Reassure me - extra rental car insurance in the US

[TheRealTMA]

Having decent travel insurance (TID for instance) should render extra coverage from the rental car agency unnecessary, correct?

We use CC TI to cover car excess but remember both TI and CCTI have $200-250 claim fee, so for peace of mind, we tend to take insurance through the rental company if it's less than $250, or mor likely these days book through Rental Cars and include insurance through them.

Some countries are better than others. In rural US, Australia, rural U.K., it seems to me less likely of damage but in Europe, especially Italy, it's very likely if you are parking in cities so insurance is the less worrying option.

 

[sausagefingers]

How often have you been upgraded using this site?

I know when I've booked in Australia directly via sites like Hertz I've been upgraded often multiple levels each time (except for when hiring in Hawaii).

I only ever travel with my family or a few colleagues so I've only hired Minivans or Large SUVs.

 

[serfty]

"Excess" is generally a non starter in US rentals ... rarely such a thing.

Thus most Oz TI policies effectively HAVE LITTLE OR NO COVER for US rentals.

Get an all inclusive consolidator is my advice.

 

[Ric]

"Excess" is generally a non starter in US rentals ... rarely such a thing.

Thus most Oz TI policies effectively HAVE LITTLE OR NO COVER for US rentals.

Get an all inclusive consolidator is my advice.

Any recommendation for an all inclusive consolidator?

 

[serfty]

I have not rented there for a couple of years.

Back then I used www.arguscarhire.com but as always carefully check the inclusions.

 

[Ric]

Thanks serfty! I use Argus Car Hire too and their sister companies at Cartrawler. Sometimes they have the insurance inclusions, sometimes not.
Times when there's none, I buy at the counter at around $20/day.
So got a bit worried after reading the above which makes me think whether I was really covered in the past!

 

[jxv]

So got a bit worried after reading the above which makes me think whether I was really covered in the past!

I rented a car in the USA without included insurance and took out the insurance offered on the consolidator's website. After the trip, as I threw out the paperwork, including the printed insurance T&C, I noticed this at the bottom: "Insurance for USA residents only." Oops! I was lucky not to have damaged the car.

I am now obsessive about reading T&Cs!

 

[AnnaB]

I was looking into Argus and americancarrentals.
Which one would be your preferred third party rental company? I have been getting quite decent quotes from both for a 21 day car hire one way.

Also, the cars are either at Hertz, Alamo or Thrifty out of LAX. Which one would you recommend as they rent almost the same cars at the same price. Are there any I should avoid?

 

[Dunbar]

I just moved back from the US - living in New York and Boston, I didn't have a need for a car and rented a fair bit.

As I think has been pointed out, there are two main types of insurance: loss damage waiver and supplemental liability. Unlike in Australia, if you don't have LDW there is no excess amount - you are typically liable for the value of the car. LDW reduces this amount to zero.

But don't forget the supplemental liability side of things, which is what you're liable for if you damage other people and their property. The standard liability insurance most rental cars come with is the minimum prescribed by the state of registration, and this is often as low as $25,000. This may well be enough in many cases, but in an extreme case you could be on the hook for quite a bit more than that if someone sues you. The supplemental liability insurance raises this substantially - I think it's $1,000,000 for Avis, for example. It's possible travel insurance covers this, but when I visited over Christmas I noticed the liability part of the travel insurance I got specifically excluded anything caused by operating a vehicle. Not sure if this is generally the case, but you'd need to carefully check the policy wording.

As for renting cars, I generally found the .com.au Avis and Hertz sites to have competitive prices in the NYC area at least. Their prices always included taxes, LDW and supplemental liability, and there were sometimes cases where I'd be shown a price of $80/day and the US site would show over $200 (plus taxes, and without any insurance). I also tended to find the .com.au prices were generally consistent throughout the year whereas the US sites varied much more by demand. If you're travelling at a busy time it definitely pays to book on the Australian sites.

 

[Dr Ralph]

I just moved back from the US - living in New York and Boston, I didn't have a need for a car and rented a fair bit.

As I think has been pointed out, there are two main types of insurance: loss damage waiver and supplemental liability. Unlike in Australia, if you don't have LDW there is no excess amount - you are typically liable for the value of the car. LDW reduces this amount to zero.

