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Question: Should I buy the add-on car rental insurance when
I rent a car?
Answer: Most of us would prefer to spend our travel funds
on museums, good food and great places to stay. To help
stretch your money, you need to be a good consumer when you
select car insurance to cover accidents on a rental car
while you're traveling. Car rental insurance is a big money
maker for car-rental companies; you can pay as much as 50
percent more than your rental costs with the insurance that
can be tacked on.
Car-rental companies may not let you know that you already
have coverage and might even scare you into thinking you are
on your way to a financial disaster if you don't buy their
insurance.
The best way to avoid extra charges is to do your homework
before you show up at the rental office, tired and toting
luggage. The risks that you might encounter that you want
insurance to cover are collision, comprehensive and
liability. Collision occurs when vehicles collide with
objects or other vehicles and cause damage. Comprehensive is
insurance to cover non-driving problems such as a tree
falling on your car or hail pitting your vehicle. Liability
coverage is needed if you are responsible for causing injury
to someone else or damage to their property.
There are three ways that a rental car could be covered for
collision, comprehensive and liability: your own automobile
policy, a credit card, and if neither of the first two, you
may want to buy coverage from the car-rental company.
Are you covered through your existing auto insurance
policy? If your policy covers at least one of your vehicles
for comprehensive and collision, it should extend to a
rental car. Your automobile policy will most likely cover
your liability if you cause injury to other persons or their
vehicles. Your own policy is also likely to cover you for
accidental death or bodily injury and theft or damage to
personal items for you and your passengers while in the
rental car. But be sure and ask.
If you are traveling in a foreign country, you probably
won't be covered by your auto policy. You'll need to
research the protection provided by your credit card.
More next week on car rental insurance.
For more information, contact your local
Colorado State University Extension office.
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