USA Rental Car Insurance

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kryptonjohn

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#228678 17-Jan-2018 08:49

Hi all,

Need to rent a car for a week from Honolulu in April. The car rental is cheap, but the insurance add-on can be more than the car rental itself!

Can this be worked around in any way? Doesn't seem like my AMI NZ car insurance can be extended to cover it.

Cheers

JohnO

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#1941279 17-Jan-2018 08:52

Hmmnn, we rented from Alamo last week (from their LAX branch) and the insurance was a lot cheaper than other places, and it included everything (third party, the vehicle itself, zero excess, millions in personal injury cover etc.).

It's one of those things that I would be very conservative about – you don't want to end up in a minor fender bender and being sued by the other driver for millions for their "injury".

Is there Alamo in Honolulu? We had a brand new Hyundai Tucson which was great, and cheaper than Avis and Hertz even though it was a bigger, newer car.

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kryptonjohn

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#1941286 17-Jan-2018 09:05

Benjip:

Hmmnn, we rented from Alamo last week (from their LAX branch) and the insurance was a lot cheaper than other places, and it included everything (third party, the vehicle itself, zero excess, millions in personal injury cover etc.).

It's one of those things that I would be very conservative about – you don't want to end up in a minor fender bender and being sued by the other driver for millions for their "injury".

Is there Alamo in Honolulu? We had a brand new Hyundai Tucson which was great, and cheaper than Avis and Hertz even though it was a bigger, newer car.

Hi @Benjip - just looked on Alamo website at a Hyundai Santa Fe (bigger version of Tuscon) US$32/day for insurance on top of US$390 for seven day rental.

Found a great deal at Dollar Rental for a 7 seat Nissan Quest minivan US$250/week but no insurance option online... which makes me suspicious that they'd shaft me for insurance at pickup.

kryptonjohn

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#1941291 17-Jan-2018 09:13

When we were last in Hawaii late Nov 2015 they couldn't give away rental cars. I think we were paying $20 a day or so as they had no business and nowhere to store all the unrented cars... but can't remember what the insurance was. Not sure if we should wait until last minute and see if the same happens this time.

MikeAqua

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#1941298 17-Jan-2018 09:18

I've had good deals via car trawler.

Mike

sbiddle

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#1941302 17-Jan-2018 09:23

Insurance in the US will typically cost more per day than the cost of rental. In the US you also need liability insurance which can also cost more than the car itself.

In the US you will typically find there are only two options available for the CDW (the "insurance") - a full buyout option meaning you have no liability, and the other option being $0 and making you fully liable. Since US residents don't need insurance when they rent a car (their existing car policy covers it) the default there is full liability.

In the rest of the world you'll have a CDW of say $4000 which is an in-between option and will be fully covered by your travel insurance. Since not taking insurance in the US is incredibly risky (and remembering that car rentals do not have a no fault policy) it means you will be liable for the full cost of the vehicle even if you were involved in an accident that wasn't your fault it leaves no option but to take the other option which is full cover.

The next most important part if the liability insurance (called SLI by most companies). As the US is the world leader in litigation if you have an accident that causes injury to the other party (no matter how minor) you can virtually guarantee you will be subject to legal action from the other party as lawyers work pro-bono on these cases. It's not uncommon for people to be awarded 6-7 digit figures for motor vehicle accidents. Virtually every travel insurance policy on the market will specifically have an clause in the liability cover excluding vehicle rentals. This means taking SLI / liability insurance is absolutely essential.

Full CDW and liability cover can cost around US$60-80 or so per day from most of the big companies. Cars are often only $25 per day to rent so it's a huge additional expense, but one you can't afford to be without. Things do vary between rental companies and also between states.

One tip in Hawaii - rental prices from the airport will are typically way cheaper than a pickup from Waikiki. A few of the companies I've used have also not charged for a return to Waikiki sites.

There are some 3rd party sites such as rentalcars.com also provide their own cover. You'll also find some rental companies offer very different pricing if you say book from their UK sites - often this can include CDW and sometimes liability insurance.

kryptonjohn

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#1941313 17-Jan-2018 09:37

MikeAqua:

I've had good deals via car trawler.

