Car Rental Insurance Policies for Canada

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CompactedJackal

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#317918 27-Nov-2024 13:12

Hi, hope everyone's good.

Question about separate car rental insurance policies for Canada.

I have an upcoming trip to Canada where I'll be renting a car. In many parts of the world (EU, UK, Aus at least) insurance is included with a large excess. To buy the option to reduce this excess from the rental agency is expensive, so I've always made sure I have have separate rental excess insurance (either through my travel insurance or a separate standalone policy).

However, from what I can tell, in Canada and the USA it works differently - there's no insurance included by default, and you have to pay for the CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) to have any coverage at all via the rental agency. This is probably because most personal auto insurance policies over there include cover for rentals, and many credit cards there include cover as well.

To get the CDW from the rentals I'm looking at is around NZ$1,000. I've tried finding a separate policy that includes CDW (not just excess cover), but haven't found anything.

Is anyone aware of anyone who provides a policy like this? Or do I just need to bite the bullet and pay the rental agency?

Cheers!

(I have found one insurer, which at first glance appears to be what I'm looking for, but the fine print reveals that:

"To be eligible for this protection, you are required to have at least the most basic collision damage waiver (“CDW”, “LDW” or similar basic protection package) offered by the car rental company."

So basically useless, as there's only one tier of CDW available from all the rental agencies I'm looking at, and they all have zero excess if you buy them anyway.

To add to this, their rental guide for Canada specifically says:
"Just say 'no'

If you've bought Collision Damage Waiver and/or Supplemental Liability Insurance with us, you can say 'no' to the hard sell for CDW/LDW or SLI from the rental company."

How can I have the most basic CDW from the rental company if I'm told to refuse it?

Unless I'm reading this wrong, this company is basically useless for Canada and the USA, and actively guides you to invalidate your policy and be completely uninsured.)

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#3313400 27-Nov-2024 13:26

What % of the total holiday cost is $1000 for peace of mind?

Worst case, the car is totaled, car company charges for $40k-$50k+ and you then have to get a claim approved? sounds not worth the minor savings.

You also need cover for medical/life coverage if you hurt someone, which i think the CDW includes something for.

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CompactedJackal

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3313407 27-Nov-2024 13:57

Cheers for the reply. Yeah, I think you're right, I'm probably looking at this the wrong way. Where there's coverage but a large excess (e.g. in Aus), at least there's a fairly manageable cap on your liability. With a rental with no coverage (e.g. Canada, USA), you'd be liable for the full cost of the vehicle. I'd imagine if there were any third-party coverage providers, it could be messy pretty quickly trying to figure out who pays up, at least initially.

The $1,000 is about 70% of the cost of the rental itself, which seems steep, but if that's the way things are over there so be it.

In case it's helpful to anyone in the future:

It looks like CDW doesn't cover medical etc., just damage to the vehicle. There are usually separate options to add liability cover, accident cover and personal effects cover to a rental (sometimes they're combined).

From:
https://www.thinkinsure.ca/insurance-help-centre/rental-car-insurance.html
Types of rental car insurance
These policies are available to protect the vehicle, your personal belongings, and third-party liability. Here is a look at the four different types available:
- Collision damage waiver (CDW): Also called loss damage waiver (LDW). It protects you from costs related to theft or collision. By signing the agreement, you pay the company to forfeit the right to go after you for damages. It is required, but many policies or credit cards cover this.
- Liability insurance (LI): You get protection from being liable for an accident. It covers you if you are at-fault for damaging another vehicle or property. It will cover the costs associated with the vehicle or medical benefits to those injured. It is required to add unless your insurance has $1-$2 million in liability and OPCF 27 which will protect you in Canada and the United States. Adding this will cost you less than paying each time you rent a vehicle if you frequently travel.
- Personal accident insurance (PAI): This is accidental death coverage for the driver and any passengers in the vehicle at the time of the accident. It is not required; however, it is risky not to have it.
- Personal effects coverage (PEC): Protection for your personal items in the vehicle. There is often a stated limit and will need a deductible paid before any claim is paid out. It is not required if you have home insurance - if you do not, it is suggested to pay for this if you do not want to lose something $500 or less.

