rkkwan

Notme - I looked at my policy again. You are partly right. Bodily Injury is 100/300, meaning 100K per person, 300K maximum. Property damage, which is seperate, is 100K total. So, if I managed to total two expensive cars in the accident, I wouldn't have enough coverage.

Gretchen

It doesn't matter a whit what we think. He is a foreigner renting in the US and is subject to a whole different set of rules from the rental companies.

Neil_Oz

Thanks, all. It makes sense to pay the LDW fee, as our car insurances cover our cars, not us, and neither our CC nor our travel insurance provides adequate coverage. It was worth asking the question, though, as the LDW fee amounts to a healthy $600. All else being equal would be better in my pocket than the rental company's.

Gretchen, on the Budget website I've been presented with the same prices and, as far as I can see, rules, applicable to a US resident. As renters are required to advise their specific nationality, not just "non-US", maybe there are foreigners and foreigners.

mrwunrfl

Neil, is it possible for you to keep the same car and have your car insurance to go up? e.g. if you got a couple of speeding tickets? If yes, then how could that be if your insurance is only on the car and the car's value hasn't increased?

What coverage does your cc provide? It just has to cover the cost of the rental car being totalled. In your case, it would actually only have to cover $4000 less than the cost. Suppose that you destroy a rental car that costs $34000 to replace (including loss of use) and your cc insurance covers up to $30,000. At that point the travel insurance policy will pay the $4000 cost that is in excess of the payout limit of the cc insurance.

The LDW/CDW is only for the rental car. The cc insurance is for the rental car. The travel insurance is only for the rental car cost in excess of other insurance.

It is the stuff other than then LDW that you DO have to be concerned about. That is your liability insurance, the insurance on you.

Gretchen

I just know from other boards that if you are a UK citizen there are different rules about CDW. Don't know about Australia. Just a heads up.

mrwunrfl

Gretchen, if you are advising Neil_Oz to get advice from an insurance professional instead of a bunch of travel nuts, then that is good advice.

But "off the top of my head" as the OP asked, I will express my disbelief that the CDW rules are different. The application of the collision and comprehensive coverage provided by a ferners credit card very well might be different. It might not apply to a rental car in the US. In that case, paying the LDW fee might be the best thing to do. But the CDW/LDW is just a waiver of responsibility, granted by the insurance company, for damage to the rental car. If you pay the fee you are off the hook.

Ok, maybe their is a difference. Perhaps the rental car company requires a UK driver to pay the CDW if they constantly find that UK drivers are underinsured (e.g. if the cc coverage max is $10,000 they could have a hard time collecting). If that is the rule, then I assume it would allow the renter the option of proving they have adequate insurance before granting the waiver. Where that coverage comes from I don't know.

OP wrote "as I understand it covers us for damage to another party (but not damage to our car)".

And off the top of my head I will say again that is wrong. It is not for a third party. It is for the rental car.

OP wrote: "With this <travel insurance> in mind, I suspect that we won't need to worry about any extras offered by the company, apart from LDW".

Off the top of my head I would say that the travel insurance only covers the rental vehicle, hence the name: "rental vehicle insurance excess".

Liability insurance coverage pays for damage to you, your passengers, the person(s) in the other car(s), and the other car(s) and things and innocent bystanders you run into. That coverage goes with me when I rent a car in the USA. And, I think, in Canada but not in Mexico.