JessieAgnes

We travel to Florida for 2-4 wks in the winter.
The additional cost over & above the daily rental fee is approx. $19.00 Per Day for the
Liability Insurance. We find that costly & are wondering if one really must have this coverage or can they depend on their car Insurance in Canada to cover them if an accident were to happen?

Southam

Ask your own insurance agent, surely a more trustworthy source than total strangers located in the mystery world of the Internet.
It's also worthwhile to see what coverage your credit card might provide -- lots of fine print that needs to be read carefully.
And then read the contract of the car rental company (I assume that's what you are talking about) with equal care. Not all contracts are the same nor are all insurers. As a rule of thumb I prefer independent insurance to the coverage offered by a rental agency which has all its own interests, not yours, in mind.

eliztravels

Certainly what Southam suggests, talk with your insurance agent and check the fine print. But here is what i have found. Yes, my liability coverage in my auto insurance contract covers me, EXCEPT, for the deductible on the rental vehicle, which might be covered by my RBC Visa credit card, but only if I used that credit card for the rental at the time of picking up the car, not after the fact. Got caught one time checking the 'delcined' box for the insurance, handed over the wrong credit card, ended up paying about $300 for a cracked windshield. (This was for a car rented in Canada travelling in the US)

It varies from country to country, also. The insurance on my Visa does not cover me in Costa Rica, for example.

$19.00/day works out to $6,935 a year . Calling it "costly" is an understatement, to be sure.

Elizabeth_S

Check with your insurance and credit card companies but as above our RBC car insurance covers North American rentals (it's about $40/year for that) and our CIBC Visa covers the deductible. Another thing to watch if relying on your Credit Card - the primary driver must be the primary cardholder and (in the case of AMEX) all other drivers must be named on the rental contract. I've had trouble with that last point in some countries where they don't bother listing other drivers, but they do have a form they complete if you ask for it.

JessieAgnes

Thank you for your responses, much appreciated.. did check with our Insurance agent. We were advised we were only covered for Collision & Comprehensive while we were in Florida. That we would indeed need to take the Liability Coverage from the rental company.
however, I can't believe that everyone that travels to Florida takes this Liability coverage for $14-19.00 a day.!?
There must be a different option out there somewhere??

LindainOhio

We took out a Travelguard Insurance policy because we were renting a condo that had to be prepaid and was nonrefundable. During the trip, my husband backed into a tree and the back window shattered. Although our car insurance covered liability and collision, we have a large deductible. Travelguard paid the total repair.

This policy covers a lot of other travel issues. I especially like the trip interruption/cancellation insurance that is included. We most often buy the policy when going overseas. I imagine Canadians can purchase from Travelguard.

Elizabeth_S

JessieAgnes - I just checked my RBC policy and it definitely covers liability as well - did you ask your agent for a quote to expand your coverage? Ours was only $24/year more.

OceanBreeze1

Liability Insurance shd be provided under your credit card. Call them to confirm.

Pendler

It might be very helpful in this situation to consider following:
1. Check your auto insurance policy (e.g. my policy does cover liability for a rental car). I would highly recommend to verify it with your insurer or broker. If you don't have it included in your policy, you can purchase it. Normally it costs around $25 per year.
2. You can try your credit card. There are over 80 Canadian credit cards, which includes Rental Car Protection, but none of these cards cover your LIABILITY (i.e. damages to the 3rd party) or BODILY INJURIES!
This article helped me a lot to understand rental car insurance attached to credit cards: https://insureye.com/news_and_insigh...ar-protection/
3. I would definitely pay for liability insurance and using of your own auto insurance policy seems to be the cheapest one.

Have a save trip

JessieAgnes

Thank you all for your replies!
I am still working on finding an answer/solution, to my questions.
I have had a LOT of different answers!?
Our Insurance Company tells me it is NOT covered and we can't buy it as an additional coverage on our policy.I have also checked with our CIBC Visa and they Do NOT cover Liability only physical damage. So I may have to consider changing Insurance companies and /or credit card.
Pendler, Thank You for the site recommendation, I will read it. Do you mind sharing the name of the Insurance Co. name where I can get for $25.00?? I would be more than happy topay that to get the Liability. Very reasonable.
Elizabeth I will check out the RBC Insurance Co.
I also called the Insurance Bureau of Canada, they advised to call the State of Florida to see what they require!??
this is certainly a perplexing issue!!
I will keep digging until I find a solution.

Dukey1

How much is your peace of mind worth?

tomrlum

You've probably found your answer by now, but here are the facts as I understand them. Credit cards do not supply liability coverage only collision. If you have car insurance in Canada, you can transfer your own insurance to the rental car in Florida if you have purchased that endorsement. It is important to remember that should you get into an accident in Florida, your own insurance will reflect the accident. If you buy from the rental company, your own insurance will be unaffected by any accident.

I found this article to be of interest regarding car rental insurance: https://canada.marsh.com/NewsInsight...Insurance.aspx

Also this one is a pretty good resource regarding insurance pricing and discounts: https://canada.marsh.com/ProductsSer...Insurance.aspx