Cheaper Rental Car Insurance

We have all experienced walking into the car rental agency wanting to rent a car. We go through the normal process of picking the right car, where we are allowed to drive but one crucial part that has most of us stumped is the insurance side of it. Most car rental agencies have multiple insurance plans which can really put the spanner in the works of someone who is simply looking for a simple insurance plan for their rental car. Of all the processes involved in renting a car, the car rental insurance is by far one of the most difficult to understand and an area where people can be easily taken advantage off. In this article we will explore the many ways that rental car insurance is used as a way for rental companies to get you to part with more cash than necessary.

In order to full understand rental car insurance, we need to know the different types that are available to us. Below we will list the commonly available coverage types.

CDW (Collision Damage Waiver), LDW (Loss Damage Waiver), PDW (Physical Damage Waiver) It is the most basic of rental car insurance coverage that you need. Basically, if you cause an accident an anything happens to the car, you don’t need to pay for the damage. There are however limitations. The limitations will be set by the policy and are normally things like mileage, distance from city or even if you were caught drunk driving.

LIS (Liability Insurance Supplement) This insurance is in addition to the one above. It will cover any third party that is involved with any accident that happens with the rental car.

PAI (Personal Accident Insurance or Coverage) This coverage is also in addition to whatever is above and covers the passengers and whatever damage or maiming requiring hospitalization.

PEC (Personal Effects Coverage) or Personal Property Insurance This is the least important of all the coverage options that we have listed above. It covers whatever personal belongings that you have in the rental car if it should be lost in an accident of a break-in.

The insurance coverage options that we have listed above are listed from the most important and essential to the extra ones at the bottom. You shouldn’t even think of driving away the rental car from the lot without some sort of combination similar to what is available with CDW and LIS coverage. Without these basic coverage options you would certainly be risking too much for just a rental car. If you get into an accident without these coverage options then you could be in for a very inconvenient time indeed.

There is one thing that many people looking for rental cars fail to understand. Insurance for rental cars need not always be from the rental car agency itself. Sometimes your comprehensive coverage for your own car back home might already have a little something inside to cover rental cars in the same country. It is certainly something that happens more often than people think. After all, the insurance is labeled comprehensive for a reason right? The smart person would check with their insurers first what coverage they have and if it extends to rental cars. Having said that, it is however very unsafe to assume that you already have coverage from your comprehensive coverage. You must absolutely be sure as the consequences of being uninsured are too great.

In some cases credit cards can also offer coverage for rental cars. This is especially true for higher end credit cards like “gold” or “platinum” cards made available to those who travel frequently. Most of these cards will have additional insurance coverage like personal liability, personal injury etc which can be extended over for use with rental cars. As with our recommendation with you personal car insurance, it is very important to check with your credit card provider how your insurance is structured with your credit card. Never assume you are covered. Call ahead to be sure.

It is only after you check with both your current car insurance provider and your credit card should you even think of purchasing the rental car insurance from the rental company. Naturally, if you do it the other way around you could very well be wasting money with double coverage. The coverage that you buy at the rental agency could very well overlap the coverage that you already have with your current comprehensive insurance or your credit card.

You should also know that insurance provided from the rental agency is almost certainly going to be more expensive than the insurance that you already have. The rental agencies work as a middleman and will earn some sort of commission from selling the insurance coverage to you. The rental car insurance can sometimes cost twice as much as insurance that you get elsewhere. The rental agencies know that they can charge this because you are put in a position where you will be literally forced to by the insurance from them if you want to rent the car.

Here is a pretty got saying for you to go with. It is necessary to get rental car insurance however it isn’t necessary to get it from your rental car agency. This rings so true most of the time. Insurance policies from rental car agencies are often very expensive and sometimes you might already have the coverage from other sources like your comprehensive car insurance policy of your credit card. Always check first so you don’t end up paying more than you should.

You don’t need to be in the dark with rental car insurance any longer. We understand that it can be quite confusing so we tackle the problem head on at http://www.InsuranceRelease.com