Many people who are shopping around for car insurance protection have questions regarding the coverage supplied by these policies to car rentals. There is a lot of confusion out there on this topic. It is easy to feel confused, with rental car companies constantly working to get customers to add coverage that they are not really sure they need. Before you rent your next car, look over the terms of your policy and find out what kind of coverage you have for car rentals. It is enlightening to go over your policy specifics, because you often learn many things other than the piece of information you were originally looking for.
First off, it is necessary to split this discussion of rentals into at least two different categories. The first one is rental loaners that the insurance company supplies us with while our cars are in the shop after a car accident. And the second is true rental cars, the ones we pick up for business trips or family getaways. It is useful to look at each of them individually before coming to some final conclusions about rental car coverage in car insurance policies.
Car Accidents and Loaner Cars
Maybe you have been through this scenario before: you get into an accident and the car sustains major damage, but is not totaled. The insurer decides to repair it. The process will take some time, so as an insured policyholder you are given a loaner car to drive in the meantime. When car accidents like this happen it often works out that the policyholders get rentals that are usually called "loaners" because their cost is covered by the terms of the policy, so the policyholder does not actually pay out of pocket for the car.
In these cases, most of the time, the vehicle is covered by the auto insurance company. It could be that the rental was fully covered by the original policy terms, but more likely the insurer had to purchase loss of rental coverage from the car rental company at the very least. These things and do vary, however. It is always better to ask than to assume anything about coverage.
Business and Vacation Car Rentals
A standard policy is likely to have some language dealing with the rental of vehicles and the protection it provides or does not provide. In some cases, just paying the premium for your policy supplies all the protection needed. But again, there are many cases where loss of rental is not covered by an auto insurance plan and need to be purchased from the rental car company. There are different variations that largely depend on the pricing and quality of the overall coverage.
Find Auto Insurance Rental Coverage
Finding car insurance with good protection for rentals is important to businesspeople who travel a lot and to others. We can compare some different policies and pay attention to the way they deal with this category of coverage. It is easy to go through estimates fairly quickly if you know what you're looking for.
Get more information on how rental cars are handled when you get quotes using the form at the top of this page. Find out all of the specifics for each company that supplies a quote and make a choice based on coverage as well as price. Great rental protection is available from some companies, and we just have to track it down. Find the policy that provides the best coverage for auto rentals and save money every time you rent a car.
