Driving in America - insurance

Gavin83

I have a question regarding driving in America and thought I'd ask the good people of this forum.

Im hiring a car for 18 days in America later this year and going on a bit of a road trip. My question is regarding what kind of insurance I'll need for the journey. I do get some insurance included in the hire but I believe its only basic cover.

Simply put if the car gets stolen or smashed up I don't wish to be liable to replace the entire vehicle, especially considering its a pretty expensive car. Also in the event of having an accident I don't wish to be sued for $2m because the other driver broke a nail or something. Also contents cover would be useful as we'll often have everything we've brought with us in the car.

So what do I need for full cover? Would general travel insurance cover driving?

iltisman

I hire cars in the US using UK web sites eg Alamo ,Dollar Hertz etc and insurance is included . The exception is personal insurance to cover you in the event of an accident but that is usually covered by travel insurance. If you use a US website or just turn up at the desk CDW insurance etc will be an add on which may exceed the price of the rental.

zagfles

Normal travel insurance won't cover driving, except perhaps contents in the car - check the terms, sometimes they'll only cover stuff in the boot etc.

Generally car hire will include CDW (cover for damage to the hired vehicle), but sometimes with a big excess. The other thing to watch out for in the US is the limit on third party liability - the car hire will usually come with third party liability but this may be limited eg to $50k or $100k which is nowhere near enough.

The normal excess insurers (eg insurance4carhire) offer policies to cover the CDW excess and SLI (top-up third party liability), which is likely to be much cheaper and often better cover than buying from the car hire company.

See http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire