Will My Auto Insurance Policy Cover a Rental Car?
We get this question a lot within the agency. I always recommend checking directly with us to get 100% accuracy, but a good rule of thumb is that coverage applies when you carry both comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy and you are the named insured, renting a vehicle.
Prior to renting a vehicle, I tend to advise my clients as well to look online for promo codes. Sometimes you will find codes that apply directly to the insurance portion from a rental car company, making the cost of purchasing their insurance less.
If an accident occurs while you are in a rental car, and you declined their additional insurance, you could likely count on seeing an increase in your premium costs on your next renewal and that claim could follow you for up to 5 years with regards to claims free discounts and could be chargeable for typically 3 years.
It’s often hard to dispute damages, especially in today’s climate, where you often return a rental to a kiosk with no attendant. We have seen clients who are without a doubt certain they returned a vehicle with no damage, have to spend a lot of time and effort disputing damages that were claimed by the rental car company.
By negotiating the cost of rental insurance or applying a promo code to get the cost down, you are pre-purchasing the risk of anything hitting your loss record. If damage occurs to a rental car, then it typically gets filed under your collision coverage.