Beginner’s Guide to Rental Car Insurance

Rental car insurance is a hot topic for most people to handle. Most insurers need to have credit card insurance provided upfront in order to process most rental cars. In truth, rental car insurance is quite important since, like all forms of cover, it insures us against unforeseen circumstances.

However, there are many questions most people fail to ask when seeking rental car insurance that they in fact should. The most contentious of which is the credit card fiasco. Often times, people make assumptions about the extent of their cover. To be on the safe side, one should always seek legal counsel and help from the insurance agency and Credit Card Company before signing the dotted line on the contract.

What’s involved

At any given moment, 16 percent of American drivers are uninsured

The tricky part about rental car insurance is the fact that it isn’t a ‘typical’ form of car insurance. Why? Because the car company usually already has a purchased insurance on the car.

So why exactly is the need for a rental car insurance? Well, it can be conceptualized as a sort of waiver. Having a rental car insurance ensures that the rental company and/or the insurance company don’t come after us in case of a mishap.

While this is reason enough for one to become a signatory to an insurance contract, it presents a whole set of challenges for the car company. Many people often cite the redundancy involved in taking two insurance policies when one could do just fine.

Truthfully, secondary coverage is quite essential in terms of time and financial feasibility. Credit Card Companies only start paying up for damages and/or theft charges after the personal auto insurance comes into effect. With the extra cover, one can stand to gain reimbursed gains of up to $1,000.

Credit Card Companies

To learn more about rental car coverage, one can access the sites of the major credit card companies like Discover, American Express, Visa, and MasterCard. Accessing the sites will be able to guide one on what exactly transpires during the transactions. It is important to note that for every card, a variance exists depending on the issuing bank. At the same time, cards from a common issuer can still vary in terms of coverage. Thus, it is quite important to make necessary consultations.

 Most credit cards come with phone numbers at the back of the cards. By calling the numbers, we can get to learn more about coverage by talking to company representatives.

Knowledge is Power

It is important to note that few cards actually offer primary coverage. Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve offer exclusive primary rental car coverage.

Before one decides to rent out a car, knowing what exactly their card and personal auto insurance offer is quite important. Should any discrepancies exist, the next step to take is to supplement what’s missing through the rental agency.

Personal car insurance covers with comprehensive and liability can comfortably cover rental cars. However, it is always important to play on the safe side. Thus, calling the car insurance for verification is always advisable. This is because filing hefty claims with insurance companies tends to considerably raise premium rates.

The next most important thing to know is whether the rental car insurance is primary or secondary. With primary, the policy acts as a buffer i.e. the first line of defense while the secondary option comes in later. Primary coverage gives us the leeway to bypass personal auto insurance. The secondary coverage allows car insurers to pay the claims but the card reimburses incurred costs later on. Obviously, the primary coverage is the better option.

The Details

Auto premiums tend to decrease considerably after a driver turns 25 due to experience on the part of the drivers

Credit card companies tend to lock out a specific subset of vehicles, i.e. exotic and expensive cars, trucks, motorcycles, and vans. MasterCard only covers vehicles with nine passengers and less.

Car rentals are not usually covered for a long time by credit cards. With Visa, one has access to 15 consecutive days of cover in their country or 31 outside their country. Importantly, with the primary cover option, rentals last 31 days.

In the event of an accident, taking lots of pictures can come quite in handy. Through them, one can prevent probable incidents of being overcharged for minor grazes. In addition, turning down arbitration offers can go a long way in ensuring that disputes get settled fairly. Often times, when arbitration exists, decisions tend to be weighed in favor of corporations.