If you are looking for a short term car insurance policy theres a good chance that you may not even need it…
Is temporary car insurance necessary if you are getting a rental car?
The rental service will likely offer you liability coverage, personal effects coverage, accident coverage, and/or a loss damage waiver. As long as you are using the rental car for recreational use (not business use) you own car insurance will cover the each of these offered insurances.
Below is a list of the 4 insurance options that the rental car company may offer you and why you probably don’t need them…
Liability coverage: The liability insurance that you already have pays for any damages, which you are found to be liable for.
Loss Damage Waiver: The collision & comprehensive coverage, which you probably have on you car, make the LDW unnecessary. Collision coverage pays for damages to the car regardless of who is at fault and comprehensive coverage pays for damage caused by things such as a thunderstorm or a collision with a deer.
Personal accident insurance or accident coverage: If you already have either Personal Injury Protection, Medical Payments Coverage, or health insurance, you can skip on this additional insurance.
Personal effects insurance: This rental car coverage covers any stolen items. You should know that if you already have renters or homeowners coverage, this insurance is superfluous because both cover stolen property not just inside your house, but outside of it.
To be on the safe side, it is best to call both you car and house insurer to make sure that both policies carry over. Or, you can just read your policy. Its likely that you’ll get some type of insurance from your credit card company as well.
What if you are borrowing a car?
If you have your own car insurance, you needn’t worry. Your own auto insurance transfers over. Additionally, the lenders car insurance policy will transfer to you. But what happens if you want to borrow a car and don’t have auto insurance for yourself?
If you want to borrow somebody’s car and do not have you car insurance, the main thing, which can hurt you, is lack of liability coverage. Yes, the lenders liability protection will cover you when you borrow their car. But if their liability coverage is not enough, you are liable for any amount, which is not covered by the lenders liability insurance. You can easily prevent this from happening by purchasing a cheap nonowners policy. As always, if you are innocent in an accident, the other person will pay for the cost to repair the lenders vehicle (although this isn’t the case in some states).
If you borrow somebody’s auto, who is going to pay for damage done to the lenders car? If the owner of the car has collision and/or comprehensive insurance, they will pay. You may pay if you have these two insurances.
Tags: Auto Insurance, Car Insurance, insurance, short term car insurance, temporary car insurance