Rental Car Insurance — Is your own Auto Policy Enough When Renting a Car?
Are you covered when you rent a car?
Summer is coming and if you’re thinking about renting a car for vacation, you will be asking the age old question – “Should I purchase the car insurance from the rental agency?” The answer is – IT DEPENDS. If you do your homework before you get to the rental counter you can save yourself a lot of money. It really won’t take much time because while you’re shopping for a good deal on a rental you can also be checking out the insurance situation.
Actually your first call for renting a car will not be to the rental agency but to your own insurance agency. You need to find out what the extent of your auto insurance coverage is. Most auto insurance policies will extend to rental cars but insurance experts recommend inquiring about two things – collision damage waiver and liability. Also if you’re letting your teenager do some of the driving of the rental car, ask your agent and the rental agency about coverage.
Collision damage waiver, or CDW (as it often appears on rental contracts) covers any damage to the car you are driving and liability covers damage you do to someone else. You need to ask your agent if there is a limit on your collision insurance. If you regularly drive an older car but rent a brand new luxury car (remember sometimes if a car is available you can upgraded to one of these types of cars for free), make sure your personal insurance policy will cover the whole cost of replacing the more expensive auto. If your policy doesn’t cover replacement cost and your car is worth $2,000 and you total a rental worth $20,000, you are on the hook for $18,000.
Frequently, consumers who drive older cars don’t carry collision at all. If this is your situation, you need to buy a policy at the rental counter or use a credit card that will give you this coverage. Consumer advocates recommend if you rent cars often you might get an estimate from your agent on a policy to cover you as it might be cheaper.
Credit Card Car Rental Insurance
Now about that credit card…. Many major credit card companies say they will provide you with insurance coverage if you use their card to rent a car. READ THE FINE PRINT because they do not always offer full coverage. Some cards only cover you if you rent from a certain agency, some limit coverage to certain type of cars, some you have to enroll in a program to get the coverage, some may only reimburse you the deductible you would have to pay under your regular auto insurance and some may only provide collision and comprehensive and leave you hanging for personal injury or property damage to others. READ THE FINE PRINT or call and ask the credit card company. Extra advice here – get it in writing what your credit card covers.
What about the insurance the rental car company offers? Again, you will need to find exactly what they cover. Some rental car agencies offer collision, liability, contents and life insurance and others offer some version of collision. Their collision may cover everything or may exclude such thing as tires, wheels and glass. Find out beforehand, so you are not standing at the rental counter feeling hurried and trying to make these choices. If you’re worried about stuff get stolen out your car – check your homeowner’s policy to see if you’re covered.
Finally, some people think if they use the rental company insurance and they have an accident, they are protected from a rate increase from their insurance company. You are not protected. According State Farm Insurance, if you are at fault, no matter who pays, your home insurance company can raise your rates.
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Leased Car Auto Insurance
If you are considering leasing a car you will still need to purchase your own auto insurance policy. When you lease, your vehicle belongs to the lease company. They want to make sure that their investment is covered if something happens to the car. They may also want you to have sufficient liability coverage in case you are at fault in causing an accident. This not only protects you from financial disaster, but it also protects the lease company from financial harm.
So whoever is financing your car will require you to buy both collision and comprehensive coverage for the vehicle. Collision covers damage to the car from an accident with another automobile or object and comprehensive is coverage for losses from something other than a collision with another car or object. They will generally want you to purchase: liability coverage $100,000 per person/$300,000 per occurrence, property liability coverage $50,000 and comprehensive and collision for actual value with no more than $500.00 deductible.
This may be more coverage than you would usually buy, so your insurance expense may be increased. In this case, you would benefit from shopping around to try to get a better rate. Insurance experts say you can nearly always get the higher level of insurance at about the same rate as you are currently paying by getting quotes from a few different insurance companies, seeking out discounts that you qualify for and adjusting your coverage.
In addition to the regular auto insurance, on a leased car, you will have to pay gap insurance. The “gap” is the difference between the amount you owe the leasing company and the amount the insurance company pays out if your car gets totaled. Cars depreciate in value quickly so when a car gets totaled there is usually a gap between the fair market value and the loan amount. The cost of gap insurance is generally rolled into the lease payments. You don’t actually buy a gap policy. Generally, the auto dealer buys a master policy from an insurance company to cover all the cars it leases and charges you for a “gap waiver.” This means that if your leased car is totaled, you won’t have to pay the dealer the gap amount.
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Understand Health Insurance
How To Understand What Your Health Insurance Covers
The Website: FamilyDoctor.org from the American Society of Family Physicians has put out a good article on understanding what health insurance covers. You health insurance policy is a contract between you and a health insurance company. It outlines what coverage you have, and under what circumstances you will be covered.
The first point the article makes, and one you need to understand is this: Keep in mind that a medical necessity is not the same as a medical benefit. Your doctor may decide that you need a medical procedure or medicine, and you insurance may not cover it. Most of the time your treatment should be covered by a major medical plan, within the limits of deductibles and copays, but sometimes it will not be.
If your health insurance claim is denied, you can certainly appeal the decision. The health insurer’s appeal process should be outlined in documents that came with your policy, or you should be able to obtain them with a phone call to customer service. Start with the health insurer first, and see if a mistake was made. Sometimes bills are miscoded, and can be changed at a very low level. If this doesn’t work, try an appeal.
As a last resort, consider your state insurance department or consulting an experienced health insurance lawyer for advice.
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Return Of Premium Term Life Insurance
Compare Term Life Insurance With Return of Premium (ROP)
We found a handy Return Of Premium Life Insurance Calculator online, and that reminded us that many life insurance shoppers may not know about this option (rider) they can select with many highly rated life insurance companies. However, if you are comparing life insurance policies, then this is an option you will not want to overlook before you buy. It has features that appeal to people who like cheaper term life insurance premiums, but hate to lose all of their money when they survive the policy. Of course, everybody wants to survive their term policy!
*** Compare Life Insurance Plans with one Fast, Safe, and Free Online Quote Form. ***
The way these policies work is that the rider costs a bit extra, but guarantees that if the insured person outlives the policy, the entire amount of premium is refunded. So if you purchase a 20 year term life insurance policy for $50 a month, and you survive the 20 years which you hope to do, you should be looking forward to a $12,000 refund at the end of the term. This money can come in handy if yo approaching retirement years, or simply want to self-fund future final expense needs like a burial plan.
In my experience, a Term Return of Premium Life Insurance Rider is one of the most popular options, and you should explore this option before you buy life insurance!
Be sure to find the best term life insurance rates and policies with our safe, fast, and free online quote form.
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Decreasing Term Life Insurance
Why Buy Decreasing Term Life Insurance?
Many people buy decreasing term life insurance so they can get an affordable premium that will suit their needs. It is easy to understand when you consider a common use like mortgage life insurance. If a mortgage carries a $150K balance, then that might be a good face value for the life insurance policy. Likewise, if the mortgage has 10 years to go, then a ten year term life insurance policy would be a good choice.
As the mortgage balance declines, so does the face value of the life insurance company. For intance, half way through the policy, maybe only $75K would still be owed, and the policy could have a value close to that. The good thing, is that insurance companies will charge less for a decreasing face value life insurance policy because their risk gets lower as time passes.
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