insurance for car rentals?
 

I'll be renting a car upon arriving in honolulu. I used my chase visa card. I also have AAA auto insurance. Do I need to buy supplementary insurance form car company?

Depends on the specifics of your Visa card and insurance policy. Some visa cards have rental insurance, some do not. Your auto insurance policy will cover a rental car, but it probably has deductibles. So you need to check the fine print on your visa card and your actual insurance policy.

Call the customer service number on your visa card and ask to speak to the car rental insurance division. I doubt you would ever find the right information in the fine print of your original card's details. But they can tell you.

Also call your own car insurance. I have learned that in the US my own car insurance will become the primary payer and my credit card will become secondary. When renting in Europe it is just the opposite.

What I have learned is that there is NO need for me to ever take any additional insurance on a rental car in the US.

The only thing we have done is have our agent lower our deductible for the length of our trip and don't worry about " the downtime fee ".
The car rental agent will probably try and get you with that but check with your agent to be sure.

Most people in the US own a car so their auto insurance covers liability when renting.

I *don't* own a car and normally pickup liability since my cc covers the collision. If I know I'll be renting alot, I'll pick up non-owners auto insurance.

nstevey's response made me realize mine was very misleading. Actually in the event of an accident with a rental car, my credit card is the one that pays for collision -- with a zero deductible. My regular car insurance is the one that pays for liability.