this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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Car rental - I'm 95% sure I don't need any of those extra insurances but due to pressure and fear tactics (you do want to be covered if x happens, right?), it's hard to know in the moment.
I rent a car very often through work, and I always get those extra insurances, because:
My company pays for it
More than once the car rental companies have found some nano-scale damage to the car that I couldn't have caused (must've been there when I picked it up), and they try to pin it on me, something my job wouldn't cover. And unsurprisingly, those claims only happen when I don't have that extra insurances.
The very first time I rented a vehicle, I got done for a scratch that I didn't make. It was a scratch from underneath the front bumper. When I got the car they never checked that area but it was the first place they looked when I returned it.
Since this incident, I go over the car with them with a very keen eye. I get them to mark down every little mark. Including underneath the bumpers. I even get them to write it down if the car was wet since that can mask scratches.
Last time I rented a car I declined their insurance and they were able to just use my daily car's policy.
Nice! For context for car rental: whenever I rent, it's a foreign country so my personal car insurance won't cover anything.
The last time I rented a car they tried to double charge me and tacked in an extra 200 in cleaning fees for good measure. I reversed the charge on the credit card as fraud, which the credit card company investigated and accepted as fraud, and reversed the charge. Now Hertz is threatening to take us to court over it. We disputed it and have essentially been ignoring them since.
The time before that, a "different company" tried to accuse me of stealing the car because they had the wrong car listed as the one we had rented.
If you are in NE Ohio, don't bother with a rental, they are likely to try to scam you.
The insurance waiver is a gold mine for them. A good friend of mine works for a national car rental company in my country. He was telling me that they attempt to hard sell the waiver because they make a lot of profit on it.
My thoughts on it are, I'm a careful driver, I haven't had an accident yet. The waiver can be just as expensive as the car depending on what you rent and the period of the rental. I'm happy to 'take the risk' because in the long run I'll be less out of pocket even if I do have to pay the excess once in a while.
Thanks for the explanation!
I know that I'm a careful driver but what about all the other people on the road?
How many times have you been in crash? And if not at all or rarely then why do you believe you'll be in a crash the next time you rent a vehicle?
The way I think about it, if you rent a vehicle frequently or for long enough, you're saving money after about 10-20 days of rentals. The exact number of days depends on the cost of the insurance waiver and excess fee for the rental company you use. So if you use a rental for longer than this number of days, then even if you write off the vehicle and pay the full excess, you will still have more money in your pocket than if you paid the waiver every time.
The key to success is having a keen eye when checking out the car and getting them to put down every mark - even if you have to be a little pushy to get them to do it. Obviously, don't be a wreck less driver. And you should be golden.
My insurance company will allow you to add a rental on to your existing policy for a couple of dollars a week.