Rental Car Insurance - California

[TheDeadPrussian]

All,

I am off to California in August for a 'Road Trip' holiday and have rented a car from the Hertz 'Adrenaline Range'. Hidden away in the small print is a line about rental cars in California not coming with 3rd Party Insurance and that drivers should have personal insurance to cover any claims made by a 3rd party in the event of an accident and a claim being made against them for injury etc....

How do I go about purchasing this insurance - I checked my fancy bank account insurance policy, but it states that whilst it will cover me and my family’s life insurance and medical insurance requirements, it says it does not cover 3rd party claims.

Do Hertz offer this 3rd Party Liability insurance as a top-up or am I going to have to go elsewhere for it? It all seems a bit convoluted.

Thanks for your help.

[Matt..]

When i rented a car from the Adrenaline Collection in California via Hertz.co.uk i got the following inclusive items:

Airport Concession Fee Recovery On Flight Arrivals
Loss Damage Waiver
Tax and other charges
Liability Insurance Supplement
Vehicle Licensing Cost Recovery
TRANSPORTATION AND FACILITIES FEE
California Tourism Commission Assessment



'Liability Insurance Supplement' <- this is the third party one.

My limited understanding of US rentals via a UK website is that they have to supply this insurance cover as it's a legal requirement in the UK.

[davepoth]

IIRC they offer it to you when you get to the desk to pick up the keys. It's been ten years since I rented in California though.

[sjg]

http://www.insurance4carhire.com/

Just turn down all the extra insurance, excess reduction, zero liability, etc. If you do need to make a claim, the policy you take out with the guys above covers any costs. Their US one includes $1m of 3rd party liability cover.

[TheDeadPrussian]

sjg said:

http://www.insurance4carhire.com/

Just turn down all the extra insurance, excess reduction, zero liability, etc. If you do need to make a claim, the policy you take out with the guys above covers any costs. Their US one includes $1m of 3rd party liability cover.

Thanks for the info - I just checked their website and their policy states that it does not cover 'high performance, prestige or exotic vehicles', so I think this rules out the Adrenaline Range from Hertz.

The ILS cover will hopefully fit the bill; but I set up the rental up via the Hertz.com website and not the UK based one…

Can anyone else offer any help or an opinion?

[Matt..]

TheDeadPrussian said:

Thanks for the info - I just checked their website and their policy states that it does not cover 'high performance, prestige or exotic vehicles', so I think this rules out the Adrenaline Range from Hertz.

The ILS cover will hopefully fit the bill; but I set up the rental up via the Hertz.com website and not the UK based one…

Can anyone else offer any help or an opinion?

What does it say you have included with your booking?
Do you have the same items as i posted above?


I just checked on Hertz and if you go to Hertz.com or Hertz.co.uk and have the site set to UK then you get everything i listed above. If you have it set to US then none of the insurances are included. I think the costs vary, but for my random search using San Francisco the costs were as follows:
- LIS $13.95/day
- LDW $15/day
- PAI $5.95/day

That will get expensive VERY quickly.

You can see all the optional extras on the 'review and book' screen when making a booking by clicking 'view optional items' (bottom of the right column).

One other random observation... on the US site it seems to limit you to 100miles/day, but on the UK one you get unlimited mileage? Odd.

Edited by Matt.. on Saturday 28th January 23:59

[psychoR1]

What Matt said us right - if you book thru the UK you get all the Xtras inc including unlimited miles.

[Deva Link]

psychoR1 said:

What Matt said us right - if you book thru the UK you get all the Xtras inc including unlimited miles.

...and you don't get them if you book in $ through the US site. American's ordinary car insurance covers them to drive hire cars so they don't need all the extra insurances.

[TheDeadPrussian]

Thanks to Matt and to all who have helped – I will have to check my booking paperwork – I opted to pay at the desk on arrival, but it offered the ‘Pay Now’ pricing in sterling, so I assume it had identified my location as the UK.

If I don’t see the LIS etc on the booking confirmation paperwork I’ll cancel the original booking and make another….

Edited by TheDeadPrussian on Monday 30th January 10:35

[Deva Link]

TheDeadPrussian said:

... it offered the ‘Pay Now’ pricing in sterling, so I assume it had identified my location as the UK.

If it offered prices in Sterling it should have included all the insurances then - it makes no difference if you opt to pay in $ on collection.

Bear in mind the current Hertz sale finishes tomorrow so that might affect the rate.

[TheDeadPrussian]

Just checked the paperwork and reservation again - all appears to be well.

It has included within the confirmation LIS, unlimited miles etc…

Thanks again to all who have helped.

[psychoR1]

The hertz sale is worth checking out also!