apk123

I've seen this topic mentioned as a side remark in a few threads, but I wanted to start a thread that could have a full discussion of the issue and be used for future reference.

My understanding has always been that the rental car companies are required to insure their vehicles with the minimum financial responsibility limits applicable to the state. Therefore if you don't have a car and hence have no insurance, you still don't have to buy the supplemental liability insurance offered by the rental companies. However, in the FT forums I've seen a few posts which claimed that liability coverage is provided only in a select few states like New York, and in most states if you don't have insurance you then must buy the rental company's liability coverage.

Which one is correct? I have an Avis contract in front of me, and from which I understand that the minimum liability coverage is provided (on a secondary basis). Does anyone have proof to the contrary? Can anyone else confirm or deny, has any personal anecdote, or just wants to inflate their post count? Thanks.

3Cforme

Of course rental cars come with minimum insurance as mandated by state law. It's the law.

One may find the minimum demanded by law is minimal, indeed. It may even be $0. Lots of states have minimum bodily injury coverage of $25K. Persons with significant assets would be foolish to ignore this, but many of such demographic are going to have a car (or six) and probably some umbrella liability policy.

sdsearch

What about internationally? That's presumably even more common: Does the typical US auto insurance cover liability worldwide? Or do you need an umbrella coverage for that? (My auto insurance company won't even offer me an ubrella coverage unless I buy some other form of insurance from them besides auto. They say I need two forms of insurance before I can umbrella.)

I know when I asked my insurance company about that I was thinking of collision coverage and such. I never thought to ask about liability.

I do know than in some countiies (I think Hungary on my most recent rental) it said "unavailable" (rather than "declined" or "included") for Liability coverage on my Avis reservation. That, even though one tour book I read implied that driving in Hungary I'm required to have third-party liability insurance.

But therein's the rub: I don't even know whether to trust Avis reservation terminology on "unavailable" vs "included"!

apk123

I, like many young New Yorkers, don't own a car or have significant assets. I usually don't buy the supplemental liability coverage, which might be foolish. but that's a different issue....

apk123

I think that in many countries outside the US, a good liability insurance (i.e. with limits that people typically buy for their own cars) is included in the rental rate. Therefore car rental companies don't offer supplemental liability insurance and your reservation says that it is unavailable.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

My understanding is that in most of the 50 states, minimum 3rd party liability insurance is included. However, California is an exception: the car-rental company is not required to provide any liability insurance, and state law requires the renter to have liability insurance.

If one does not own a car but rents frequently enough, it makes sense to consider a non-owned auto liability policy. Thanks to a recent FT post, I secured one recently that provides $100,000 property damage coverage and $500,000 death/personal injury coverage, in the U.S. and Canada only. My premium is $67 per six months. (I think that the policy also covers loss or damage to the rented vehicle.)

apk123

Wow that's an awesome price. Which insurance company is it? I would definitely buy such coverage if these are the prices.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

The policy is issued by The Travelers. I imagine that any Travelers agent can process the transaction, but the agency recommended by the other FTer was Campbell-Solberg in Lower Manhattan, and that is who I used.

apk123

Thanks for the information. After your post, I did some more research and found out some good stuff on the Hertz website. I can't give a direct link, but if you go to:

Reservations -> Qualifications & Requirements -> Insurance and Other Coverages

Hertz details their exact policy. There is no liability coverage provided in California, there is *primary* liability insurance in a few states (including New York), and secondary liability insurance in the rest of the states. If we assume that this is in compliance with the standard laws in these states, then we have the final answer.

apk123

Thanks for the info, I will definitely look into this.

sdsearch

Your instructions are a little incomplete. You go to Reservations -> Qualifications & Requirements, then you put in a location, search, then select a specific location, then from the dropdown that appars on the page for that specific location you select:

• Insurance and Other Coverages if it's a US location
• Third-Party Liability if it's an oversears location

And if neither of those appears (say for locations in Argentina), what does that mean? That there is no liability coverage either automatic or optional, or just that Hertz has no clue what it is?

Ie, IMHO this may be fine for US, but still a bit too spotty outside the US.

jackal

That may be Hertz's policy, but I don't know if it's the law in all of those other states. I have personally seen the company that underwrites the liability insurance for one of the other franchises in Alaska deny coverage to a renter who did not purchase liability from the rental company.

apk123

Do you have more details about this incident? Did that person have his own insurance?

jackal

I will have to do more research.

Guy Betsy

There are many insurance companies that offer car rental insurances for about 1/3 of what Avis charges even for basic. But I found out that these insurances do not include Liability insurance. The minimum recommended within Canada is US$1 million, and to USA is minimum US$4 million. The extra for the Third Party Liability is only about $4 a day.