Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with insurance and rental

Car rental insurance: vital or scam?

cgs — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:50:14 -0800

Car rental insurance: what should I get? - I don't have any primary auto insurance (don't own a car).
- This is just in the states (NY, NJ, PA)
- I am renting via my credit card which has Master Rental Insurance (http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/gen-content/en.htm). They said on the phone that they become the primary insurer since I don't have auto insurance, that it is the same category (damage/loss... mentioned in that document as well).

Does this mean I just need to worry about hitting someone else?

I don't understand the various insurance labels and want to be as well informed as possible when I get to the counter. I hate feeling pressured or like they are taking advantage of me.

Thanks for your help-
cgs

Rental Car Accident filter

spacefire — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:43:10 -0800

Hertz fender bender, do I need to file police report, and am I covered? I backing up out of my parents driveway, I hit my mom's car with the rear of my Hertz rental car. Dents and scratches , but no other damage. I have Liability Insurance supplement but no Loss Damage Waiver as that should be taken care of by Visa since I rented using my Visa card. Should we file a police report?

Another question, related: The liability protection states, quote:
Within the limits stated in this subparagraph, hertz will indemnify, hold harmless....which by definition EXCLUDES ANY OF YOUR OR ANY AUTHORIZED OPERATOR'S FAMILY MEMBERS...RESIDING WITH YOU OR THEM..."
I don't live with my parents, I was just visiting, will the liability thing cover the damage to my mother's car?

Renters Insurance for cohabitating couple

matildaben — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:09:43 -0800

My SO and I (unmarried) are combining two apartments into one. We both currently have renters insurance of our own, each from our own car insurance company (not the same company). We are not interested in combining our car insurance under one account. Should we get renters insurance for both of us from one of our car insurance companies, or should we each retain our separate renters insurance that covers "my own stuff"?

Cheap 3rd party car insurance

aerotive — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:17:28 -0800

I'm looking for reliable, inexpensive 3rd party car rental insurance. I rent cars occasionally , for business use, and am reimbursed on a per-diem basis. I rent the cars under my name. My personal insurance covers liability while renting but not collision. None of my credit cards provide car rental insurance.

CDW usually costs $30 or so per day from the car rental places and I'm looking for something cheaper. Anyone know of any reliable companies that provide this sort of insurance on the cheap?

Is the MasterRental benefit all it's cracked up to be?

mr. creosote — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:42:36 -0800

Question about the "MasterRental" rental insurance benefit that most of us have on our MasterCards. I was looking through the MasterRental benefit that came with my credit card and was thinking "joy! now I can decline the costly LDWs when I'm renting a car."

However I got to reading the fine print and saw "coverage is secondary to any other applicable insurance or coverage available to you." So it sounds like what would happen is if I do damage the rental car or the rental place blames me for some ding that I didn't do, MasterRental would tell me to use my own insurance, leaving me holding the bag and having to either pay cash or get a black mark with my insurance company.

Is this the case? Can anyone shed light on this?

Sorry baby, I had to crash that Prius.

hulahulagirl — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:36:11 -0800

Do I have to pay $1000+ the insurance co. won't cover? CarAccidentFilter: Last Thanksgiving we rented a Prius from Dollar Rent A Car to drive from Portland, OR to Idaho. In Walla Walla, WA someone pulled out in front of us on the highway and we crashed. The other driver (18 yr old girl) was cited and I was not. The car was towed to a wrecking yard in Walla Walla (and we rented another car and finished the trip). Luckily no one was hurt.

The other party's insurance co. (Safeco) paid the balance of the cost of the car minus what Dollar RAC received after they sold the Prius as salvage. However, they refuse to pay about $1000 in towing charges because they feel that Dollar was unreasonable in requiring the car to be returned to PDX for assessment after the accident. Safeco told me that Dollar could have had it towed to any number of closer yards where a "field agent" could deem the car a total loss. Dollar tells me that they don't have field agents and they needed to tow the car to PDX because that's where it came from/that's where their office is. Dollar wants me to pay the $1000+ that Safeco won't pay although it sounds like Dollar is correct in requiring the car to be returned to PDX and I think Safeco should be ponying up the rest of the cash. They've already paid over $11,000 and they're sticking me with $1000 in towing charges.

So, my question is, am I on the hook for this? I don't want to fight it too much and incur a bunch of atty fees and interest, but I really don't feel it's my responsibility. I know, YANAL, etc. (unless you are and that would be awesome).

Why is the dryer half as full as when I started it?

ArgentCorvid — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:22:12 -0800

Sometime during the last hour or so, half of my clothes have disappeared from my building's communal laundry facilities. What do I do? Into the dryer went ~8 polos, 2 pairs of jeans, a couple of T-shirts, and some socks & underwear. Out came 4 polos, 1 pair of jeans, 1 T-shirt and not as many of the others.

