I'm stumped. Car hire firm in USA that provides NO insurance whatsoever!

DarrenCarnall

Hey everyone! I'm in the middle of planning a surprise 50th Birthday trip for my wife (California road trip for 3 weeks, bought the flights with all your help!) and I'm going to be hiring a regular car for the duration, however on just 1 or 2 days I wanted to hire a classic 50s or 60s car as we both love them. Everywhere was ridiculously expensive, but I found one place with great reviews that was the least expensive of the bunch. But after looking into it some more I saw this on their website in the FAQs.

Is insurance provided?

Like renting a modern rental car, you are responsible for all damage to the vehicle. Check with your insurance company and your credit card company to see what coverage is offered from them.

So basically the provide no insurance whatsoever. No CDW/LDW or anything. Now with the help of this forum I've *finally* managed to understand the main perils of car hire of how best to do it (separate excess policy etc) ....but I'm completely lost here. I know Questor do a policy which is excess cover PLUS CDW as an add on... but that wouldn't cover me for theft or personal liability would it.

EDIT: I Just got an email from them about some other questions I'd asked, and they mentioned this "Insurance is another question. If you have full coverage, that is all we need. If not, we provide our Loss Damage Waiver."

Has anyone ever figured out if it's possible to insure themselves for a hire car where NO cover is provided at all? I'm guessing they normally rent to US citizens maybe and they're all covered.

So far it's looking like this dream part of her trip may have to be abandoned. Thanks for any help!

[EDIT: Add on question.... (sorry) ..when going through the car hire procedure on the Avis UK website to rent in LA at the end it says "0.00 Damage excess - 0.00 Theft Excess" ....but I don't trust them lol. Does this genuinely mean what it says?]

EssexExile

DarrenCarnall wrote: »

EDIT: I Just got an email from them about some other questions I'd asked, and they mentioned this "Insurance is another question. If you have full coverage, that is all we need. If not, we provide our Loss Damage Waiver."

[EDIT: Add on question.... (sorry) ..when going through the car hire procedure on the Avis UK website to rent in LA at the end it says "0.00 Damage excess - 0.00 Theft Excess" ....but I don't trust them lol. Does this genuinely mean what it says?]

Edit 1 - So how much do they charge for their LDW?
Edit 2 - Yes it is genuine.

marlot

I believe many americans are covered for driving other cars as part of their main car insurance, and/or by their credit card provider.

DarrenCarnall

EssexExile wrote: »

Edit 1 - So how much do they charge for their LDW?
Edit 2 - Yes it is genuine.

I haven't replied to them yet, I can ask about their LDW. Can I just check, is LDW cover for damage to the car AND theft? I get confused by all the different initials sometimes.

cubegame

Major car rental companies are used to providing separate packages for international travellers which include insurance. However, the smaller niche companies will only be used to supplying vehicles to US citizens who would insure themselves. It is unlikely that the companies LDW/CDW will be competitively priced.


You can get a UK based policy which will provide you with a full CDW. Last year I arranged such a policy with Questor when I hired a car for two months in the UK (£3 a day, but would have been £22 a day with the car hire companies insurance).


https://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/car-hire-insurance.aspx

DarrenCarnall

cubegame wrote: »

Major car rental companies are used to providing separate packages for international travellers which include insurance. However, the smaller niche companies will only be used to supplying vehicles to US citizens who would insure themselves. It is unlikely that the companies LDW/CDW will be competitively priced.


You can get a UK based policy which will provide you with a full CDW. Last year I arranged such a policy with Questor when I hired a car for two months in the UK (£3 a day, but would have been £22 a day with the car hire companies insurance).


https://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/car-hire-insurance.aspx

Yeah I've actually been looking into Questor thanks to everyone in these forums, and it certainly provides CDW (and I'll totally be using it for my main rentals in the future!!) but if I'm right that means that there's no theft or personal liability insurance, which is probably kinda important. I don't fancy having a '65 mustang for two days and it getting stolen and not having insurance for it.

Unless there's a way to cover that too?

cubegame

DarrenCarnall wrote: »

Yeah I've actually been looking into Questor thanks to everyone in these forums, and it certainly provides CDW (and I'll totally be using it for my main rentals in the future!!) but if I'm right that means that there's no theft or personal liability insurance, which is probably kinda important. I don't fancy having a '65 mustang for two days and it getting stolen and not having insurance for it.

Unless there's a way to cover that too?

Questor insurance does include LDW....they just don't word it the same. The bit below is taken from their policy statement. They will confirm it does cover theft if you ring them. They were very helpful when I sorted out my policy.


Excess Reimbursement, Loss Damage Waiver and Towing


What is covered?




[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]This Section covers You for any physical loss or damage to the Hire Vehicle for which You are responsible for under the terms of the Hire Agreement following a Fire, Lightning Strike, Explosion, Accident, Accidental Damage, Theft or Attempted Theft, Malicious Damage, Storm and Flood. This section includes loss or damage to Auto Glass, Roof, Tyres, Wheel Rims and the Under Body and Towing and Loss of Use.


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NiftyDigits

You have different issues here. For the AVIS UK car for a car within California, you'll be covered, apart from items such as windscreen, keys etc. So any 'standard' excess car hire policy wiould cover you.
The vintage car issue is something else altogether. Even with a policy that covers cars with no insurance at all, such as this policy, cars of a certain age will not be covered.

What's not covered? (Exclusions and restrictions)
Vehicles more than 10 years old
Vehicles worth more than £75,000

DarrenCarnall

cubegame wrote: »

Questor insurance does include LDW....they just don't word it the same. The bit below is taken from their policy statement. They will confirm it does cover theft if you ring them. They were very helpful when I sorted out my policy.


Excess Reimbursement, Loss Damage Waiver and Towing


What is covered?




[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]This Section covers You for any physical loss or damage to the Hire Vehicle for which You are responsible for under the terms of the Hire Agreement following a Fire, Lightning Strike, Explosion, Accident, Accidental Damage, Theft or Attempted Theft, Malicious Damage, Storm and Flood. This section includes loss or damage to Auto Glass, Roof, Tyres, Wheel Rims and the Under Body and Towing and Loss of Use.


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huh, interesting. I wonder why they don't word it like that on their site!

DarrenCarnall

NiftyDigits wrote: »

You have different issues here. For the AVIS UK car for a car within California, you'll be covered, apart from items such as windscreen, keys etc. So any 'standard' excess car hire policy wiould cover you.
The vintage car issue is something else altogether. Even with a policy that covers cars with no insurance at all, such as this policy, cars of a certain age will not be covered.

hmmm... that's a good point. I wonder if Questor have any such limitations.

(of course at this stage I'm still figuring out if I can afford to do this anyway, but I need to know one way or another in case it turns out I can)

NiftyDigits

DarrenCarnall wrote: »

hmmm... that's a good point. I wonder if Questor have any such limitations.

(of course at this stage I'm still figuring out if I can afford to do this anyway, but I need to know one way or another in case it turns out I can)

Questor doesn't even has such a policy...but all policies other than a specific vintage car policy will have similar restrictions.