Did I just get scammed on insurance? Rented from Payless at PHX. I live in NYC, don't own a car, and so have no car insurance, and normally decline all insurance when renting. I use CCs that cover CDW/LDW and my understanding was that in most (all?) states the rental car company automatically provides liability insurance up to the state mandated minimum limits. Payless at PHX says this is not the case in AZ and since I don't have insurance, they billed me at ~$15/day with their supplemental liability insurance (SLI). They said I could be fined $800 otherwise if I was pulled over. I checked with a couple of other rental car agencies at the airport before signing the Payless contract and they said the same thing.
The contract says in block letters that the OWNER DOES NOT PROVIDE PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE COVERAGE TO THE RENTER. So I figured I needed it or I would be driving illegally, as the guy said.
The guy at the counter also said that AZ is the only state where the rental companies don't extend even basic liability coverage to renters (whether primary or secondary). But if I look at the Hertz website (
https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/reser...RAGES&EOAG=SFO) it says they provide secondary liability protection up to the state minimums in all states except Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina, Virginia, or West Virginia (where they provide primary liability protection instead).
Did I just get suckered? Also, I got the supplemental liability insurance. It seems I could have got the the renter liability insurance which would cover me up to the minimum limits and was presumably cheaper?