Overhaulin'

do i need to take rental car insurance?

Hi, i already have an Geico insurance with full coverage for my personal car. Do i still need to take insurance while renting a car? or my personal car insurance will cover the rental car. please explain.

Public Comments

1. Check your credit card company - many offer this service free of charge if you use their card.
2. rental car companies normally include insurance in the rental cost
3. You are covered in a rental on your own policy. The insurance offered with the rental is not full coverage, you don't need to take it.
4. You don't need to take the extra insurance. Between your credit card and you Geico policy you will have everything covered. If you use the rental insurance all you do is pay extra. If you were to have an accident in the rental car it would save you about a 1/2 hour in paperwork, but other than that it is useless.pp
5. You are not required, but for the $20 or so it costs it covers EVERYTHING so don't be cheap.
6. While I'm not familiar with the GEICO policy, you _do_ either need to read it or ask your agent as some policies only offer certain coverage on a rental when it's being used as a _replacement_ vehicle. Not many policies have this exclusion and I doubt GEICO does. Most policies will transfer over comp/coll as well as liability coverage to a rental. What most policies may not cover is a claim of loss revenue/use from the rental company. Personally I'd not worry too much about that as they usually don't pursue this if the insurance does not cover it.
7. You need a credit card to rent a car. The credit card covers that.