What Should I Do When Renting A Car?

We often get asked “do I need to purchase the rental car companies insurance?”

Our answer is YES. Rental car contracts vary widely between companies and have changed dramatically over the past few years. A standard personal auto policy may not cover all the rental car companies expenses in the event you are in an accident in one of their cars.

Three unforeseen expenses that are not covered by a standard auto policy are:

• Loss of Use: The rental car company tries to bill you for the number of days their car is unavailable for rental while being repaired after an accident.
• Diminution in value: The reduction in a vehicle’s market value due to its having been in an accident. When the repaired car is eventually sold, it brings a lower price.
• Before & After: Diminution in value is a concern when the rental company repairs a damaged vehicle—but today many cars are never repaired. With some types of damage, liability concerns make rental companies reluctant to return a repaired car to the fleet. Instead, they simply sell the damaged car for salvage. They then charge the renter the difference between the market value on the day of rental (“before”) and the amount the car sold for at the salvage auction (“after”)