The cost always seem so outrageous as a percentage of the rental itself. It's like Flight insurance. You can pay double the cost of the fair so that you can cancel and save the $50 charge, still have to pay the change differential which is $2k. Seems so pointless. Pay $200 to MAYBE save $50.
My credit card covers $65000 toward the I am renting. That is it. I would never rely on that on its own. If I was in an accident that was my fault, I would have to pay for the damage of both vehicles. If there were injuries and a lawsuit, there is no liability coverage.
Oof, I dodged a bullet then, I thought my CC had liability as well but it doesn't!
AMA has CDW for $11 a day but also doesn't have liability.
Are there any 3rd party insurance companies that would offer liability if your personal auto insurance doesn't cover it? I can't seem to find any. Would the only choice be the insurance from the car rental place??
Like I've used soNomad before for trip cancellation insurance but doesn't look like they have car rental.
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When I changed away from TD the broker specifically said they don't offer insurance for rental cars and couldn't add it. It's now with Wawanesa.. they aren't that great a price for auto but I saved a HUGE amount switching from TD for my house so I kept them together.
I'll contact them and ask again about that specifically, if they don't well I was going to look at switching auto insurance next year as I think when I looked at pricing I could save more than the discount from having auto and home but I'll have to check again when it comes up for renewal.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
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So I sometimes need to rent cars for work, and a couple years ago in Nebraska I ran into a situation where I elected not to get the insurance, paid for the car on my personal CC (i didn't get my corporate CC until a few months afterward), and picked it up at night. When I saw it in the morning, there was an undocumented issue with the rear bumper that gave me a ton of concern and anxiety. I returned the truck and never heard back from them so it must have been me making a mountain out of a molehill, but that gave me enough of a lesson to always get the insurance. It's an extra, what $50-60 a week that might save you from unexpected charges in the thousands. Especially for work, it's a no-brainer - expense it. If that situation had gone unideally I would have either had to bring it up to my employer to get them to cover the charges or pay out of pocket - just a lose-lose.
Ask the travel peeps at your work if the company has insurance for rental cars. At least in my experience, companies I've worked at already have insurance and expect you to decline.
Credit card insurance does not cover liability from what I understand.
I know my personal vehicle policy is now limited to Canada and the US. I would never go without liability, especially in the US. That could be life ruining.
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One thing to note is that there is no bullet proof answer. Reading the fine print is always the safest bet. Gone are the days where we can likely have an easy inexpensive solution that's always basically good enough.
CC insurance often has gaps or is one sided insurance; SEF27 can be limited by your normal insurance coverage, varies by province and is Canada/USA only; car companies is expensive and the coverage can vary.
I previously got SEF27 as a back up plan in case my primary coverage wasn't adequate. Earlier in this thread, I realized that I had to read the fine print because even having SEF27 as a back up plan/top up might not be adequate depending on the situation (but it's at least a reasonable cost and decent enough I can nearly blindly rely on it and it is better than nothing).
This new rule for California is basically just shedding more light on this.
But don't stop at the car insurance rules for credit cards if you poke into the car insurance one. Read the travel insurance and medical insurance ones too. Those coverages too can vary an insane amount and some of the stipulations they have should be known before you travel (or they can potentially reject offering you the coverage).
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One thing to note is that there is no bullet proof answer. Reading the fine print is always the safest bet. Gone are the days where we can likely have an easy inexpensive solution that's always basically good enough.
Were there ever days like that? I remember reading the fine print back in the 90s.
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Were there ever days like that? I remember reading the fine print back in the 90s.
It'd cost you extra money and a bit of pushing and shoving, but you'd basically have some form of coverage and adequate meant out of pocket a frustrating amount in the worst case scenario. There wasn't much in terms of scenarios that might be life ruining financially if there was a gap in the coverage (ie: <$80K).
Now there's many obvious gaps and many more potential scenarios, and many more of them that are relatively common where it'd be brutal to borderline life ruining if the coverage wasn't adequate (ie: $80K+).