Thanks Mike, I like that their quotes include everything including CDW, third party liability, glass waiver etc.

jonb

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#1941316 17-Jan-2018 09:44

I bought an independent rental car insurance for a trip to UK. If you have pay any damage/excess then you claim back against your own insurance. I don't know about any complexities for the US though, e.g. https://www.insuremyrentalcar.com/

kryptonjohn

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#1941321 17-Jan-2018 09:50

Found these guys

https://www.insuremyrentalcar.com

While googling rental car insurance prices. US$86 for a week - way cheaper than the rental car companies. No Liability cover though. Assume downside is that this is insurance whereas the rental companies offer a waiver. The former requires a claim. The latter means you simply walk away from any damage.

[edit] D'oh! Just saw @jonb's post!

sleepy

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#1941342 17-Jan-2018 10:15

I have used arguscarhire.com for years and have just booked a car in san francisco

the booking says this about insurance

•CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) and Vehicle Theft coverage with Zero Excess.(Not covered under the included cover: Tyres, Wheels, Rear view and side mirrors, Windows, Hubcaps, Taxi (transportation), Towing costs, Locks, Battery, Motor, Undercarriage and Interior of car, Clutch, Replacement Keys, Damage to oil sump, Catalytic convertor, Radiator).•Third Party Cover/ Supplemental Liability Insurance (up to 1 million USD)

have always presumed my travel insurance covers anything else but could be wrong.

Wheelbarrow01

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#1941375 17-Jan-2018 10:34

jonb:

I bought an independent rental car insurance for a trip to UK. If you have pay any damage/excess then you claim back against your own insurance. I don't know about any complexities for the US though, e.g. https://www.insuremyrentalcar.com/

I looked into this type of 3rd party policy before I went to L.A. last June. I decided against it purely due to the policy wording used by US rental companies ie no cover means you are liable to pay the full replacement cost of the vehicle in the event of an accident/collision. So even if you have a minor fender bender, the company can in theory seek the full cost of the vehicle from you up-front, and will refund this to you, minus repair costs, only after the repairs are complete. Fine if you have that much cash on you (and can spare it for weeks on end) but what do you do otherwise? The 3rd party insurer won't pay the rental company directly - you need to pay them yourself and then make a claim to the 3rd party insurer to be reimbursed. And how long could that take? And what if they deny your claim? Far too risky for my liking.

In the end I chose a US rental company (Sixt) who included the Collision Damage Waiver in their quoted daily rate. It was lucky I did too, because on my second day in LA my brand new Mustang was rear ended at an intersection and the at-fault driver took off in a haze of tyre smoke, so I didn't even get a look at their plates. Fortunately the damage was only minor but I still worried about it for the rest of my trip. Would they somehow try to hold me liable because I failed to ascertain who the other driver was? Or because I didn't file a police report the same day? I needn't have worried. When I returned the car I showed them the damage. The girl said she'd seen far worse than that and wished me a safe onward journey - no paperwork, no worries.

On the flipside, I foolishly went to Australia without travel insurance once. My rental car got broken into and Hertz immediately took the $4000 excess from my credit card. They said they would get the window replaced and refund me the balance. They did, but it took them 7 weeks to do so, and I paid 21% interest on the entire $4000 over that period. Now imagine it's the USA and your 'excess' is the full retail price of the car - in US dollars!! I can only assume if your credit card doesn't have a sufficient limit and you don't have the cash handy, they call the cops and at the very least you miss your flight home and spend the night in the slammer.... It doesn't bear thinking about really.

kryptonjohn

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#1941376 17-Jan-2018 10:34

sbiddle:

Insurance in the US will typically cost more per day than the cost of rental. In the US you also need liability insurance which can also cost more than the car itself.

In the US you will typically find there are only two options available for the CDW (the "insurance") - a full buyout option meaning you have no liability, and the other option being $0 and making you fully liable. Since US residents don't need insurance when they rent a car (their existing car policy covers it) the default there is full liability.

In the rest of the world you'll have a CDW of say $4000 which is an in-between option and will be fully covered by your travel insurance. Since not taking insurance in the US is incredibly risky (and remembering that car rentals do not have a no fault policy) it means you will be liable for the full cost of the vehicle even if you were involved in an accident that wasn't your fault it leaves no option but to take the other option which is full cover.

The next most important part if the liability insurance (called SLI by most companies). As the US is the world leader in litigation if you have an accident that causes injury to the other party (no matter how minor) you can virtually guarantee you will be subject to legal action from the other party as lawyers work pro-bono on these cases. It's not uncommon for people to be awarded 6-7 digit figures for motor vehicle accidents. Virtually every travel insurance policy on the market will specifically have an clause in the liability cover excluding vehicle rentals. This means taking SLI / liability insurance is absolutely essential.

