Rental Car Us-Is this alll the insurance I need

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bleary

Registered User
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Just looking to rent a car in the Us for 6 days
I looked at Hertz and it seems to be an ok price and it has the following incuded

concession fee recovery
loss damage waiver
tax
liability insurance supplement
vehicle licensing cost recovery
rental surcharge
energy surcharge

Would this be all the additional insurance I need or should I look for something else.
I will also have some travel insurance but just confused by the various inclusions

Thanks
 
I've rented a few times in the States, but not in the last 5 / 6 years, I don't know what some of these things are, but the big one for me used to be CDW or collision damage waiver, which I don't see listed.

concession fee recovery - what's this?
loss damage waiver - is this CDW?
tax - local sales tax / federal tax presumably?
liability insurance supplement - what's this?
vehicle licensing cost recovery - state vehicle licencing fees
rental surcharge - what's this? are you renting at an airport - it can be expensive
energy surcharge - what's this?

The key things are to fill the car at a regular filling station to leave it back early, and get it checked in and examined.
 
We have rented a few times in the US - you do not actually have to take any extra insurance out above and beyond what is quoted, however they will try to make you add insurance (which can be sizeable - last year we were quoted €400 approx for an SUV for 9 days but insurance pushed that up to over €900). Of course if you don't take the insurance you will be liable if an accident occurs but as far as I know just for the vehicle you are driving, not for any third party claims or injuries.
 
Thanks for that still a bit boggled -Just tried a rate with Avis, if I say Im resident in the UK i get a rate of 130 GBP , If I put in Ireland I have to pay almost 300 usd extra for the coverage thats included as standard in uk.

Loss Damage Waiver 195.93 USD
Additional Liability Insurance101.01 USD
It's a bit nuts
 
Agree with mathepac CDW Collision Damage Waiver is the important one and a must for all car hires as far as I'm concerned. It does not appear to be included in what you mentioned above so I would find out why not and how much extra it will cost.
 
Thanks again

Booked with Hertz in the end -From my reading LDW and CDW seem to be the same thing but LDW also includes theft. This seems to be the main thing to get

See link
[broken link removed]

For anyone else booking I managed to get a 10% discount using a code from the airline I am flying with. It's worth checking if you can get one Aer lingus was listed ,Us Airways and american were so its worth a try.

Also I got the rate using a UK price comparison website. It had my residency preselected as UK. When I compared this to the rate with Irish Residency I was charged an additional drop off fee as an Irish resident of 50 euro. I have booked using the UK residency selected and I'll see what happens with it. If they cancel the booking fair enough , but the difference was substantial. (note the booking confirmation came from Dublin so no difference in head office). Vat differences are one thing but additional drop off charges based on residency seem a bit hard to accept.
 
If you don't take supplementary liability insurance (SLI) and you have an accident, your damage to a third party for personal injuries and damage to their vehicle is only covered up to the state limit which varies state by state but is generally around 30,000 USD.

SLI increases this to 1 million USD.
I always take SLI as 30,000 won't go far in the USA.

If you travel a lot and rent cars for more than 2 weeks a year it may be worth your while taking out an annual SLI policy that covers you worldwide, there is a company in UK that do this.

USA citizens don't need to take it as their own insurance covers them when they drive a rental car.
 
Hi, I've been just been having the same confusion as bleary after looking at renting a car for a trip to Canada.

I've just been searching the visa europe website to see if if they offer auto protection and I can't find any mention of it. I've also checked my VHI multi-trip insurance and as expected it is not covered :Third Party Liability: If You hire any form of mechanically propelled vehicle (e.g. car, motor cycle, moped or scooter), sail or powered
boat, or an airborne craft, no liability cover will apply under this Policy for material damage and You must ensure that cover for third party
injury or property damage is included with the cost of hire.
--

The only additional option is to get personal liability and personal effects, but these are just for if something happens to the driver or one of the passengers or possesions. There's no options for SLI or any other mention of insurance for damage to a third party.

Why do they make it so difficult? is this just a trick where they show you a good rate online, let you book it and then hit you for the SLI when you get to counter ? if you want to get cancel at that stage it's going to cost you the E45 cancellation fee.
 
Seems that the LDW included in your rate removes any excess that could be held against you in the case of an accident. From the Hertz.com site:

Should you accept LDW?
Only you can make that choice. By accepting LDW you are relieved from all financial responsibility in the event of loss or damage to the rental car. Moreover, it eliminates the worry about policy limits and extended costs often associated in filing a claim with your own carrier. Hertz offers Loss Damage Waiver as an option to help protect you, should you need it. However, the choice is entirely yours.

Make sure you read up on best practices for picking up and returning a rental car and go in with a clear mind. They will no doubt try to upsale you, but bargain hard if you do decide to go for an upgrade etc.
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