Car Rental Insurance

One of the most common questions we get is "When renting a car, whould I buy the car rental company's insurance, or use my own car insurance".  Although it is not a black & white answer, here are the plusses and minusses of each option.

Typically, most people have coverage for a rental car under their auto policy.  
 
The good

•  The big advantage is it is included in your policy, so it saves you the expense of buying the insurance from the rental car company 

The bad

• It only applies to cars rented and driven in Canada & the U.S.
• It does not apply to commercial vehicles
• It only applies to private passenger vehicles and there’s a limit, usually around $40,000 Cdn, so don’t rent a Rolls
• The deductible on your policy will be applied to any loss, so you’ll have to pay $500 or more for any type of loss.
• If you get into an accident that’s your fault, it will affect your insurance up here.
• The rental car company really wants you to use their insurance, so they don’t make it easy if you choose not to:
  • They won’t deal with your insurance company. 
  • They’ll charge you up front and it’s up to you to get reimburse by your insurer.
  • It’s more time consuming when you pick up & drop off
  • You’ll have to inspect the rental car with an employee and have to make sure every little nick or chip is marked on the contract or else they’ll charge you for it when you drop it off, rather than just going straight to the car
  • You’ll have to wait when you drop it off to go over it with an employee to identify any damage.

There’s a lot more bad than good but if you are renting for an extending period, most clients go with their own coverage because it is so expensive to take the rental car’s coverage.  The other option is using a credit card that includes the damage deductible waiver for rental cars.  However, since every credit card company is different, we can’t give advice on the details of what they offer.

To get a price on car insurance from Affiliated Insurance, click below.