a one-time payment in the event of death or maiming. This is generally included in your personal auto or health policies and may not be necessary to purchase additional coverage.

Personal Property: This will reimburse you for the cost of personal items stolen from your vehicle. Some home owner and renter policies will provide this coverage. Check with your agent.