Non Owner Car Insurance
 

I don't own a personal vehicle, but I do rent cars and use Zipcars a lot. I also borrow friends and family's cars somewhat often. I'm getting sick of paying for liability insurance through the rental company every time I get a car, and I've been thinking of buying a non owner's policy since I also had a near miss accident in my friend's car. Every time I go on a website to get auto insurance quotes (ie. State Farm, Progressive, etc), there is rarely any information about non owners policy. Filling out information for an online quote requires me to add a vehicle, and obviously if I'm getting a non owner's policy I don't have any cars to add. How did you guys get your non owner policies? Should I just call an agent and ask or was there anywhere in particular that you looked for it? Thanks!

Look here Where can I buy daily 3rd party liability insurance for occasional car rental?

Many companies do 3rd party insurance like above link mention.

Yes. This policy does not have to be an auto policy. It simply needs to cover your liability, including auto incidents.

I live in a small city in Upstate New York, and do not own a car. I have a personal, non-owned-auto liability insurance policy issued by Travelers Insurance. My premium is very low, but premiums can carry widely, depending on where you live, your age, your driving history, and maybe even your credit score. I'd suggest calling a Travelers agent near you to get a quote. Make clear to the agent that you're inquiring about a personal -- as opposed to a commercial -- non-owned-auto liability policy.

Edited to add: If you sometimes rent cars for business purposes, you should mention that to the insurance agent to find out whether those rentals would be covered by a personal non-owned-auto liability policy.

FYI

https://www.esurance.com/info/car/ca...he-driver-myth

When one lends a car to a friend/family member the car lender is the one who is exposed...not the lendee.

That statement is not exactly true.

If insurance really follows car, not people. Then why do people have option to opt out rental insurance and use their own insurance in case of an incident?

I think rentals may be a separate category...they are on my policy. I was really referring to a private individual lending a car to a friend/family member. I read that poster's comment as assuming that because he/she didn't have insurance he/she was uninsured when driving the friend's car.

**disclaimer: I am not a lawyer or an insurance employee.

Okay, so, there are two different coverages at play here. For the rental car itself, the rental company sells "loss damage waiver" (LDW) to the customer, not insurance. the wording is important. For damages to another motorist's car, they sell supplemental liability insurance (separate from LDW), which I will get to later.


If you crash the car into a tree and didn't buy the LDW, the rental company will use their own insurance to fix the car, and then come after you for the damages.

If you crash the car into a tree and did buy the LDW, the company will still use their own insurance to fix the car, but they won't come after you for the damages.

If you crash the car into a tree, didn't buy the LDW, but you're covered by credit card coverage or personal collision auto insurance, they will step in and pay the damages from the rental company. This is why every credit card requires that you decline the LDW at the rental counter. If you accept the LDW, then there's no damages for the credit card company to pay.


However, since this topic is about liability- I will use Hertz and Geico as examples in the following scenario:

Lets say you crash the Hertz rental car into another motorist's car instead of a tree, and the collision is your fault. You accepted LDW but don't have liability insurance. The LDW only covers the rental car! It is not liability.
But wait, what about the other motorist?
Hertz has liability insurance on their own car because it's required by law in 49 states. If you have no liability insurance, then Hertz's liability insurance will, *generally*, pay the other motorist, and then Hertz will come after you for the damages. This is where the state laws start to vary. If Hertz's liability insurance isn't enough to pay the other motorist, then will the other motorist sue you? It is my understanding that the other motorist can't sue Hertz in this situation.

And now we are back to the original topic. If you buy non-owners liability insurance from, say, Geico, then Geico will pay for the losses to the other motorist's car. The OP of this thread does not have Geico. So he is buying a separate "Supplemental Liability Insurance" from Hertz at the beginning of every rental, which adds up. He is doing this because he has no liability insurance of his own, and so that Hertz will not come after him for the damages to the other motorist's car.

So, liability insurance does follow the rental car, it's just that the rental car owner reserves the right to come after you for the damages later. Liability insurance also follows the driver in the sense that he or she's personal auto policy likely covers them while operating a rental car- if they have a personal policy to begin with.

See Hertz's policy on this:


Yes, you can buy LDW and SLI combined. I was looking on Avis' website just now, and it appears to cost around $50 a day for both. This is why it is generally more cost effective to buy your own insurance from an insurance company.


TL;DR: If you don't own a car and want to be covered for frequent rentals, your best bet is to buy your own liability policy.
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Don't worry - I am not saying you are wrong. But esurance's statement is wrong.

Generally speaking, an automotive insurance covers non-named drivers as soon as 1) they are not within the same household; 2) the lending is occasional; and/or other conditions as necessary.

There is a reason why it is every parent's headache when it comes to insure their own children, because unless the children are named in the policies, their insurance won't cover any damages caused by their children.

Also - legally speaking, regardless of insurance coverage, a driver is always liable for any damages caused. The owner is responsible only when the driver can't handle the liability.

In that case, State Farm's statement on this is better:

https://www.statefarm.com/simple-ins...ead-this-first

My question is merely rhetorical.

That said, most insurers won't write a general liability (i.e. umbrella) policy if you don't already have auto liability insurance.

I have had a non-owner's liability insurance policy through Geico for several years, it just lists "NNO" and "NNO" as the make/model of my car on my insurance card. I think I might even gotten a quote online from them at the time, but can't remember. If not, calling them should definitely get you more information on a quote...

In Canada I was not successful in finding non-owners insurance.
Only Manitoba offers non-owner/rental insurance at $2/day and gives you 10 million liability + $100 deductible for CDW.

Jumping back to this thread with a very specific question.. Would named non owner policies cover diminished value to the rental car? For example, if one were to damage the car by hitting a tree or something like that, and the rental car company asks for diminished value on the car - would that be covered by this (liability) insurance?

You really have to read your policy. Policies issued in New York State cover damage to the rental auto, but that might not be true of policies issued everywhere. And even if the policy does cover damage to the rented auto, you'd have to check to see if diminished value is covered.

Edited to add: Of course, even if your non-owner policy does not cover damage to the rental car (or diminished value), your credit card might. And "secondary" coverage would be primary for you if you have no other collectable insurance for rental-car damage/diminished value.