Im going on a trip to Nationals with my Youth Basketball team. I have always been told when you rent a car (in this case a 15 passenger van) it is safe to decline "rental insurance" and use your own insurance. But in this case, since I wont be the only one driving, and I have several other people I am responsible for, I am questioning this. Can anyone help clarify this situation? Thanks!
imadrummer2K would be a better person to chime in im not totally sure, but I believe when your own insurance transfers over, its liability only IOW ..if you get into an accident in the rental car, and its your fault, then your liability insurance will cover the person you hit, but it won't cover the damage to the car you are renting also, your liability insurance won't cover the multiple drivers (that, i am sure of) ...each driver will have to be signed up on the rental sheet ..but again, if they use their own insurance, then only their liability will transfer (not coll or comp)
Yes and no. It is your liability that covers you when you rent a car. But it does cover the rent car. If you wreck a rental car, the insurance company views it the same way as if you wreck someone else's car. After all, that's really what a rental car is....someone else's car. So yes, you are covered by your insurance company but if you file a claim on your liability, you can bet that your rates will go waaay up...that is if they don't cancel you all together. I always take the coverage when I rent a car. I don't want to have to file a claim and pay higher premiums because I wrecked a car that isn't even mine. Also keep in mind that if you get in a wreck that isn't your fault, the rental company will still come after you and your insurance company. Even if the other person takes responsibility and his insurance company offers to pay, they will still come after you, not the other guy. They won't even bother with the other guy.
One of my credit cards that I use for rental cars supposedly provides coverage (insurance) for rental cars. I hope I never have to find out if that is true or not, but at least it is a backup plan just in case.
Please, if you pay attention to one thingday let it be the following: I arrived with my wife on our honeymoon in Hawaii and picked up our rental car. The guy says "Do you want the supplemental insurance?" My first and immediate inclination is to say "No." I mean what can happen that my insurance company / credit card company won't take care of? I decide to be a good hubby and ask the wife her opinion. She asks the guy behind the counter, "What does supplemental insurance do?" He says "In the event of an accident, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENs, you simply call us or bring the car back, you get another car, and at the end just walk away." I decide its worth the peace of mind and we get it. We drive away from the airport and stop about 3 minutes later by the side of the road to look at the waves crashing onto the beach. Then I notice a "NO STOPPING" sign right where we are sitting. So I look in the drivers side mirror for traffic coming up the road and just as I am about turn my head to give one last look before pulling back into traffic.... BAM! Surfer boy and his buddy plow into the side of my car, scrapping all the way from the rear tail light to the front fender. If my arm had been out the window it would have gotten torn off. I called the police, much to the shagrin of surfer boy and I call the renatl car company. He says "Bring it back I'll have another car waiting for you..." The only questions I ever got were 2 months later when the car company was investigating the claim by the surfer saying it was my fault trying to get the car rental company to pay for the scratches to his paint job. I told them he was driving a rust bucket and she laughed, thanked me and hung up.
Good story, Mulder. I worked at Enterprise for a few years and I can tell you that we used to tell our customers that if they took our coverage and wrecked our car, all they had to do was hand us the keys and walk away and they would never hear from us again. It was absolutely true. It even happened a few times.
