Yup. I no longer have a car (by choice) and my credit card includes driver’s insurance if I rent a car so I do not have to take the rental company’s ridiculously over priced insurance when I rent a car.
This is a common benefit included with many credit cards (not all…be sure to check).
Easily explained:
Not all agencies have their own refueling stations and issue gas only credit cards specific to each squad. Or if they do have a fuel pump in could be empty and officers have to use a department gas card at a station until their fuel station gets refreshed.
My department has pumps and cards. We also use the cards for car wash service. The use of these cards are VERY extremely strictly monitored and you get completely up to your neck in shit for any abuse. The cards are only good for gasoline and a basic car wash, both at just 2 stations in the jurisdiction.
^ Yes, do check.
I did check prior to renting a car and I’m glad I did because in my particular case I would have been uninsured had I not taken “the rental company’s ridiculously over priced insurance”, which also had roadside assistance which I otherwise do not have. As I’ve noted, I don’t travel that often so the extra cost of a week’s insurance is less than the cost of changing my regular insurance to something that would cover me in such circumstances when you consider the long run.
I don’t know, but if you’re from outside the US that might be another situation to take the rental agency insurance - definitely check with your own insurance company.
But if you aren’t me and are otherwise covered then no, don’t take the insurance from the car rental agency.
The rental agency will likely point out that your insurance won’t cover their loss of income while the car is being repaired and any other BS charge they can think of.
I still don’t get the insurance because of my credit card. However, my dad once totaled a rental car (it was his fault) and he had taken every type of insurance that he had been offered. He walked away scot-free.
I travel a lot and rent a lot of cars. And they always lay that crap on me.
Except my insurance DOES cover the loss while the car is being repaired. I love the look on the agents face when I whip out a copy of the policy page that confirms that. It’s West Bend Mutual in case you’re interested.
You need insurance for roadside assistance with a rental car?
Wow…that sucks. I’d think the rental car company would back their own product both to the customer that the car is in good condition and for their own benefit…they want the car back in good shape. What assholes to put it on you to pay for roadside assistance when their product breaks.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.
And yeah…rental company provided car insurance is waaaay expensive. The average cost of car insurance is $3.90/day (that actually seems a lot to me but Google says so). Rental companies usually start at $10/day for insurance (maybe more).
In Europe, car rental is highly competitive, especially in tourist areas. Add in websites (others are available) that enable you to search for the cheapest and you have a recipe for low or no margins. This leads the rental companies to use all kinds of dodges to extract more money from the renter. Insurance is one, but we can buy short term insurance for rentals independently for a lot less. They have an answer to that - many cars are returned out-of-hours so not inspected. They will claim for damage and you can’t challenge so it’s the insurance Co that gets ripped off.
Fuel is another racket. The car will generally be low on fuel when you pick it up, so you will go out and fill it up. Most holidaymakers don’t do much mileage - mainly airport to villa/hotel and back, so the tank is three parts full on return. They will siphon that out ready for the next s̶u̶c̶k̶e̶r̶ customer.
You always have to have a card swiped, which allows them to add charges without further checks, so when they offer you an upgrade, they don’t mention the upgraded price and you don’t know until you get your CC bill. It’s hard to challenge these things from another country.
My advice is to stick with the big boys: Hertz, SixT, Avis, Budget et al.
Interesting. The typical fuel scam in the USA works the other way around. If you fail to return the car with as much fuel as was in it when you got it, they charge you for the difference at an obscenely high rate.
It was included as part of the package. MY insurance for day-to-day doesn’t have roadside assistance (I have the number of a local tow service on my phone for that - they once hauled my busted down truck and me home at 1 am one night/morning so it works for me). As I was making a 500 mile road trip in said rental I thought covering for the possibility of breaking down far away from home was a good idea.
I don’t think you understand - a perfectly mechanically sound vehicle can still come to grief on the road. Someone could hit you. Something could fall off a vehicle ahead of you and hit what you’re driving. A mechanical part could fail. Debris on the road could result in a flat tire.
Roadside assistance means that the car rental company (or their insurance) will pay for a tow and you don’t have to. You don’t even have to find local assistance, you call the rental company’s help line and THEY find whatever assistance is needed.
It’s such a nice benefit that many non-rental-agency car insurance offers it as an option. Anyone who travels a lot away from home might want to purchase such coverage. If you already have such coverage you don’t want to purchase duplicate coverage from the rental agency. If you don’t have such coverage (I don’t) and you’re making a long trip you might want to have such coverage for the trip.
