Rental Car Insurance in USA

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#1733423 9-Mar-2017 07:29

I would pay the insurance the rental company sells. I always take the minimum excess, too.

Why?

Because if anything happens you just hand them the keys and walk away.

Anything else may see your having to pay up front and then seek recovery from your insurance company. Absolutely read the fine print on your own policy if you opt to not take the rental company's insurance. The last thing you want is to be liable for damage to both vehicles and the injury / compensation for everyone.

The US is a scary place without solid insurance cover. It's one of the reasons I avoid going there at all.

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Kingy

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#1733898 9-Mar-2017 18:29

dickytim:

Please note that if you get insurance cover from the 3rd party rental agency you still have to pay the excess then claim it back.

We fiancé booked this and when I read the fine print if anything had have happened we would have been 5,500 out of pocket until airportrentals.com paid out on the policy.

Worth noting if you don't have a spare 3,000 - 5,500 laying around.

Yeah that's a bit of a concern, but at least I'd get that money back. If I choose the options via the rental agency I lose $4k regardless.

Linuxluver: I would pay the insurance the rental company sells. I always take the minimum excess, too.

Why?

Because if anything happens you just hand them the keys and walk away.

Anything else may see your having to pay up front and then seek recovery from your insurance company. Absolutely read the fine print on your own policy if you opt to not take the rental company's insurance. The last thing you want is to be liable for damage to both vehicles and the injury / compensation for everyone.

The US is a scary place without solid insurance cover. It's one of the reasons I avoid going there at all.

I get what you're saying and obviously it's one of the concerns and the entire point of this thread. But, lets get real here. Charging more than double the daily quoted price for insurances is pretty excessive and if you're covered by other means you shouldn't really need to worry.

If you really live your life avoiding something because of a very small chance then I've got to feel sorry for you. The US is not 'a scary place'. Yes, you hear about the outrageous cases of someone suing another person for $1m because they stubbed their toe on a doorstep (these are also usually thrown out in court btw). What you fail to read is the 10 million other insurance cases that go through hassle free just like every other place in the world.

I currently live in the middle east where their are very few road rules, even less are actually enforced, and on a Thursday night you're dodging drunk Saudis driving twice the speed limit. It's also a place where some of the locals will quite often cause a ruckus and throw molotovs at the police. But, I feel just as safe as I ever did in New Zealand and if I went in with the attitude of this place is scary I best avoid it, I wouldn't be having the time of my life and I definitely wouldn't have the opportunity to go and spend 2 months travelling every summer.

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Linuxluver

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#1734157 10-Mar-2017 06:48

Kingy:

dickytim:

Please note that if you get insurance cover from the 3rd party rental agency you still have to pay the excess then claim it back.

We fiancé booked this and when I read the fine print if anything had have happened we would have been 5,500 out of pocket until airportrentals.com paid out on the policy.

Worth noting if you don't have a spare 3,000 - 5,500 laying around.

Yeah that's a bit of a concern, but at least I'd get that money back. If I choose the options via the rental agency I lose $4k regardless.

Linuxluver: I would pay the insurance the rental company sells. I always take the minimum excess, too.

Why?

Because if anything happens you just hand them the keys and walk away.

Anything else may see your having to pay up front and then seek recovery from your insurance company. Absolutely read the fine print on your own policy if you opt to not take the rental company's insurance. The last thing you want is to be liable for damage to both vehicles and the injury / compensation for everyone.

The US is a scary place without solid insurance cover. It's one of the reasons I avoid going there at all.

I get what you're saying and obviously it's one of the concerns and the entire point of this thread. But, lets get real here. Charging more than double the daily quoted price for insurances is pretty excessive and if you're covered by other means you shouldn't really need to worry.

If you really live your life avoiding something because of a very small chance then I've got to feel sorry for you. The US is not 'a scary place'. Yes, you hear about the outrageous cases of someone suing another person for $1m because they stubbed their toe on a doorstep (these are also usually thrown out in court btw). What you fail to read is the 10 million other insurance cases that go through hassle free just like every other place in the world.

