Glen, it could be that AK is one of the few states that makes it compulsory for car hire agencies to provide a minimum amount of liability insurance, and that might be why they're not allowed to sell it on the side. OTOH, it could be that you received written misinformation from one of the many poorly paid, poorly informed car hire reps. I've been trying to find out the same info for years, and I've decided that the only way to be sure is to receive it in writing from the office of the insurance commissioner in each state you are going to rent (haven't started yet on this project; it's gonna take a while).