I fail to see including that in the insurance makes anyone an “asshole”. They give you the option to use your own resources to cover these contingencies no one is forcing you to take it. If you want to roll the dice and take a trip without coverage that’s YOU putting yourself in the position that you have to pay for help all on your own.
My vehicle insurance covers two items - a car and a pickup truck - at around $2.45 a day total so, yay me, I’m doing better than average in that sense. But, as I have pointed out, I have minimal insurance (basically, liability in case someone sues me). If I want to increase the coverage to include things like “me driving someone else’s car” that’s going to increase my daily costs. Assuming that increases my costs to “average” that’s $1.45 per day, or an additional $529.25 per year. Versus paying, say $70 for a week of coverage through the car rental company. If I only take 1 extensive road trip per year, and that trip is one week long it actually IS cheaper, over the course of the year, for me to pay for the “expensive” car rental insurance for that week and keep my reduced insurance for the rest of the year. If I was taking a week long road trip once a month then no, it’s not a good deal to take the rental agency’s insurance, I would upgrade my own insurance. If I had a credit card that covered me if I used it to rent a car I’d run a new calculation but I’m guessing that the result would be “use the card’s insurance for car rental, keep the minimal insurance for day-to-day”.
Saying “don’t take the agency’s car insurance” is a good rule of thumb because most people have a more extensive day-to-day insurance coverage than I do. Still, it’s not a bad idea to review what your own insurance actually covers from time to time.
(Yes, my car insurance ONLY covers liability - the physical objects have no insurance. Any damage comes out of my pocket. I never have to worry about a deductible because I don’t have one. I have a savings account sufficient to cover repairs up to two-three times the blue book value of either vehicle so in that area I’m “self-insured” and will either pay to get a vehicle repaired or replace it, whichever makes more economic sense. Or maybe not repair it and simply go to one vehicle.)
There’s another situation where using the rental agency’s insurance makes a lot of sense. If you don’t own a car at all (and for the 15 years I lived in Chicago I didn’t) then you almost certainly don’t have car insurance at all. Which will save you a lot of money over the course of the year, but if you then rent a car you have NO insurance unless you take the rental agency’s policy. Which, yes, is more expensive on a per diem basis than having your own, but if you only take a single 1 week trip via car rental that is $70 (or maybe even $100 if they offer a deluxe policy) vs. $1400 for a year of average car insurance. Which is cheaper over the course the year? The “expensive” insurance for just the week you need it, or paying for a standard policy for a year?
I’ll be the first to admit my situation is not average for an American. Most people don’t need and shouldn’t take the car rental agency’s insurance. That’s fine. But there are quite a few people for whom it’s a good option, including me at this point in my life. Two years from now - who knows? Maybe my situation will have changed.
When I was growing up, insurance for younger drivers was an expensive add-on. The car was insured, for all (licensed) drivers - except, if anyone who drove it was under 25, they would not be covered unless the owner paid an additional amount to cover them.
Or give you the option of paying extra up front for not topping off the tank when you return it … the extra being an amount which is substantially less than filling the tank at the rate they charge, which they will point out, but will only (possibly) break even at real gas prices if you actually return the car running on fumes.
I have never been asked for my registration.
Do you live in a state that requires you to carry your registration?
And just as an aside, 5 posts in 19 years and you chose this thread?
I only just joined, so yeah…
It’s been a source of wonderment to me - why some states require it and some don’t, so I just wanted to bask in reflected glory.
I’ve been pulled over in more than one state, alas - unfamiliar with the laws in all of them.
I don’t get it either. I also don’t get why your join date says “Aug 2000”.
He probably “joined” back then, but disappeared without posting or anything, and has suddenly decided to join for real. But, as you know, when you do that, you’re directed back to your old account to avoid being a sock.
More than likely - that was years and a life ago. No memory of it whatsoever.
It’s intriguing to see what people notice and are interested in on this board.
I understand that - it’s illegal to drive without insurance in the UK too. But we don’t need to carry proof with us, as Police have access to databases detailing our insurance.
If you drive someone’s car with permission you are covered under their insurance.
Only if their insurance policy covers that - my insurance policy does not. It covers me and only me and only when I’m in one of the two vehicles I own.
This is one reason I almost never loan my car to anyone.
(The one exception is a guy with a CDL and insurance that covers him regardless of what he’s driving, whom I’ve know for over 25 years, is very trustworthy, and returned it with a full tank of gas, too)