prairiechicken

Hello folks, I need a bit of help navigating the quagmire of car rental insurance.

I live in BC, and I'm going to Las Vegas next week. I plan to pick up a vehicle at the airport, and I'll be driving to California, and then back to Vegas.

I remember from when I lived in the UK, I could buy a car rental insurance policy which covered me for Collision Damage Waiver, and Supplementary Liability Insurance. It was very reasonably priced, too.

But I'm struggling to find anything similar over here, and I'm really confused about what insurance I need if I'm renting in the US.

Can anyone give me a nice, clear, rundown of what I should get, and what I can get, and from where?

scrubbedexpat091

Do you have a car and insurance in BC? If so go to autoplan and have the road star or whatever its called added as it provides rent car coverage.

We pay and extra 45 or something over the entire year for it.

dbd33

That coverage is included with some credit card plans. For the longest time it was worth my having an Amex card just for that.

Atlantic Xpat

This. Typically found on the gold/platinum/infinite/unicorn blood higher tiers of credit cards, the ones that come with an annual fee. Worth it for that alone.

Aviator

Credit Cards only cover collision damage waiver, no liability coverage. If you qualify for Roadstar Plus with ICBC and take this out, it includes $3m liability I believe on rental cars. Check with an Autoplan broker.

prairiechicken

Thank you. I'm going to check the ICBC thing today.

maramos

I have always rented cars in USA using gold card insurance without any problems until my last trip to Florida earlier this year.
I was forced to buy liability insurance which ended up costing more than the car rental itself.

Aviator

It would be nuts to drive in the US without the extra liability coverage. CC insurance only covers collision. With multi million law suits in the US one could be bankrupted by something as simple as a rear-ender.

maramos

I thought Amex Gold included liability coverage but according to rental company it did not. Currently in discussion with Amex thing to get insurance refund

maramos

While driving in Florida I was shocked at the number of accidents and broken down cars on the side of the road.
Liability insurance is definitely a must.

withabix

Some credit cards cover your rental vehicle but not third party. These are mostly World Elite Mastercards, American Express and some brightly-coloured Visa cards...

Third party liability is always extra - because it potentially has a lot more 00000s on the end of the liability...

Aviator

Read the policy document, never a good idea to assume with insurance. Most CC in North America have CDW, but with conditions. I know of none that have liability. We pay $400 a year for our cards and these only have CDW.
In BC it is possible to buy rental car insurance through ICBC, if one has Road Satr plus it is included, but still only $3m CAD liability.

orly

Indeed. When my wife was involved in a 100+ vehicle pile up in Michigan she basically gave the insurance details and that was the end of the matter. Always worth just taking the full fat insurance option.

Still ended up costing a small fortune out of pocket for stuff like hotels due to being stranded etc. Then again a small price to pay for walking away from a complete disaster with not so much as a scratch. Car was a write off though.