Does My Car Insurance Cover a Rental?
Just as when a person is driving his own vehicle, a person driving a rental car must, by law, be covered by a minimum amount of insurance. The exact amount of coverage required varies by state, but in all states a person must be covered by a liability policy. Depending on the terms of a person's insurance policy, he may be automatically covered when he drives a rental. However, in other cases, he may have to purchase additional insurance.
Other People Are Reading
-
Physical Damage
-
Each auto insurance policy is different, with the terms dependent on the company issuing the policy and the features of the policy selected by the policyholder. In many cases, if the driver has purchased not just liability coverage, but physical damage coverage, too -- which protects against damage to the driver's own vehicle -- the policy will be automatically extended to any car that the owner drives, including rental cars.
Liability
-
No state mandates that a driver purchase physical damage coverage. However, all states mandate that drivers have liability coverage, which compensates other drivers in the event of an accident. Liability policies do not generally extend coverage to vehicles that the policy holder is driving. However, according to insurance reference website Quote Click Insure, some states have laws in which the liability coverage is extended to all rental cars, meaning that driver with only liability coverage will not have to purchase additional rental car insurance.
-
Considerations
-
Even if a car insurance policy does cover a rental car, it may not necessarily cover other kinds of vehicle rentals, such as certain kinds of trucks, motorcycles or jet skis. This is because these vehicles are not considered regular automobiles and are therefore not covered under a regular auto insurance policy. To determine which vehicles his coverage extends to, a policyholder will have to carefully read the terms of his policy.
Purchasing Rental Car Insurance
-
If a person does not have insurance that covers his driving rental cars, he will typically be given the option of purchasing insurance from the rental car company. Generally, this insurance is more expensive than regular car insurance. However, it will feature the same choices offered to purchasers of regular auto insurance, including the option to purchase only liability coverage or to purchase physical damage coverage as well. If a person has redundant insurance, the insurance companies will generally split the cost in the event of a claim.
-
