Insurance for driving in the US

Barack Obama

Hi. I'll be renting a car in the US for a week at the end of the month and am a bit confused about the insurance. There seems to be Loss\Damage Waiver as a minimum which is fair enough but after that it gets a bit messy.

Firstly, are you covered by your Irish insurance in case anything happens (I'm talking about someone suing you in case of a crash)? If not, then I'd have to take out 'Renters Liability' which looks expensive.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks!!

Atlantic Dawn

You Irish car insurance will not cover you, best take out full cover with the hire company, there's too much small print that it could bankrupt you.

Barack Obama

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

You Irish car insurance will not cover you, best take out full cover with the hire company, there's too much small print that it could bankrupt you.

Yeah - definitely!!

I was wondering if holiday insurance includes any of this stuff. There is Excess Insurance as well - that looks like it is worth getting because it is cheap

bear1

Could you not borrow the limo from the White House?

Barack Obama

I need to change my friggin name :mad:

CreepingDeath

I used these guys last year for 10 days in Orlando, Florida - Alamo

They were the cheapest and had a depot in the airport terminal.
Only thing was everyone knew they were the cheapest, so large lines for their desk and all the other car hire desks were empty.

Perfect cars, no insurance excess.
And when I got to the car lot, they said "pick any car in line b", so there was a good selection to choose from there and then, keys all in the cars and just had to tell the guy on the gate on the way out which one I was taking.

So I'd go with the full insurance of the car hire company.

More important than car insurance is medical/travel insurance in America.
Some pregnant woman gave birth something like 10 weeks early over there and ran up a $200,000 medical bill.

coylemj

If you read your Irish motor policy, you will see that under the 'driving other cars' section there is a specific exclusion for driving a hired car.

Barack Obama

It looks like there is no excess for Loss\Damage Waiver (for CDW, some companies may have) so that is one thing not to worry about.

So, it looks like all I need to get is Supplemental Liability Insurance (and not Renters Liability like I first thought). This will cover me if I crash into someone.

It's madness - I've been driving in the US for about 20 years and never took out anything beyond CDW\LDW. So basically, I would have been in big, big trouble if I was involved in an accident and even just partially to blame...

Caliden

Yea CDW is essentially third party cover. Will cover the cost for the other person if you crash into them but will not cover your own costs, i.e. cost of the car.

SLI + CDW is fully comp cover and will cover everything (read the small print for excesses/conditions).

I know that some credit cards can have built in cover for rentals but again you need to check with your bank.


Getting insurance directly from the rental company is the easiest way but the most expensive. I've used third party companies before for cover but will need to search to find them. (was over 2 years ago)

Yamanoto

Caliden wrote: »

Yea CDW is essentially third party cover. Will cover the cost for the other person if you crash into them but will not cover your own costs, i.e. cost of the car.

It's actually SLI that covers potential medical, legal and property repairs of the third party, in the case of an accident caused by the renter.

Most States require rental firms to provide at least some level of third party cover (California notably excepted). That minimum mandated cover can often be as low as $50k though and as such, is probably not sufficiently robust to meet any potential liability (particularly in as litigious a society as the US).

CDW on the other hand reduces the hit you'll take in the event of damage to or loss of the rental vehicle itself. Folks can reduce the excess to zero by ponying up at the desk or taking care of it through a specialist on this side of the pond (usually at a significant discount too).

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=92432343&postcount=1

Caliden

Always mix them up! I always get both for peace of mind anyway.

Fred Swanson

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keithclancy

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

It's a rip though.

I just get one policy to cover the excess.

mb1725

Breakdown cover could be important in a foreign country too .........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGV-MtUvrtA