If I look at Avis for example, they offer:
https://www.avis.ca/en/products-and-services/protections
- Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) - like CDW, but also includes theft etc.
- Personal Accident Insurance
- Personal Effects Insurance

Public Liability Insurance is included in the rental.

Thanks again!

SomeoneSomewhere

1802 posts

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#3313420 27-Nov-2024 14:39

I think that some of the NZ premium credit cards include travel insurance that may cover this when booked through the card. It might be worth taking out one of them. Generally you're looking at a $100-300 upfront annual fee for the card, but usually there's a promotion that effectively waives this if you spend more than a few thousand in the first few months, and the rental car is going to get you most of the way there immediately.

Definitely read the fine print.

Asking a Canadian personal finance/insurance forum/subreddit/something else might be a better option.

nova

250 posts

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#3313422 27-Nov-2024 14:56

Generally travel insurance would cover you for LI, PAI and PEC, but check your policy wording to make sure. Credit card travel insurance is similar in coverage. Very few things would cover you for the full price of the vehicle, in most cases travel insurance and credit cards are just providing excess reduction.

So the easiest and safest option is to buy CDW from the rental car company. And if your travel insurance covers it, save a little bit of money by declining the other insurance options.

Earbanean

937 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3313433 27-Nov-2024 15:41

SomeoneSomewhere:

Asking a Canadian personal finance/insurance forum/subreddit/something else might be a better option.

ski.com.au is an Aussie skiing website. They have heaps of Canada travel threads relevant to Aussies/Kiwis, with this sort of stuff discussed in depth.

CompactedJackal

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3313464 27-Nov-2024 17:04

Cheers all, very useful info.

The premium NZ credit card sounds like a potentially good option, though with a quick search I haven't found one that specifically includes full rental insurance.
Yeah, it looks like my Allianz travel insurance covers personal liability, personal effects, etc. Not specific to renting a vehicle, just coverage in general.
ski.com.au had a bit of info in the forums about insurance, but what it did give me was the idea that booking via a rental company's overseas sites can work out cheaper (e.g. Avis UK vs. Avis Canada). I tried Enterprise NZ as an example, and the rental price itself was essentially the same as Enterprise Canada, but the Damage Waiver was included in the NZ site price (and says it's calculated at NZ$11.71/day), where it says in the Canadian site you need to pay it when you pick up the vehicle, and it's between C$31.99 and C$36.99 per day (so at least C$671 for the rental period). So that's a big win. I'll check potentially cheaper companies to see how they compare, but I've often found Enterprise to be the best of the large ones.

Good result all round, appreciate everyone's help.

Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#3313577 27-Nov-2024 22:08

Have you looked into Sixt as a rental company? I just did a dummy quote to hire a Corolla in Toronto and it came back with a number of loss damage waiver options:

No protection - deductible up to the full value of the car in the event of damage/theft. Not advisable.
Basic protection - $1.22/day with a deductible of $568.15 for theft/damage to rims, body or undercarriage (which if you book with an NZ credit card, the complimentary travel insurance is likely to refund the deductible minus any excess on the card's travel policy). Tyres/windscreens excluded.
Smart protection - $11.64 per day with no deductible for the above, plus tyres and glass.
All inclusive - $18.85/day with no deductible for all of the above, plus roadside assistance.

All of the above options include 3rd party liability insurance for personal injury and property damage. I note these prices are in US dollars (as I didn't change the default currency) and the prices appear to change depending what make/model car you choose, but yes, the price of the all inclusive option looks to be roughly 60% of the daily hire fee.

