Car Rental Insurance – What Policy Do You Need?

Common Rental Car Insurance Questions

There is a very common question about the type of car rental insurance that you need to rent a car. This has confused a lot of car rental customers, and some have even gotten into financial or legal trouble over it! Understand that you have the same basic responsibility when you rent a car that you do when you drive a car that you own. Ignore that at your own large risk.

Can you rent a car without insurance?

Well, you may be able to walk in and physically rent a car without your own policy. If yo do not own a car yourself, and have no coverage, you may either be covered by a policy you pick up at the rental counter OR coverage on your credit card.

• Make sure you understand what these policies cover. Some may only cover damage to the actual rental car. However, you really also need liability insurance in case you are responsible to damage to the other guy’s car or, even worse, physical injuries!
• If you do have your own policy, you also need to find out what that covers. If you only carry liability insurance, you are not likely to be covered for damage to the rental car.

So you see the issue. You need to figure out how you are covered for damage to the vehicle you are renting, and for damage to other vehicles.

If you do not own your own vehicle, and you rent cars often, a non-owner car insurance policy may be a lot cheaper than paying the daily rate from the rental car company. If you only carry liability on your own policy, you may want to call your agent and see if your own insurance company can make you a better deal on full rental car coverage.

The policies you buy at the rental car counter are expensive. But if you do not have any other way to cover yourself, they may be a lot cheaper than the financial risk you would take if you do not have one.