I currently live in the middle east where their are very few road rules, even less are actually enforced, and on a Thursday night you're dodging drunk Saudis driving twice the speed limit. It's also a place where some of the locals will quite often cause a ruckus and throw molotovs at the police. But, I feel just as safe as I ever did in New Zealand and if I went in with the attitude of this place is scary I best avoid it, I wouldn't be having the time of my life and I definitely wouldn't have the opportunity to go and spend 2 months travelling every summer.

Fair enough. Let's just say there is nothing in the US I feel any need to go do or see that would make me feel the risk was worth it. I know "she'll be right" is the Kiwi way, but I've seen things when they go wrong....and I'm more prudent than I used to be. It's a lottery I don't need to play in.

Countries like Canada are just as interesting, more peaceful and not loaded with guns everywhere.....and no heavy-handed border security. I can keep my shoes on when boarding a plane.

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lchiu7

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#1734910 11-Mar-2017 17:34

My experience is probably slightly different since I have a US issued platinum Mastercard which has car rental insurance included. I actually called the credit card company insurance department and asked about CDW and they told me to decline it as the credit card insurance covered that. So as long as my entire rental was paid for by the Mastercard, they would cover the CDW. So what I normally do is rent the car on the US card and assuming I have no accidents (!), when I turn the car in, just change the billing to my NZ card.

As noted by other posters, it's unclear where NZ travel insurance would cover CDW so you have to bite the bullet and accept it or take the risk. But they normally do cover liability in case you get sued!

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shk292

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#1734940 11-Mar-2017 18:20

I have a westpac platinum mastercard and the travel insurance included with this specifically states it covers rental car insurance, and it doesn't have the ludicrous (IMHO) exclusions that the ANZ one has. So, my normal practice is to take the standard CDW from the car hire company and rely on the mastercard to claim back the excess if required. Never had to use it yet, but it has saved me hundreds of dollars in premiums

sbiddle

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#1734952 11-Mar-2017 18:50

shk292:

I have a westpac platinum mastercard and the travel insurance included with this specifically states it covers rental car insurance, and it doesn't have the ludicrous (IMHO) exclusions that the ANZ one has. So, my normal practice is to take the standard CDW from the car hire company and rely on the mastercard to claim back the excess if required. Never had to use it yet, but it has saved me hundreds of dollars in premiums

The AIG policy used by Westpac is nearly identical to the one used by ANZ except for the rental car policy. Westpac does cover you if you take out the CDW (with no requirement to take out the maximum CDW) but if you hire a car in the US and fail to take out SLI as well it's not going to provide you with any liability insurance should you damage or harm to somebody else's property or somebody else. Not having liability any form of liability insurance in the US is incredibly risky.

Kingy

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#1734956 11-Mar-2017 18:57

SLI is the biggest concern. Worldwide insure covers CDW for a fraction of the cost. It's the liability that is the biggest concern.

I've found if you purchase a rental through the .co.uk website of the rental conpany (hertz, avis etc) it usually includes CDW, SLI in the price. Alamo even includes free additional driver if booking to the US. My question is, does this cover me if I'm not a UK resident?

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surfisup1000

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#1734957 11-Mar-2017 19:05

shk292:

I have a westpac platinum mastercard and the travel insurance included with this specifically states it covers rental car insurance, and it doesn't have the ludicrous (IMHO) exclusions that the ANZ one has. So, my normal practice is to take the standard CDW from the car hire company and rely on the mastercard to claim back the excess if required. Never had to use it yet, but it has saved me hundreds of dollars in premiums

I was curious , so checked but i don't think you are correct.

Here is what is covered, from westpac platinum wording on this site...

https://www.westpac.co.nz/assets/Personal/Credit-Card/PDFs/Platinum-Card-Insurances.pdf

Westpac insurance covers a maximum of 3k for rental car damage, and you are liable for the rest (clause 14).

And, you are not covered for personal liability while driving.. the clause in the westpac insurance is as follows...

Benefit 15 – Personal liability

This clause catches you out...

Exclusions applicable to benefit 15

15.5. loss of or damage to property or bodily injury, arising out of your
ownership, use or possession of any mechanically propelled
vehicle, aircraft or waterborne craft;

You may still be right, maybe you are on a different policy being with mastercard platinum but i could not see it.

Wheelbarrow01

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#1798585 12-Jun-2017 15:56

Wheelbarrow01:

So I ended up booking a Mustang convertible (or similar) through Sixt - US$723 for 15 days, including loss/collision damage waiver and supplementary liability insurance.

