{"id":10,"date":"2014-07-24T20:03:38","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T20:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com.php73-40.lan3-1.websitetestlink.com\/blog\/\/?p=10"},"modified":"2014-08-01T22:02:45","modified_gmt":"2014-08-01T22:02:45","slug":"be-sure-about-rental-car-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com\/blog\/be-sure-about-rental-car-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Sure About Rental Car Insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Car<\/a>This summer, whether you\u2019re driving for\u00a0business or pleasure, you may want to\u00a0rent a car. If so, you\u2019ll likely be driving\u00a0an unfamiliar vehicle on unknown\u00a0roads. What\u2019s more, you\u2019ll encounter\u00a0other (perhaps many other) motorists in\u00a0similar circumstances. You can\u2019t overlook\u00a0the chance you\u2019ll be involved in an\u00a0accident.<\/p>\n

Obviously, your first priority is to\u00a0avoid injuring yourself, your passengers,\u00a0and any others. Still, you\u2019ll also want to\u00a0minimize your financial exposure, so it\u00a0will pay to have the right insurance in\u00a0place.<\/p>\n

Protection begins at home\u00a0Your first line of defense lies in the\u00a0coverage you already have. Check your\u00a0auto insurance policy and your excess\u00a0liability (umbrella) policy to see what\u2014if\u00a0anything\u2014they say about rental cars.<\/p>\n

Call your insurance agent to\u00a0double check. If there is coverage,\u00a0see if there are exclusions for rental\u00a0cars. Does the coverage apply to\u00a0long-term rentals or to rentals in a\u00a0foreign country you may be visiting?\u00a0If traveling for business, ask how that\u00a0affects your coverage.<\/p>\n

If you feel your coverage is\u00a0inadequate, your agent might be able\u00a0to offer you additional insurance for\u00a0car rentals. Weigh the added cost\u00a0versus the extra protection you\u2019ll get.\u00a0Remember, your greatest exposure might\u00a0be liability, if you injure someone while\u00a0driving the rental car.<\/p>\n

After discussing your plans, send\u00a0an email to the agent, summarizing the\u00a0conversation, and have the agent respond,\u00a0so you\u2019ll have a record of what you were\u00a0told.<\/p>\n

Credit check
\n<\/strong>Besides your existing policies, you also\u00a0may have coverage from your credit card\u00a0issuer.<\/p>\n

Example 1:<\/strong> Howard Green rents a\u00a0car and puts the charge on his Visa card.\u00a0He skids off the road in a rain storm and\u00a0causes extensive damage to the vehicle.\u00a0Some or all of the repair costs may be\u00a0covered by Visa. Indeed, if Howard has\u00a0to pay a deductible amount under his\u00a0personal auto insurance policy, his credit \u00a0card coverage may reimburse him\u00a0for the outlay. In some cases, credit\u00a0card insurance can provide secondary\u00a0coverage, paying claims beyond the\u00a0limits of your primary auto insurance\u00a0policy.<\/p>\n

Again, it pays to read the fine\u00a0print. To determine what a given\u00a0credit card will pay, enter the full\u00a0name of the card and \u201crental \u00a0ar\u00a0insurance\u201d into an Internet search\u00a0engine, such as Google. Be sure to\u00a0be precise in designating the type of\u00a0card you have (gold, platinum, etc.)\u00a0because different cards from the\u00a0same company may have different\u00a0levels of protection. With Visa or\u00a0MasterCard, there can be variations\u00a0in coverage from one issuing bank to\u00a0another.<\/p>\n

Credit card coverage can be\u00a0valuable, especially if it\u2019s included in\u00a0the basic card member services at\u00a0no extra charge, but it probably is\u00a0not absolute. Often, this insurance\u00a0applies to vehicle damage or theft,\u00a0but not liability for injuries.\u00a0In\u00a0such cases, be sure you have \u00a0other\u00a0protection for any liability incurred\u00a0while driving a rental car.<\/p>\n

Be wary of any exclusions in the\u00a0coverage you receive from your credit\u00a0card company. Coverage might not\u00a0be available, for instance, for rentals\u00a0of recreational vehicles, rentals of\u00a0very expensive vehicles, rentals by\u00a0students, or rentals much longer than\u00a015 days.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that you\u00a0almost certainly will use a credit card\u00a0when you rent a car. You might as \u00a0well see which of your cards has the\u00a0best suite of free car-rental benefits,\u00a0in sync with your auto insurance, and\u00a0use that card when you rent a car.<\/p>\n

Counter moves\u00a0When you rent a car, the person\u00a0behind the counter will ask you if\u00a0you want the optional insurance\u00a0offered by the company. The stated\u00a0cost\u2014often X dollars per day\u2014\u00a0may seem modest but in fact the\u00a0annualized costs generally are much\u00a0greater than you\u2019d pay for standard\u00a0auto insurance.<\/p>\n

Why would you pay for this expensive coverage? If you haven\u2019t fully researched your insurance options, you might want to buy\u00a0some coverage from the car rental company, for peace of mind. \u00a0Alternatively, if you are informed about your present coverage, you might choose some of the optional choices to fill in any gaps.<\/p>\n

Example 2:<\/b> Mindy Carter lives in New York City without a car, so she has no auto insurance. When she goes away on weekends, she\u00a0rents a car. Mindy knows that her credit card covers damage and theft but not liability for injury to others. Therefore, she buys liability insurance at the car rental counter.<\/p>\n

Similarly, drivers with little or no collision damage coverage on their personal cars might buy this insurance from the rental company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer, whether you\u2019re driving for\u00a0business or pleasure, you may want to\u00a0rent a car. If so, you\u2019ll likely be driving\u00a0an unfamiliar vehicle on unknown\u00a0roads. What\u2019s more, you\u2019ll encounter\u00a0other (perhaps many other) motorists in\u00a0similar circumstances. You can\u2019t overlook\u00a0the chance you\u2019ll be involved in an\u00a0accident. Obviously, your first priority is to\u00a0avoid injuring yourself, your passengers,\u00a0and any others.… Continue reading Be Sure About Rental Car Insurance<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hsco-cpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}