I agree about reading fine print. People today still don't read it. Forget reading them for benefits that they're choosing to forgo. It's coverage, it's loans etc. and they're bleeding a #### ton of money that they don't need to bleed out. I was reading leasing agreements where the effective rate was like 28%. I was basically yelling at them to finance it at <10%. "We've always leased".
Nah, I don't think it was easier back in the day. If anything it's easier now because of social media - complain on Reddit or X and you have a bunch of losers breathing down the neck of the company.
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Nah, I don't think it was easier back in the day. If anything it's easier now because of social media - complain on Reddit or X and you have a bunch of losers breathing down the neck of the company.
Hmm... I guess it depends by easier now. Internet makes it easier dig out a copy of the agreement that you may have misplaced, but I don't think it's any easier. People just follow crowds now and never check up on who they're following. If you know what to search for, then you can do that too.
But most people do not at all, even when it's at their finger tips. The most common response I hear is, "Meh, I'm sure it's fine. The person providing this said it was probably good enough."
"Probably good enough" from someone's whose interest lies in getting the most money out of you and paying back the least... is a terrible thing to rely on. Also, there's been a shift. 5-10+ years ago, people would be more likely to say, "Well that's an expensive lesson learned." vs "Someone should have told me to avoid this! The company should pay the amount not covered because I didn't understand it!!" People don't take responsibility for things anymore. It's super weird.
I'll use this example from around 6-7 years ago for PC World elite vs BMO World elite card info I had to hand.
"Uhh... dude, this world elite card doesn't have travel insurance and the medical coverage is only for emergency room visits and not stays in a medical facility..."
"DoubleF, you're full of ####. It's a World Elite credit card. If it says it has the coverage, it covers basically everything."
"I'm quoting the pamphlet basically verbatim. Look at this pamphlet for this other World Elite card. They're not identical. This World Elite card covers the stuff you're mentioning, but your World Elite card does not."
"What kind of person reads the contract?" (Doesn't bother looking at the information).
Same as mortgages and leases. I've seen people with enough cash to pay off their mortgage, but then continue paying it off for like 2-4 years (accidentally auto-renewed) because "it costs too much to end a mortgage early".
"It's like $2600 according to your agreement. 3 months interest and I just added up these numbers from the amortization schedule. Your annual interest is the $10K number."
"That's BS DoubleF. It's supposed to be closer to $10K. I only have like 2 years left. I'll just do that instead of paying whatever penalty."
I used to luve half my month in rental cars for several years for work. They started without insurance but for the 5 of us in Canada and with the rocks hitting windshields, scrapes and dings the extra coverage was well worth it. I just used a bunch if rental points this past weekend and took the insurance for our 4 day trip. On our way west bam a rock hits the windshield and there is a big crack already in Rogers Pass. If we had to replace it on our insurance it would have cost more because our deductible would be more than the 200 bucks it cost us. I learned in short term as bad as it feels it could work better as in our case. On a very long term tagging it to your policy is probably best. Using your credit card read the details very carefully.
This is the way to go and everyone should have this as some car dealers ask for it when they give you a loaner and it's good for those occasions you may be driving a sibling or friends vehicle.
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This is the way to go and everyone should have this as some car dealers ask for it when they give you a loaner and it's good for those occasions you may be driving a sibling or friends vehicle.
Yep. Lots of people and places still call it the car rental insurance clause which is incorrect. SEF27 is surprising powerful as a back up plan.
My parents, brother and I still borrow each other's vehicles with relative frequency (dozen times a year or so). So our insurance guy said to get this for that specific reason. Otherwise, the parent company could try to not pay out if there was an accident, because we should have been listed as secondary drivers on the policies for those vehicles as someone who relatively regularly drove them. SEF27 was cheaper and easier to do than secondary drivers/risking no coverage.
Location: Close enough to make a beer run during a TV timeout
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by sa226
Anyone with recent experience renting in California? I'm seeing now that California rentals no longer include liability insurance as part of their standard contract, or if they do it's the state minimum which is not even close to enough.
Also reading anecdotal stories of some rental companies not accepting insurance from outside the US, eg. Personal Iinsurance SEF27 endorsement.
