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I usually get the insurance that's offered. BUT a post here reminded me that some (most?) credit cards have some protections for car rentals. You have to double check the fine print on that to confirm what IS and ISN"T covered. But at least I'll look into that next time.
The insurance on my two week rental last time, damn near doubled the cost of the rental.
American Express does really good supplemental primary insurance, even with their lower tier 'Blue' cards. For $15-$25 PER RENTAL (not per day) you get the equivalent of CDW/'Super Cover' in most countries around the world you'd want to rent a car in (exceptions- Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Australia, and a few others I can't remember)
I've done this a couple of times. And may do it more and more as my car gets older.
Also, I'm at 206k miles and would like to hit 500k, so I find myself babying my 2006 4-wheeled "baby" more, as she gets older.
It depends where I am going. I got property in Dalton, Georgia, so when I go there, I'll take my vehicles. But, if I know I'm going to a busy city like Atlanta, Miami, Orlando or New York city, I'll rent a car, because I won't mind if that gets smashed up by the crazy city drivers.
Also, every couple of years the family gets together, so instead of going in separate cars, I'll rent a van so we can all go in that together.
My corporate rate at Hertz is the same one the insurance companies pay. 'F' class "full size" cars (Altima, Accord, 200) for $28/day. I telecommuted for 7 years. If I had to drive on business anywhere but to the airport, I'd rent a car. I've rented a car a few times for long personal drives. My winter ski and summer ocean places are 220 miles apart. If I have to shoot up to my ski condo for one night in the summer, I'll rent a car.
I have 10's of thousands of miles in those POS Hertz 'F' class cars for business trips. My car is far more comfortable. I have adaptive cruise control. I have AWD and snow tires. It has to be a ton of miles on a personal trip for me to suffer through one of those Hertz rentals and I'm too cheap to rent a 'premium' car.
I usually get the insurance that's offered. BUT a post here reminded me that some (most?) credit cards have some protections for car rentals. You have to double check the fine print on that to confirm what IS and ISN"T covered. But at least I'll look into that next time.
The insurance on my two week rental last time, damn near doubled the cost of the rental.
You'd have to check with your insurance company but my auto policy covers rentals and my credit card covers any deductible.
We normally use our own cars which are rather low mileage( 37K and 62K). However , this fall , we may rent an med. size SUV to take stuff back to daughter. It would be for at least 2 weeks. I priced some agencies and it was close to $1K for the period. That does seem like a lot; however, it is cheaper than sending it by freight company, plus we would have a newer car to travel in that would have the adequate space for the stuff like lamptables and pictures and things.
Back when we had older cars and wife was staying home with baby daughter, we did rent a car for a week and use it on vacation as we didn't trust ours. It worked out okay and it saved us having to go buy a new car with payments. Still unsure about the insurance as the stuff you get at the rental desk is expensive.
I usually get the insurance that's offered. BUT a post here reminded me that some (most?) credit cards have some protections for car rentals. You have to double check the fine print on that to confirm what IS and ISN"T covered. But at least I'll look into that next time.
The insurance on my two week rental last time, damn near doubled the cost of the rental.
Why are you buying insurance?
Your policy covers you when you use a "temporary" or "substitute vehicle".
Rental insurance is one of the biggest rip offs that exists unless you don't have a vehicle of your own that is already covered by insurance.
Also, if you have a decent credit card it should cover any collision damage waiver.
I sometimes rent a car if the vacation is a long, driving vacation and I can get a cheap rental car with unlimited mileage.
Last week I had to take an emergency road trip and did not have time to rent a car. On the freeway I got a rock on the windshield, which now has to be replaced. Also the interior of the car got very dirty as I had to entertain clients (one of whom spilled his leftover curried chicken in my car), hood got damaged from bugs at high speed, etc. Door got dinged (thanks to one of the clients). Reminded me why I always rent cars when I travel.
Now I have to:
Arrange to have windshield replaced
Have the car professionally detailed (although I doubt that the yellow stains from the curry will come out; seat cover will have to be replaced)
Hope that hood damage can be repaired
Hope the door damage can be repaired
Deal with insurance company, dealership, body shop, etc.
If the rental car would have sustained a chip and all the other issues, I would have returned the car and they (Hertz) would have had to deal with it, not me.
Renting a car for 10 bucks a day for 4 days would have been soooo worth saving myself this aggravation, not to mention the money and hours of my precious spare time. I am not even going to add up how many hours and dollars all of this is going to take b/c I would just get too pissed off.
Car rental prices are way too cheap to drive my own car on road trips and deal with the aftermath. Not to mention that if you get into an accident or breakdown, you can just get another car.
Last edited by sinatras; 07-12-2017 at 08:19 AM..
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