Today I rented a car from Thrifty,Miami Airport for $16.97 a day. But they insisted that I had to get liability Insurance for $13 plus by the time they added in a airport surcharge and tax, the total rental was $38.

Is this normal? I do not have a car as I live in China so Thrifty wanted me to get liability Insurance. CDW was declined no problem

Unfortunately for you, it is true. Thrifty has its renters rely on their own auto insurance as the primary. Since you have no auto insurance, they will sell it to you and you must buy it. In your case, you must always inquire if primary insurance is included in the rate or if the company will want you to rely on your own policy (which in any case, you do not have).

How about getting a Diners Club card? Will that possibly help?

Now I understand. Does AVIS do the same personal liability insurance catch as well?

I have not seen Avis do it that way. The tipoff is that when you rent from Thrifty and some of the other "bargain" companies, they will put a form in front of you at the counter asking you the name of your auto insurance company. That's when you find out that they are relying on your policy as primary.

I thought there was a federal law that said an auto renter could not be forced to buy their insurance. Does this only apply if you already have insurance or does it apply in case?

Anyone renting (or driving) a car anywhere today without having some form of liability (etc) auto insurance is potentially leaving oneself open to untold financial problems in the remote chance of a ding, an accident or even a stolen auto. This is especially true if you are a visiting non-citizen. They will pull your passport/visa to insure you remain on hand to pay for any financial liability so you may have a long not very nice unplanned and non-intended stay. This happened to a friend of mine on Martinique (long sad story).

Pay for the insurance and sleep well each nice night.

Some AMEX cards do cover insurance, I do not know about the green. I think the gold does and I know the platinum card does as I carry around the print out from the Amex site so I can prove that I have insurance via Amex and decline the options for the ones I am covered on. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Here in the US, auto insurance is regulated by each state, not the federal government. One must consider the state the rental originates in, and the state your personal auto policy( if any) was issued in when examining coverage issues.
Most credit card coverage is excess (secondary)to your auto policy, with the exception of Diners Club and a few others (unless you live in New York State where even Diners is excess)

Yes, Amex is secondary, as it will pay the difference of what your primary insurance does not pay. As I have no primary insurance in the US (my car insurance is European based) then Amex secondary pays the full amount. I have written to Amex and verified this and there legaleeze on the contract is quite clear about this. So, I suggest you find a good credit card.

I also carry an AMEX Gold Charge Card (not a credit card) for which I pay a fee to hold. Everywhere else in the world, the car rental companies have recognised this as the primary insurance.

Thrifty Miami, Florida insisted that it only covers Collision and not liability and that I needed to identify my auto insurance carrier for liability insurance. Of course I paid up as Thrifty did not give me a good feeling about what would happen just in case I ran over a little old lady and dented their bumper and then maid a claim. STILL, I cannot help but feel that I got scammed. No where else have I had this sort of scare tactics placed upon me to rent a car and buy insurance. I will be sure to get confirmation from AMEX Canada as soon as I pass through Canada again.



[This message has been edited by davistev (edited 06-25-2000).]

Yes, the Amex card only covers collission, and not liability (true to my understanding with ALL credit cards). However, you may be covered for liability by your own car insurance company or your homeowners insurance. It is thus critical that you check with your own insurance company before accepting insurance from a car company. And yes, car companies make more on insurance than anything else that they sell (including the car). Well, refueling charges are also probably very profitable.

I just rented a car at YYZ with Thrifty and they do not play around with the liability insurance scam. Nice to see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

By law every car registered in Canada must have liability insurance on it. Car rental companies include this in the base rate and so Thrifty had no scam that they could pull. This issue is very annoying for car rental companies in Canada: When a customer drops off a US plated car that they drove one-way from the States, that car may not be rented within Canada. They must be stored until they can be rented one-way back to the States.

I love Canada! That liability deal to me seems like a scam. In the end, what does Thrifty USA care if I were to be sued. Their car is what is important, right?

Amex Gold DL card (looks the same for Platinum as well). CDW I think is the expensive isnurance charge for the rental.
http://home3.americanexpress.com/cards/benefits/cb_descriptions.asp

Save up to $100 a week on Rental Auto Insurance
The Card provides you with added protection and savings on rental autos. Use the Card to reserve, pick up, and pay for most rental autos. Then simply decline the commercial car rental company's costly collision damage waiver or similar option(CDW), or pay for a partial collision damage waiver. When you use the Card, our Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance§ covers you for damage to and theft of most rental autos. Coverage is in excess of other sources of insurance

I just called around to various car rental companies and they all without fail informed that their rental outlets cannot force me to take out insurance if I did not want it (apparently against US law).

When I mentioned that indeed I was given a paper by Thrifty and AVIS in florida to identify who my liability insurer was, I was told that I had to pay because I do not own a car (always renting and travelling).

I am concerned because I will be staying in Atlanta and will be doing some monthly car rentals ($460 USD HERTZ economy car - AMEX insurance for CDW). The last thing I want to be dinged for is their $10.99 a day libility insurance fee.

Does anybody elso NOT own a car and has had experience with this issue or know of a way how I can purchase libility ONLY insurance. Everybody wants me to own a car!

Help.
Dave Stevenson

Picked up a car in Atlanta today - 1 week $114.99 plus 13% Airport fee and 7% tax. No problem with the insurance - used AMEX charge Gold for CDW- as for libility - they say they don't care - its your choice.

I guess I was scammed in Florida bad! (thinking that I did not have an option but to get insurance).