In the scenario above you could take the basic protection from Sixt, and then supplement it with a 3rd party policy with the likes of Rentalcover.com, who would cover the deductible, plus any tyre/windscreen damage, loss of keys, admin fees etc etc.

How long are you hiring the car for? If the insurance is $1000 then I assume it's a long-ish rental....

The last time I hired a car in L.A. through Sixt, the LDW with zero deductible was included in the the deal I selected, but that was 6 or 7 years ago. Was a good thing we had it though as we were rear ended in a hit and run our first day in L.A. I worried about the damage for the rest of our trip (rear bumper of our near new Mustang was all banged up), but when we dropped the car back they just took one look at it and said don't worry about it, and sent us on our way. I had taken the time to report the incident with the local sheriff and Sixt didn't want any of the details at all.

In another incident, my brother in law was T boned at an intersection in Vegas, writing his rental car off. Fortunately there were no injuries and his rental company dropped another car out to him no questions asked and he carried on his journey.

For these reasons, I kinda love full LDW!!

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floydbloke

3522 posts

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#3313620 28-Nov-2024 08:04

I recently rented a car in Canada.

I did a lot of research and found that for the big players, Hertz, Avis, etc. CDW/LDW is often included in the rental cost when it detects or you tell it you're from New Zealand. E.g. this is a dummy booking for a rental out of Vancouver Airport made through hertz.co.nz

I also ended up making about 7 different bookings and 6 cancellations (these are free if you're not on a prepaid booking) because the prices change on an almost daily basis. Also have a look for discount and promo codes (different companies have different names for them). There's often better prices to be had (but also check you're entitled to use it, some of them are employer or club membership specific and the counter agent might bounce it). E.g. if you intend to pay with Visa there's a 10% discount and possibly a free day to be had.

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

Earbanean

937 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3313629 28-Nov-2024 08:33

In this quote ^^^^^^, what (if anything) is the excess on the LDW?

johno1234

2795 posts

Uber Geek

#3313633 28-Nov-2024 08:58

USA car insurance is very confusing and inconstant to me. CDW may not cover theft but LDW does. Both may not include liability to 3rd parties so you may need liability insurance as well:

https://www.rentalcover.com/en-us/loss-damage-waiver-explained

noroad

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#3313638 28-Nov-2024 09:09

I normally book through Expedia for car rental overseas. I have one booked for tomorrow in LA infact and all the options presented include "Basic Collision Damage Protection". I then have travel insurance to cover any excess. I just did a quick search on a rental based in Canada and most options presented included this Basic Collision Damage Protection.

floydbloke

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#3313640 28-Nov-2024 09:22

Earbanean:

In this quote ^^^^^^, what (if anything) is the excess on the LDW?

When I rented from the same location, using the same booking engine last year it was $0.

But it is a bit of a minefield, when you start looking for specifics the T&Cs that come point you at the the rental agreement, which of course you don't get until you pick up the car. There does appear to be an element of deliberate obscurity and confusion at play.

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

floydbloke

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#3313645 28-Nov-2024 09:29

johno1234:

USA car insurance is very confusing and inconstant to me. CDW may not cover theft but LDW does. Both may not include liability to 3rd parties so you may need liability insurance as well:

https://www.rentalcover.com/en-us/loss-damage-waiver-explained

Slightly different for Canada is my understanding. In all provinces liability insurance is compulsory (NZ could learn something here) so some level of this will always be included in a rental originating in Canada.

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

SomeoneSomewhere

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#3313646 28-Nov-2024 09:33

Everyone loves a confusopoly.

noroad

949 posts

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#3313706 28-Nov-2024 10:10

Another option that i have used a few times is https://turo.com The advantage is you can select the exact car you want. I have used Turo to rent a nice convertable Mustang in Hawaii and recently a very cool lifted Jeep for a month on a four state roadtrip in the US. Obviously there is less "support" available if something goes wrong but I have used this app without any problems at this point. Make sure you look at the total amount in USD though to compare with conventional rental.

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