Travel Deal of the Day (June 12, 2007)

Do you have proper car rental insurance coverage? Many people do not – though there are easy ways to avoid most problems people have when renting a car.

The Deal:
When you rent a car, if you do not take the car rental company’s insurance, you are liable for almost anything that happens to the car. There are easy ways to avoid disaster:

(1) Check into the coverage offered by your own car insurance. The car rental company’s coverage is overpriced, so there is no reason to pay the car rental company’s exorbitant fees and duplicate your own insurance coverage. However, be aware that if you make a claim on your own coverage, your premiums may skyrocket.

(2) Many credit cards offer secondary insurance coverage, meaning that those cards will cover anything not covered by any other insurance. The downside to relying on your credit card coverage is that they will not cover the costs that your own personal insurance coverage would reimburse – so you must either file a claim on your own coverage to cover the costs not reimbursed by the credit card coverage or you must cover those costs yourself. Also be aware that the credit card coverage may only cover damage to your own rental car, not any other damage to other cars or property.

(3) Some credits cards, such as Diners Club, offer primary coverage – meaning that you do not need to submit a claim via your own car insurance for an accident. (This coverage may not apply to damage to other cars or property.) Other credit cards, such as American Express, sell primary coverage.