Liability insurance
 

Hi,

I am planing a trip to CA for a few weeks. I am renting a car for most of the time, and considering Avis or Hertz because they have good reputation.

I dont have a car insurance, and I see this on Avis website:

"CALIFORNIA: Automobile Liability and Property Damage Protection is not included in the rental rate. The customer may provide automobile liability insurance through a personal insurance policy or may purchase Additional Liability Insurance."

so if I understand correctly I need to purchase a liability insurance at the counter. I will be paying with a Credit card that will cover my rental car with deductible so I don't need CDW or LDW.

can anyone explain me if I can buy liability just for certain days, for example, I rent a car for a long time, let's say a week but I am only going to use it only for 6 days, 1 day it will be parked in a garage, so I will have no liability to damage something by driving it. On that day I will go sightseeing with public transportation.

should I ask this question in Hertz's forum or it will be the same?

thanks a lot.

With Avis, you can only buy or decline insurance for the full rental. You cannot get insurance for only specific days. Otherwise, you could only get insurance for one of the days and then try to claim that the car was damaged on that 1 day. Your word vs theirs...

As for picking only Avis or Hertz because of reputation: I'd throw that by the way side. Rental car companies typically have poor customer service and it's not worth picking for "reputation" unless one is much worse than others at your specific location. I'd either pick based upon total price (including taxes/fees/insurance) or because one has a specific car that you want to drive and they confirm that's the one you'll get. Otherwise, price rules in my book.

Good luck with that when Enterprise dings you for a tiny scratch. Avis is the most hassle-free of any of the companies that I've dealt with, and has provided me with excellent customer service.

thanks,

is there any other way I can save on liability insurance? I assume there is no AWD discount for that, and no credit card covers it,

Certain organizations have car-rental discount codes that provide relatively minimal liability insurance at no extra charge. For example, AARP members get 25/50/10 liability coverage at participating Hertz and Avis locations when using the AARP discount code. Not sure which other organizations offer something similar, or if that level of coverage would be sufficient for you.

Take a look at www.usaa.com. It's free to join and you can use free codes to add primary liability coverage for Avis, Hertz and Budget rentals.

You don't mention where you live or your age, so YMMV. If you are in the USA, contact a local insurance agent (or a few to shop for price) and inquire about a Named Operator policy. Such a policy is for people that don't own cars.

You can purchase minimum limits for your state - the policy will cover you in CA automatically. Named Operator policies are generally cheap, and you can probably even cancel the policy after you get back from your trip - getting a refund of the unused portion of the premium.

Check on cancellation fees for the company from which you buy, but going this route will probably be significantly cheaper than trying to buy anything from Avis.