I’m renting a car soon and noticed the insurance from the rental company costs like $40 a day, which seems ridiculous. I’ve heard you can buy rental car insurance separately (through companies like Allianz or similar) for much cheaper.
Has anyone here done that? Is it actually accepted by the rental company, and do you still get full coverage for damage or liability? Just trying to figure out if it’s worth skipping the rental desk insurance.
Is it cheaper to get rental car insurance separately instead of from the rental company?
byu/Alarming_Ad3233 inInsurance
Posted by Alarming_Ad3233
2 Comments
You are rolling the dice with anything other than purchasing direct from car rental company. For example, the car rental company will charge for loss of use of the car, which may not be covered by the 3rd party company. In other words, the car rental company will go after you, and then you have to hope that your 3rd party policy covers everything you own the rental car company.
Could be cheaper – usually is – but you could be in for a nasty surprise if a claim happens. Liability is usually a non-issue, but damage to the rental car itself could be problematic. Your obligations to the rental car company are based on the rental agreement, and that can include things like administrative fees, out of service fees (while the car is being repaired), etc. that your 3rd party insurer may not cover. That would leave you holding the bag for those fees. You have to actually read through (and understand) the fine print on the rental agreement and the third-party insurance policy to have a solid understanding of what’s covered and what might not be covered.
If your main concern is liability and repair costs to the rental vehicle, then a third-party policy will probably work just fine for you (but you should still read it). If you want to be able to just drop off the rental car keys and walk away no matter what happens to the car, you should consider the rental company’s damage waiver (which typically includes all the fees you could be responsible for which could reach into the thousands).
The major rental car companies will accept third-party coverage. Smaller ones may not.