Question on Car Rental
 

I'm just going through the process of hiring a car for our upcoming trip to the US. Downunder our vehicle registration includes Compulsory Third Party Insurance, which is an insurance for personal injury that I may cause to someone due to a vehicle accident. Does your registration include the same thing. Sometimes these things are offered as 'extras' and I've a feeling that it is not necessary to take out any extra insurance. My travel insurance cover will cover the excess required should an accident occur but I think that is all that is required.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Many US residents when renting a car decline the various optional insurances - basically liability, collision/damage to rental car, and the new one which is "loss of use" - meaning the car rental can soak you for the days they say it takes to repair the car if you damage it.

In the US whether or not insurance and what type/how much is required on a car one owns is determined state by state. A car renter can be covered in one of 3 ways - by the insurance they carry on their own car; thru credit card or travel insurance coverage; or by buying it from the car rental company.

The car rental companies adding the "loss of use" optional insurance is, in my opinion, because so few renters take out the other insurance - this "loss of use" is less likely to be already covered in one of the first 2 ways.

(confused yet? It certainly is easy to become so)

Now the problem for you - many car rental companies makes the "optional" insurances mandatory for non-US residents. I would carefully check this out when selecting a company and point out that the travel insurance has it covered - but it may nhot make any difference and you may be required to purchase it.

Confirm that your personal injury and excess coverage are valid outside Australia. You are correct that many of the extras are duplicates and not necessary when you rent. However, if your Australian insurance is not valid in the U.S. you will need collission and liability.

Our vehicle registration does not include insurance. Chances of colliding with an uninsured driver in the U.S. is a risk.

stormbird - I'm a Brisbanite who's booked (and paid for in AUD) 30 days car rental - through an Australian company (http://www.driveaway.com.au/) which specialises in foreign car rentals.

Deal cost the same as if I'd done it myself through any major's web site - but it includes all insurances. They have wholesale contracts with the major US companies - in fact my rental will be with Alamo.

Another alternative is insuring through this British company (http://www.insurance4carhire.com). They'll issue policies to nationals of any country for cover in the USA.

As far as I know, all states except for California require car-rental companies to carry the minimum necessary liability insurance. If you rent directly from a US car-rental company, you will be given the opportunity to buy third-party liability insurance at highly inflated (ridiculously inflated) rates. Skip it. If you do as obione980 suggests and book through a wholesaler, you can often get the necessary insurance coverage. This probably won't cover the collision-damage waiver (for which you normally have to pay extra), but it should include other insurance. You can probably pay extra for the CDW or buy it yourself thorugh a travel insurance company for about $10 per day ... this is much much cheaper than CDW damage policies offered by the car-rental companies.

FInally, your home insurance, may very well cover you for liability, but I know nothing about Australian car insurance.

What about the multiple posters here from outside US who have reported here that they were required to, as non-US residents, to buy the "optional" insurance?

gail - We're from Australia; and we have rented cars in the USA 4 or 5 times in the last 10 years. Insurance is always offered - indeed recommended by the hire company, but never required.

Australian car insurance attaches to the vehicle - not the driver - so it's useless outside the country. Most Australian Gold Cards offer 'excess' or deductible cover for hires purchased using the card.

I think the OP should look carefully at travel insurance plans. Plans offered in Australia and the UK often have different provisions than those offered in the U.S. and may very well include (for an additional fee) excess liability coverage.

But anyone who says they are "forced" to buy insurance is mistaken. Pressured perhaps, but it's not a requirement in the U.S. (though again, I strongly strongly recommend it for a California-based rental). If you rent in a different state and then drive to California, then the insurance laws of that state will cover the car rental (and almost certainly minimum liability will be included).

Thank you all for your help. I got a little confused when I actually compared two companies. I am flying V Australia (Virgin)to Los Angeles and I checked out their car hire, which is through National.

I then checked driveaway.com.au, as I have used them a number of times in Europe. There was quite a large price difference between the two (National much cheaper) but Driveaways inclusions (re insurance etc) were very obvious and extensive. National's was not. I am going to ring National today and see if I can't get more detail.

I just want to ensure that I am completely covered for all driving contingencies in the US.

Stormbird, check with your credit card (they probably post this online) to see what is covered when using it. When using a US isssued VISA card (and I know you won't be) the rental car itself is covered in full. I would guess, as obione mentioned, that Australian issued cards have the same or similar, especially any "gold/platinum/preferred" type cards. If that is the case you should decline the LDW from the rental and would not want to pay more for an all inclusive price like the driveaway has as the car itself would be covered by using the card.

Also, it is often much cheaper to rent away from the airport.
I just did a quick check with Hertz in mid-Feb (I usually use them) and their Santa Monica location was 200/wk thru tax. The supp liab was $13 a day, LDW $9. So if you bought all the full insurance it would be around 350/wk. At the airport the same time, the same car was $433 thru taxes vs $200. (although you could knock off $70 from the $433 by paying upfront). You can also usually get a $30 off or some discount when booking thru Hetrz directly, so you would reduce Santa Monica to about $300 including all insurances.

But check your credit card to see if you need to get the LDW at all. If you didn't, I'd look into Hertz, where you could get car + full liability coverage for about $260/wk at the Santa Monica (or another) location.

If you rented outside CA, basic minimum liability would be included, but not in CA. (at least with Hertz)