We just finished our trip to the States - it was fantastic. We ended up with a 2017 Mustang with less than 1000 miles on the clock. We didn't get a V8 unfortunately, however we did get the 2.3 litre turbo model (available for sale in NZ) which was arguably just as much fun, albeit without the V8 noise. We enjoyed a road trip of almost 2,500 miles across the west coast, taking in LA, San Fran, Tahoe, Vegas, the Grand Canyon, then back to LA, with many stops in lesser known small towns along the way. My favourite would have to have been Williams, Arizona - the last town to be bypassed by the I40 in the 1980's, with the old Route 66 still running down the main street. An amazing little town - a real slice of old time Americana with the nicest people.

In the end I am glad I picked a rental car company which included Loss Damage Waiver in the price - 2 days into the trip whilst still in LA we were hit from behind at an intersection as I was turning a corner. The other driver did not stop, making a pretty quick getaway instead... It was minimal damage but without that LDW I could have been in the sh*t, knowing that some companies continue to charge the daily hire cost while the damage is being fixed. In this case I was able to just hand the keys back at the end of the hire along with the Police report.

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#1798596 12-Jun-2017 16:10

Mean as wheels!

frankv

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#1798607 12-Jun-2017 16:21

Wheelbarrow01:

We just finished our trip to the States - it was fantastic. We ended up with a 2017 Mustang with less than 1000 miles on the clock. We didn't get a V8 unfortunately, however we did get the 2.3 litre turbo model (available for sale in NZ) which was arguably just as much fun, albeit without the V8 noise. We enjoyed a road trip of almost 2,500 miles across the west coast, taking in LA, San Fran, Tahoe, Vegas, the Grand Canyon, then back to LA, with many stops in lesser known small towns along the way. My favourite would have to have been Williams, Arizona - the last town to be bypassed by the I40 in the 1980's, with the old Route 66 still running down the main street. An amazing little town - a real slice of old time Americana with the nicest people.

Hope you went to Sacramento, Yosemite, Death Valley while you were there. We did :) And can echo the niceness of the American people.

Really wanted a Mustang convertible for our trip, but were put off by the lack of boot space. So we ended up with a Hyundai Elantra. Good and practical, but not the same :(

sonyxperiageek

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#1798622 12-Jun-2017 16:36

OP How long did it take for you to adapt to the "wrong" side of the road to drive on? :-)

Sony

MikeAqua

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#1798649 12-Jun-2017 17:03

We hired a car in the US via CarTrawler. It gave us very low cost insurance including excess waiver. Well worth a look for anyone heading over.

Mike

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#1798657 12-Jun-2017 17:23

sonyxperiageek:

OP How long did it take for you to adapt to the "wrong" side of the road to drive on? :-)

Driving on the other side of the road wasn't difficult for me. What was difficult (initially) was driving in the right place in my lane. We were also very careful to think ahead at each intersection to do small turns to the right and big turns to the left, and to stop and look both ways. Having someone else in the car was a big help, especially if your mind was distracted by something else; otherwise you instinctively did the wrong thing.

And American roads are easy to drive on... multilane roads with a wide median wherever there was significant traffic; virtually no traffic on any 2-lane country road.

Kiwifan

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#1798964 12-Jun-2017 21:20

frankv:
sonyxperiageek:

OP How long did it take for you to adapt to the "wrong" side of the road to drive on? :-)

Driving on the other side of the road wasn't difficult for me. What was difficult (initially) was driving in the right place in my lane. We were also very careful to think ahead at each intersection to do small turns to the right and big turns to the left, and to stop and look both ways. Having someone else in the car was a big help, especially if your mind was distracted by something else; otherwise you instinctively did the wrong thing.

And American roads are easy to drive on... multilane roads with a wide median wherever there was significant traffic; virtually no traffic on any 2-lane country road.

Exactly what I would say about during in North America. We really enjoy it and have done about 20000 miles and the only white knuckle driving was heading in to Vegas and Denver mainly because you are looking for the off ramp to the hotel.

We also tend to drive on the secondary roads as you meet some awesome characters in the wee towns along the way and they seem grateful for your custom. Plus the traffic is light compared to the interstates.

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