Well, just got back from California. The tl;dr version of this:
- Check your booking to see what it says about insurance
- Bring your car insurance paperwork as well as your pink card with you.
All prices below are USD.
The place we rented from originally, when we got there they first of all told me that they didn’t have the car we reserved- so I was being downgraded. That is unless I wanted to pay for an upgrade. I declined and said I would just take the compact car they were offering. Then they said that insurance was mandatory, and that “California law” said that they could not accept out of country insurance. I would then have to pay $50 per day extra for insurance. (My rental cost was around $100 for the whole weekend.) Looking at their terms on Expedia where we rented, it only said this:
Your rental may have mandatory insurance requirements that result in additional charges at the time of rental.
I of course declined the rental and went to another place. There I was told that while they strongly recommended insurance, it wasn’t required. I asked them for a price for a rental and it was going to be around $400. She suggested that I book online, as an online booking would be cheaper. I was able to get them for closer to $300, but found another place that was $140 so I booked there.
That company did have the following on Expedia’s site:
Your rental may have mandatory, local insurance requirements that result in additional charges at the time of rental. However that had a hyperlink to explain it further:
Spoiler!
Insurance products available upon request. Emergency roadside assistance: all contracts will be automatically enrolled in the emergency roadside assistance (ERA) program at surcharge of only 3.99/day. Key services (locked in car), jump starts and gas service (in case you run out of gas) will be provided at no cost. If customer prefers not to participate, they must decline participation upon rental and be responsible for any *service fees* in the event said customer requires any of the services listed above. L.D.W - Loss Damage Waiver * - is an optional product, it is a waiver of Economy Rent A Cars right to collect from the Renter for damages caused to the rental vehicle over the deductible amount. Deductible varies by vehicle. L.D.W. charges are: $11.00 to $25.00 per day. L.D.W. *All Waivers will be void if the terms of the rental agreement are violated. All of the products or waivers listed will become null and void in the event of negligence while driving or while in possession of the rental vehicle such as driving the vehicle across beaches, rivers, etc, or driving under the influence of liquor, drugs or any other substance that could impair the drivers ability to operate the vehicle. Other negligent acts include, but are not limited to, leaving the keys in the ignition with the vehicle unattended, falling asleep while driving, ignoring traffic signals or police officers. --written proof-- If Renter wishes to decline L.W. Liability Waiver or L.D.W. Loss Damage Waiver and rely on their own personal insurance, the Renter must provide written proof from their insurance company, specifically stating coverage is effective in the country of United States for the duration of the rental agreement for third part liability. A minimum security deposit of $300 USD will be required, if customer does not accept L.W. then L.L.W will automatically be required.
When I got there I did not have my insurance paperwork with me. However I contacted my insurance company and they emailed me copies of my pink slips. The agent did accept the pink slip and copied some info from it; I would imagine the name of my insurance company and my policy number.
The company that ended up saving the day for us was Economy rentals in San Diego. If you book with them, they are offsite from the main rental location so they will send a shuttle or an Uber. You will need to call them when you land. However I would definitely use them again the next time I rent. They were friendly, professional and understanding. The cars were slightly older (I think mine was a 2021 Mazda 3) but that doesn’t really matter as much to me when renting.
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Well that sounds like a supreme pain in the A$$ Ken, sorry to hear.
Any chance you’d be willing to “out” the companies involved? Good for all to know, but also because I have had some more unscrupulous dealings with some of the smaller/cheaper companies. Having said that, good to hear that economy rentals was good to deal with.
Contrary to the name of the company, I certainly didn't Payless with the first company that tried to force their insurance on me.
So in the end, you found someone that recognized the SEF27 in California? So some of the headache was that if it wasn't a policy in the USA, they potentially said it wasn't valid, even if it was?
I wonder if this is just a confused way of applying the new California rule and I wonder if more references/articles come out in determining how exactly to apply the SEF27 and insurance combinations out there. I'd pay $10-15 CAD$/day for basically an all encompassing insurance offered by the rental company, but the $35-50 CAD$+ fees are just straight up stupid.
