If you are looking for a short term car insurance policy theres a good chance that you may not even need it…
Is short term car insurance required when you are renting out a car?
The rental service will offer you some combination of liability insurance, personal effects insurance, accident coverage, and/or a loss damage waiver (more commonly known as LDW). If you have your own car and have the respective auto insurance, you are most likely covered for each of these 4 insurances. As such, getting even one of them is likely a waste of money. You just have to make sure that you are using the car for recreational and not business use.
Below are the 4 aforementioned insurance options, which the rental service may offer you, and why they are likely not needed…
Liability coverage: The liability insurance on your own policy will protect you.
Loss Damage Waiver or LDW: If you have both collision & comprehensive insurance, you don’t need a loss damage waiver. Your collision insurance covers damage done to your car even if you are found to be guilty in an accident. Comprehensive coverage covers damage done to your car from things such as wildlife and weather. Furthermore, some LDWs, which you can purchase, only cover damage done to the car if you are found to be innocent.
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 coverage: This type of coverage protects from the loss of personal items or baggage. If you have homeowners or renters insurance, you likely do not need this insurance as both types of home insurance also cover belonging outside of your house.
To be 100% safe, you should try calling your house and car insurance provider so that you are sure that they both will carryover their coverage to the rental car. You may get some form of coverage from your credit card if you use it to pay for the rental.
What if you’re borrowing somebody’s car?
If you have your own car and thus have the respective car insurance, you needn’t worry. Furthermore, the lenders policy (as long as they give you permission to drive the car) transfers over to you. But what if you’re borrowing somebody’s car and don’t have your own car insurance?
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).
But whose going to pay for damages done to the car that was given to you? The owner of the car will pay if they have comprehensive and/or collision coverage. Or you may pay if you have these two coverages.
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