Insurance for single day car hire overseas

[aussielozzie18]

Hi.  I’ve got a port day in Alaska where I will hiring a car.  Need to supply details of my car insurance.  For those of you that have been in a similar situation.  How did you handle this?  Was it covered under your travel insurance or did you purchase a separate policy?  Thanks

[lyndarra]

You did not mention whether you were talking about accident damage or personal injury. In the past I have found accident cover is usually provided by the rental company. It would normally have a high excess which can be removed by paying extra for full cover. Travel insurance IIRC covers personal injury.

[Belmont Babe]

30 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

You did not mention whether you were talking about accident damage or personal injury. In the past I have found accident cover is usually provided by the rental company. It would normally have a high excess which can be removed by paying extra for full cover. Travel insurance IIRC covers personal injury.

ANZ credit card insurance ( and quite a few others) covers the vehicle excess up to $6000, but you would have to purchase the cover from the rental company first.

[ilikeanswers]

All the cars I have rented included CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) or LDW (Loss Damage Waiver). My travel insurance covers the excess cost up to $4000 or $6000 depending on the company. 

[Galesa]

Only for 1 day. Pay the extra for the rental companies' insurance. Yes. I know you may have 3rd party insurance from your TI provider or your CC coverage but small price to pay for total piece of mind and not having to gather a whole heap of "evidence" from a not totally cooperative car rental company in a land far, far away should the unthinkable happen.

Edited January 12 by Galesa
Correction

[yarramar]

5 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Hi.  I’ve got a port day in Alaska where I will hiring a car.  Need to supply details of my car insurance.  For those of you that have been in a similar situation.  How did you handle this?  Was it covered under your travel insurance or did you purchase a separate policy?  Thanks

The process in the US is different from here. When a US citizen rents a car, there own car insurance covers the hire car. 
Your travel insurance excess covers only any excess on top of the rental company’s insurance. You may have to explain this to them and pay whatever the insurance cost is. 

[arxcards]

1Cover used to have insurance to underwrite your excess when driving a rental overseas. I can't be sure if it still does.

[ilikeanswers]

22 hours ago, Galesa said:

Only for 1 day. Pay the extra for the rental companies' insurance. Yes. I know you may have 3rd party insurance from your TI provider or your CC coverage but small price to pay for total piece of mind and not having to gather a whole heap of "evidence" from a not totally cooperative car rental company in a land far, far away should the unthinkable happen.

 

Are the USA rental companies known for being uncooperative? I have made three claims in my travelling life and so far all rental companies have been very cooperative however none were in USA. If anything the process seems to be automated, they know what documents the insurers will want and fill everything on site. Only once I had an insurance company request a document I didn't already have and the rental company sent it quickly. 

[Galesa]

1 hour ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Are the USA rental companies known for being uncooperative? I have made three claims in my travelling life and so far all rental companies have been very cooperative however none were in USA. If anything the process seems to be automated, they know what documents the insurers will want and fill everything on site. Only once I had an insurance company request a document I didn't already have and the rental company sent it quickly. 

I don't know but I had a very minor accident in the UK (hit a rock hidden in grass on a country lane) and put a scratch on the front underside of the rental. Company immediately took the whole excess of GBP2k, plus the security deposit of GBP250. I had 3rd party rental car insurance. To assess the claim they needed evidence of damage and repair. I suspect the damage was never repaired. After much to and froing between me and the  car rental company including a number of international phone calls the insurance paid the claim. Took about 4 months to resolve. While the insurer paid the claim after I got as much evidence as the car rental company provided, it was a lesson in terms of the limits of 3rd party car rental insurance. The car rental company was Europcar BTW. This was 2019.

 

I did have a not at fault accident in a Hertz rental in 2016. Was rear ended in a motoway traffic jam causing minor damage to the rear. Hertz had a damage assessment tool which assessed damage at GBP190. That's all they took from in terms of excess. The offending driver paid the  damage and Hertz refunded me. Again took more than 2 months.

 

Outside Australia I take out the full car rental insurance cover. Yep, it's a rip off but it's the only way to have true piece of mind IMHO. 

[ilikeanswers]

3 hours ago, Galesa said:

I had 3rd party rental car insurance. To assess the claim they needed evidence of damage and repair. I suspect the damage was never repaired. 

 

Now I'm curious who was your insurer, because none of my claims they ever asked for evidence of repair. Sounds like an insurer I need to avoid😬. 

[Galesa]

27 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Now I'm curious who was your insurer, because none of my claims they ever asked for evidence of repair. Sounds like an insurer I need to avoid😬. 

I'd have to look it up but I would have thought it was reasonable for the insurer to ask for some supporting evidence that there was actual damage to the car which resulted in the car rental company withholding the excess.

[ilikeanswers]

4 hours ago, Galesa said:

I'd have to look it up but I would have thought it was reasonable for the insurer to ask for some supporting evidence that there was actual damage to the car which resulted in the car rental company withholding the excess.

 

Evidence of damage for sure, the rental companies I have used always gave me a car diagram with the encircled damage along with a summary page providing further description and with cost outlined. But I have never been asked to prove the rental company actually fixed the damage. I'm not really sure why an insurance company would care since I am their client and I'm being charged whether or not the rental company goes through with the repairs🤷‍♀️. 

Edited January 13 by ilikeanswers

[lyndarra]

7 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Evidence of damage for sure, the rental companies I have used always gave me a car diagram with the encircled damage along with a summary page providing further description and with cost outlined.

I've always found that to be the case. I also take photos of the car at hand back just in case.