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Key points

  • The car insurance you have for your own car and the credit card you use to pay for your rental car could provide rental car insurance coverage.
  • The type or amount of coverage you get through your own car insurance or a credit card may not be adequate, though.
  • Car rental companies often charge a high rate for “loss of use” or when the car is out of commission, so you’ll want to be sure to have coverage for that.
  • Full-coverage insurance from a car rental company could add $40 a day to your bill.

Do you need insurance to rent a car?

Opting into full-coverage insurance through the rental car company can easily cost an additional $40 per day or more.

However, if you decide to skip insurance, and you’re involved in an accident, theft or other issue, you might regret that choice. One study found that rental cars are involved in more collisions than personal cars, so it’s a good idea to make sure you’re covered.

But that coverage doesn’t necessarily have to come through the car rental company. If you own a car at home or have a credit card with travel perks, you may already have a certain amount of rental car insurance coverage before you even collect the keys.

Does car insurance cover rental cars?

If you drive an insured car at home, you may not have to buy car rental insurance.

“In most cases, whatever auto insurance and deductibles you have on your own car would apply when you rent a car,” says Worters. The exception is if you use your car for business. In that case, your personal auto policy may not apply, and you’ll want to ask your employer whether they have insurance that covers your rental.

If you’re going to rely on your own auto policy to cover any damages after an accident in a rental car, you’re going to want to make sure that it’s full coverage. Typically, that means that you have car liability coverage, collision coverage and comprehensive coverage.

Some people choose to opt out of collision and/or comprehensive coverage, particularly if they have an older car that’s not worth much money. If you’re in that boat, be wary of relying on your own auto policy when you rent a car.

Credit card rental car insurance

Many credit cards, especially travel credit cards, offer rental car insurance coverage as a benefit to cardholders free of charge. But whether it’s enough to waive coverage at the rental desk will depend on several factors.

“Contact the credit card issuer to find out what they cover,” Worters says. “If you are depending on a credit card for insurance protection, ask the company or bank that issued the card to send you their coverage information in writing.”

The type and value of the rental car insurance coverage is going to vary based on the car issuer as well as the status of the card. “For example, a platinum card may offer more robust coverage than a green card,” Worters says. “If you have more than one card, you may want to compare what insurance they offer for car renters.”

One important thing to note about credit card rental car insurance benefits is that they’re usually secondary, Worters says. “That is, they will kick in after your personal insurance policy or the insurance coverage offered by the rental car company are utilized.”

If you’re relying on a credit card for your rental car insurance, make sure the way you use the card doesn’t affect the coverage you’re counting on: “You may also want to ask about and consider when you use reward points on a credit card versus the actual direct use of the card,” John J. Crosby, a certified financial planner and managing director of Individual Financial Services, LLC, says. These two uses may have different implications for rental car insurance coverage.

Get rental car insurance on your own

If you don’t own a car or use a credit card with rental car insurance benefits, you will most likely want to buy rental car insurance coverage through the rental car company or a third-party insurance company.

The rental car company will be on the hook for that state’s minimum coverage amounts, which might look like $25,000/$50,000/$25,000. That means $25,000 of coverage for bodily injury per person in an accident, $50,000 for bodily injury per accident (in case multiple people are injured), and $25,000 for property damage.

But state minimums only apply to liability, so this baseline rental car insurance coverage the rental company provides will only apply to damage to the other party in an accident where you are at fault. Any damage to your (rental) car or injuries you sustain in an accident will not be covered.

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Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.

Jacqui Kenyon

BLUEPRINT

Jacqui Kenyon is a writer and editor specializing in the subjects of retirement, mortgages, budgeting and taxes. She is also a ghostwriter, editorial consultant and media coach based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, The Daily Beast, Rate.com, Fabric, and more.

Heidi Gollub

BLUEPRINT

Heidi Gollub is the USA TODAY Blueprint managing editor of insurance. She was previously lead editor of insurance at Forbes Advisor and led the insurance team at U.S. News & World Report as assistant managing editor of 360 Reviews. Heidi has an MBA from Emporia State University and is a licensed property and casualty insurance expert.