But don't forget the supplemental liability side of things, which is what you're liable for if you damage other people and their property. The standard liability insurance most rental cars come with is the minimum prescribed by the state of registration, and this is often as low as $25,000. This may well be enough in many cases, but in an extreme case you could be on the hook for quite a bit more than that if someone sues you. The supplemental liability insurance raises this substantially - I think it's $1,000,000 for Avis, for example. It's possible travel insurance covers this, but when I visited over Christmas I noticed the liability part of the travel insurance I got specifically excluded anything caused by operating a vehicle. Not sure if this is generally the case, but you'd need to carefully check the policy wording.

As for renting cars, I generally found the .com.au Avis and Hertz sites to have competitive prices in the NYC area at least. Their prices always included taxes, LDW and supplemental liability, and there were sometimes cases where I'd be shown a price of $80/day and the US site would show over $200 (plus taxes, and without any insurance). I also tended to find the .com.au prices were generally consistent throughout the year whereas the US sites varied much more by demand. If you're travelling at a busy time it definitely pays to book on the Australian sites.

Great first post Dunbar. Thanks for your insight.

Welcome to AFF.

 

[andye]

I have used europcar.co.uk which offered muchbbetter rates than the au site or Hertz/Avis etc and included LDW and SLI. They do seem to actually use a firm called Advantage which is a bit further out of LAX than the big names

 

[AnnaB]

I just moved back from the US - living in New York and Boston, I didn't have a need for a car and rented a fair bit.

As I think has been pointed out, there are two main types of insurance: loss damage waiver and supplemental liability. Unlike in Australia, if you don't have LDW there is no excess amount - you are typically liable for the value of the car. LDW reduces this amount to zero.

But don't forget the supplemental liability side of things, which is what you're liable for if you damage other people and their property. The standard liability insurance most rental cars come with is the minimum prescribed by the state of registration, and this is often as low as $25,000. This may well be enough in many cases, but in an extreme case you could be on the hook for quite a bit more than that if someone sues you. The supplemental liability insurance raises this substantially - I think it's $1,000,000 for Avis, for example. It's possible travel insurance covers this, but when I visited over Christmas I noticed the liability part of the travel insurance I got specifically excluded anything caused by operating a vehicle. Not sure if this is generally the case, but you'd need to carefully check the policy wording.

As for renting cars, I generally found the .com.au Avis and Hertz sites to have competitive prices in the NYC area at least. Their prices always included taxes, LDW and supplemental liability, and there were sometimes cases where I'd be shown a price of $80/day and the US site would show over $200 (plus taxes, and without any insurance). I also tended to find the .com.au prices were generally consistent throughout the year whereas the US sites varied much more by demand. If you're travelling at a busy time it definitely pays to book on the Australian sites.

Is a LDW the same as a CDW? I have never had to add extra insurances before and I am not really sure what they all are but I will get there Thank you for all the info as well.

 

[serfty]

Effectively they should be considered the same for us antipodeans renting in the USA.

If they are both referred to you need to have both covered.

 

[theblank]

I have used europcar.co.uk which offered muchbbetter rates than the au site or Hertz/Avis etc and included LDW and SLI. They do seem to actually use a firm called Advantage which is a bit further out of LAX than the big names

Unbeleivable, and this actually WORKS!
AU site = USD 276.83
UK site = USD 237.74

when using www.europcar.com.au the quoted price says it includes GST, but it gives exact same price as www.europcar.com
on europcar.co.uk, it says it includes VAT, but still cheaper - who cares
I do state that I am from Australia in the search options. Thats all that matters, I am entitled to be traveling in England when I made my bookings right.

 

[theblank]

Additionally, and this is crazy IMO. ($ = USD)
using Europcars websites.


from LAX to PHX, 6 days AU/US site is $276 and UK site is $237, exactly same inclusions
BUT
from RDU to ATL 9 days AU/US site is $559 and UK site is $585, and AU additionally offers free fuel and free additional drivers.

pays to shop around, even on a companies own website.
(and yes, I specify that I am from Australia)