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com Deciding whether you need rental car insurance when you are about to sign the rental agreement is a bad idea. Find out in advance what insurance options are offered by the car rental company, and decide whether you ne ed this coverage or whether you're already protected by your personal po licies and credit card company safeguards. Here are some intricacies of rental car insurance of which you should be aware in order to make an in formed purchasing decision. the rental car company's Your auto insurance Your own collision coverage is "excess" to any other coverage. Your collision insurance coverage in your personal auto insurance policy will likely cover damage you cause to any car that you're driving includ ing a rental car. However, many auto insurance policies say that your ow n collision insurance is "excess" to any other coverage, meaning that an y coverage you buy from the rental car company kicks in first. In additi on, your own collision insurance requires you to pay a deductible before the insurance company picks up the tab. Your comprehensive coverage will likely apply to any rental car you drive and cover fire, theft, vandalism, or animal collisions. Again, your per sonal comprehensive coverage is excess coverage and is subject to your d eductible. Remember, though, that in many cases your comprehensive insur ance is subject to dollar limits that reflect the value of your car. If you're renting a $25,000 sports car and your own car is only insured for $3,000, you should seriously consider buying additional coverage for yo ur rental. If you cause an accident, your liability insurance will pay for the damag es you cause to someone else, plus any medical expenses that arise from your negligence. Your liability insurance will cover you up to the limit s of your policy, and if you were driving a rental at the time of the ac cident, your personal auto liability insurance, like your comprehensive and collision, will likely be excess coverage. Rental car company's insurance Rental car companies such as Alamo, Avis, Enterprise, and Hertz offer var ious types of insurance and waivers that broaden your liability protecti on and that can relieve you of the responsibility of paying for a wrecke d rental. Loss damage waivers (LDW) and collision damage waivers (CDW) from the ren tal company essentially take the place of your own collision and compreh ensive insurance, letting you off the hook if the rental is stolen or va ndalized, or if you crash the rental car company's vehicle. Some LDWs in clude the CDW, and some waivers require you to pay a deductible, just li ke your comprehensive and collision insurance. Loss damage waivers and collision damage waivers are not insurance. Some car rental companies offer liability insurance supplements that will cover you for up to $1 million if you cause an accident, damage propert y, or injure others. This coverage has a "combined single limit," meanin g the insurer will pay no more than $1 million for bodily injury and pro perty damages. If you purchase this insurance from the rental car compan y, it becomes your primary liability insurance. Your own personal auto l iability insurance is, again, relegated to excess-coverage status. Cost: between $7 and $15 per day, depending on where you rent. You can also purchase accidental death and personal property insurance fr om your rental car company. Enterprise, for example, provides Personal A ccident Insurance (PAI), which pays out a death benefit of $100,000 for the driver of the rental vehicle, whether you're in or out of the car. F or example, if you slip in the bathtub and die during the time you're re nting the car, the accidental death benefit pays out. It also provides a $10,000 death benefit for passengers who are killed while in the rental . Further, the PAI will pay for up to $3,500 in medical expenses for bot h you and your passengers. Cost: between $1 and $5 per day, depending on the rental car company. Some companies also offer "limited" coverage for your personal property t hat might get stolen out of the rental vehicle. To buy or not to buy Making sense (and cents) out of all the coverages you already have on you r auto insurance and the ones that are offered by the rental companies i s not easy. Buying all of the insurance offered from a rental car compan y can double your rental costs. Buying none of it might put you in a bad financial spot if you have an accident. If you don't have your own collision coverage, buying the LDW is a good i dea. If you don't have collision and comprehensive insurance and you're rentin g a car, it's a good idea to purchase the LDW or CDW, whichever your ren tal company offers. You might want to buy the waiver that offers you the broadest protection in this situation. Rental companies have several le vels of damage waivers. For example, Alamo provides three levels of cove rage: you're not responsible for any damage; Of course, the broader the coverage, the more you're going to pay. Enterp rise offers a partial CDW, for instance, that requires you to pay a dedu ctible (which varies by state), but costs less than half that of a full CDW. You might eschew the LDW altogether if you have collision and comprehensi ve coverage because you'd be paying for "double coverage." Just remember that you have to cough up your deductible if the car is stolen or vanda lized, or if you crash it. You who don't own cars will likely find the supplemental liability insura nce offered by the rental companies valuable if you don't already have a nonowners auto insurance policy. The cost compared to the coverage is p retty good, but keep this in mind: Most states require the rental compan ies to automatically provide at least the minimum required liability cov erage at no charge to you. In this situation, you won't have to purchase any insurance from the rent al company to get some liability coverage. If you feel that you can get by with just the bare-bones policy, you won't spend a dime on liability insurance. In this scenario, it will generally kic k in first if you cause an accident. And remember, there's no deductible for liability insurance. Rental car company offerings of accidental death and personal property in surance give you needless "double coverage" if you already have health, homeowners or renters, and life insurance. Typically, your health insura nce will kick in for your medical costs, regardless of what car you're d riving. Your homeowners or renters policy normally covers personal prope rty if it's stolen or damaged while in your car. And your life insurance will pay out, regardless of how you meet your end. Finally, how you pay for your rental could affect your coverage. Most maj or credit cards offer some type of car rental coverage if you use the ca rd to secure your rental. Check the details carefully, however, as the c overage may apply only for a certain number of days, or have other limit ations that aren't always obvious. To sum up Before you rent a vehicle, check your auto and homeowners or renters poli cies to get an idea of what coverage you have while in the rented vehicl e And while at the rental car company, take some time to find out exact ly what they offer.
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