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i'm getting a rental car tomorrow and i'm trying to figure out what i need for insurance. i do not own a car and do not have auto insurance. my credit card provides collision loss/damage insurance. thats usually the insurance that the renter's push. don't need it.
what about liability insurance? i have personal liability rider on my renter's insurance - perhaps that covers it. ...a closer reading reveals this is unlikely. i believe my liability insurance explicitly excludes car operation.
i guess my main concern is what would happen if i got into an accident with another car. would i be sufficiently covered?
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after a little more reading it seems that rental counter personal liability is probably overkill. it would be good to have if you got into a bad accident and were at blame - but i'm not planning on that. with a fender bender you should be fine.
but i'm still interested in hearing from others.
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get the liability.
collision loss/damage insurance: the loss is only as much as the car is worth
Liability: you never know what award the jury/judge decides is worth it if you hurt someone. Could be millions.
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At least in CA, legally the only insurance you HAVE to carry IS liability, so by not having it, you would be breaking the law (but I'm not sure how this is applied to rental cars). But as I found out recently, not being insured can also affect your rights in the event of an accident, and just because you don't plan to have an accident, doesn't mean you won't. And even if that accident technically isn't your fault, you could still be placed with some of the blame.
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Verify with your CC what they cover, it is usually quite sufficient with AMEX....
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The rental agency can also charge you the highest _daily_ rate for "loss of use", reflecting how long the car is out of service for repair after an accident.
Credit card companies will not pay for "loss of use" unless the rental car company provides proof the rental fleet is at full utilization (i.e. the car would not have been sitting idle).
But, rental companies consider their utilization data proprietary, & court decisions have allowed them to withhold this information from the both the consumer & credit card company.
So, you want to make sure you have "loss of use" coverage on your personal auto policy.
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Matt,
Your main concern shouldn't be just a collision with another vehicle. It should be a collision with another vehicle and/or a pedestrian. Since you don't have auto insurance, I'd just get the insurance (liability, collision, etc) from the rental company and be done with it.
Robert