Full CDW and liability cover can cost around US$60-80 or so per day from most of the big companies. Cars are often only $25 per day to rent so it's a huge additional expense, but one you can't afford to be without. Things do vary between rental companies and also between states.

One tip in Hawaii - rental prices from the airport will are typically way cheaper than a pickup from Waikiki. A few of the companies I've used have also not charged for a return to Waikiki sites.

There are some 3rd party sites such as rentalcars.com also provide their own cover. You'll also find some rental companies offer very different pricing if you say book from their UK sites - often this can include CDW and sometimes liability insurance.

Thanks @sbiddle,

I'm curious though about liability - is it practical for someone to enforce a civil action against a foreigner?

Bung

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#1941412 17-Jan-2018 11:19

sbiddle:
In the rest of the world you'll have a CDW of say $4000 which is an in-between option and will be fully covered by your travel insurance.l.

In 2005 I got caught out thinking that BNZ Visa Gold travel insurance would cover excess. It turned out that the BNZ cover then was only for anything not covered by a rental car policy option. If there was an excess waver option BNZ didn't cover excess. The current credit card policy has different wording with excess covered up to $2000.

kryptonjohn

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#1941415 17-Jan-2018 11:24

Yeah, the Mastercard Platinum travel insurance same - $2k for insurance excess. The https://www.insuremyrentalcar.com/ has no excess though.

sbiddle

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#1941421 17-Jan-2018 11:27

kryptonjohn:

sbiddle:

Insurance in the US will typically cost more per day than the cost of rental. In the US you also need liability insurance which can also cost more than the car itself.

In the US you will typically find there are only two options available for the CDW (the "insurance") - a full buyout option meaning you have no liability, and the other option being $0 and making you fully liable. Since US residents don't need insurance when they rent a car (their existing car policy covers it) the default there is full liability.

In the rest of the world you'll have a CDW of say $4000 which is an in-between option and will be fully covered by your travel insurance. Since not taking insurance in the US is incredibly risky (and remembering that car rentals do not have a no fault policy) it means you will be liable for the full cost of the vehicle even if you were involved in an accident that wasn't your fault it leaves no option but to take the other option which is full cover.

The next most important part if the liability insurance (called SLI by most companies). As the US is the world leader in litigation if you have an accident that causes injury to the other party (no matter how minor) you can virtually guarantee you will be subject to legal action from the other party as lawyers work pro-bono on these cases. It's not uncommon for people to be awarded 6-7 digit figures for motor vehicle accidents. Virtually every travel insurance policy on the market will specifically have an clause in the liability cover excluding vehicle rentals. This means taking SLI / liability insurance is absolutely essential.

Full CDW and liability cover can cost around US$60-80 or so per day from most of the big companies. Cars are often only $25 per day to rent so it's a huge additional expense, but one you can't afford to be without. Things do vary between rental companies and also between states.

One tip in Hawaii - rental prices from the airport will are typically way cheaper than a pickup from Waikiki. A few of the companies I've used have also not charged for a return to Waikiki sites.

There are some 3rd party sites such as rentalcars.com also provide their own cover. You'll also find some rental companies offer very different pricing if you say book from their UK sites - often this can include CDW and sometimes liability insurance.

Thanks @sbiddle,

I'm curious though about liability - is it practical for someone to enforce a civil action against a foreigner?

Probably not. If you were happy not wanting to ever visit the US again it would probably be the easy way out to lease ASAP after an incident.

While traveling around South Africa many years ago I met a UK couple who had rolled a rental car in Namibia and totally trashed it. A dispute over the insurance (that they had paid for) led to them contacting the UK embassy who had pretty much given them some clearly unofficial official advice to leave the country as quickly as they could assuming they never wanted to visit again because there was no way an extradition order would ever happen and nothing could happen once they left Namibia.

sbiddle

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#1941424 17-Jan-2018 11:28

Bung:
sbiddle:

In the rest of the world you'll have a CDW of say $4000 which is an in-between option and will be fully covered by your travel insurance.l.

In 2005 I got caught out thinking that BNZ Visa Gold travel insurance would cover excess. It turned out that the BNZ cover then was only for anything not covered by a rental car policy option. If there was an excess waver option BNZ didn't cover excess. The current credit card policy has different wording with excess covered up to $2000.

ANZ's Platinum Card still doesn't provide cover, even after their change of insurer and rewording of the rental car section in December.

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