The situation:

My building has 12 apartments in it (4 per story, 3 stories), with 2 washers and 2 dryers on the middle floor in a common area.
There are 2 other similar buildings in the immediate area.
Access to the buildings isn't controlled.
The buildings are in a residential neighborhood, & not a crime-intense area
I don't know most of the other Tenants in the building except the neighbor across the hall, and the neighbors immediately above and below. Most of the residents here seem to keep to themselves and I rarely see most of them, so unless I catch the person wearing my stuff, I couldn't even guess who did it. None of the tenants I know seem to be a likely suspect.
I do have renter's insurance, but haven't checked if it's worth it to submit a claim. (probably not)
No, I wasn't watching, the dryer takes ~1 hour to run.
I haven't done anything (that I know of anyway) to piss off the neighbors.

I'm kind of at a loss, here. Do I call the police? Knock on doors until I find the apartment with a pile of my clothes in it? It's midnight here. I'll probably call the Landlord in the morning, but what else can I do, other than make a trip to the mall?

saving money to spend on more daytime cellphone calls!

twistofrhyme — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:29:32 -0800

How to be a (cheapskate) grown-up in Toronto? I seek advice about good utilities providers in Toronto.
Who should be my provider for:

RENTER'S INSURANCE:
this is tricky.
i have 2 roommates, and between us 3, we'd like to insure about $30K worth of stuff. most insurance providers balk at splitting the policy. any ideas?
we used to pay about $18/month total but that company changed their minds about splitting the policy.

CELL PHONE:
i currently use about
400 weekday minutes,
200 weekend minutes,
100 weeknight minutes a month.
this in about 20 calls a month.
i send maybe 15 texts.
i currently pay about $90/month to Ma Bell- too damn much!
I can keep my phone number now when i switch teams, right?

I'd want:
400 weekday minutes
per second billing
answering machine
call display.
phone can be ugly.
is pay as you go a good option?

LAND LINE:
i need to be able to check msgs from away from home.
that's all i need.
it would be nice to keep our current phone number (Bell).

INTERNETS:
currently backpacking it onto my Bell landline bill.
needs to be pretty fast, we're laptop geeks around here.

piggybacking landline and internet and cellphone would be fine if it actually worked* and saved us money. (*bell promised me they could do it when i signed up and it never worked out.)
(bell = jerks.)

Three month car rental?

np312 — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 16:46:31 -0800

The problem: I need a car for three months in Los Angeles. Extenuating circumstances: I am a horrible driver and am almost guaranteed to mess up the car at some point. Solution? I have looked at long term rentals from car rental agencies, but the cheapest in Los Angeles are in the $600 a month range, and I'm looking for closer to $400 a month since I plan to get added-on insurance which is pricey.

I don't want to buy a car since I will only be using it for 3 months before returning to NYC, and I don't want to have to sell it again. Also there's the whole vehicle registration and insurance pain. I'd consider doing a 3 month lease but have no experience in this matter. Has anyone else had experiences with sites like swapalease.com?

FWIW, I don't care if the car's ugly/ancient, in fact that would be a plus since I wouldn't feel as badly when I inevitably get into a fender bender. I drive like a 14 year old since I live in NYC, have never owned a car, and have little chance to practice.

Which brings me to the second part of my question: what kind of temporary insurance should I get to cover my future bang ups?

Car rental insurance in US for UK resident

i_cola — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 06:10:46 -0800

UK resident requires car insurance for 4 days to hire car in Arizona & drive into New Mexico & back. Rather than pay over-the-odds for insurance (CDW & SLI) with the car hire company I'm looking at getting my own insurance in advance –– probably in the UK. Anyone have any experience? I will be checking with my credit card co. to see what coverage they offer but I don't think UK CC co.s offer the same sort of car rental insurance deals as US ones do. [There have been a few similar enquiries on AskFi previously but not one regarding a foreign resident bringing their own insurance.]

should i opt for auto insurance when renting a car?

brandz — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 19:05:26 -0800

i will be renting a car while on vacation in arizona next week. should i opt for the auto insurance? i currently own a car and have both liability and collision insurance. i live in massachusetts, if that makes a difference.

Rental car fender-bender

Corpus Callosum — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 08:38:54 -0800

I was recently in a fender-bender in a rented car and I want to know who covers whom. I was a registered driver of a van and scraped the corner of a neighbor's car as I was parking it. We had paid for the insurance option but now the rental company is saying that this insurance only covers their car not my neighbor's car. My friend's credit card was used to pay for the rental (he was the primary renter) and I am insured to drive my own car. It will be very difficult to pay out of pocket for the repairs. Am I covered by anyone? What are my options? Thanks for any help.

rental car insurance?

Vidiot — Thu, 12 May 2005 05:10:21 -0800

Do I need insurance on my rental car? I live in NYC, so I don't have a car, nor do I have car insurance. In a couple of days, I'll be renting a car in Virginia.

Assuming that my credit card doesn't cover me (I'm still waiting for a straight answer from Amex), should I spring for the "additional" insurance? Which ones?

If I get pulled over, will I be legal in VA without any liability insurance or does basic liability insurance come with the car?

What exactly am I on the hook for if I don't get the LDW/CDW and get into an accident?

What about the other kinds of insurance that the company offers? Good idea, or ripoff? (They'll triple the cost of the rental.)

I see that Avis is offering Personal Accident Insurance, Personal Effects Protection, and Additional Liability Insurance in addition to the LDW. What are all these?

Anything else I should know?