USA Car Rental - SLI insurance

Civvy21

Good afternoon,

On our US road trips we always rented our cars from Alamo. They included Supplementary Liability Insurance (SLI) of US$ 1 million. Just to be on the safe side I tended to add on a fairly low cost stand alone SLI policy to increase this cover to US$ 2 million. The last place on earth you want to be under insured is the USA. Especially with its sky high health care costs and litigious environment. I reckoned 2 million SLI would cover most eventualities.

However a couple of years ago all the US car rental companies reduced their SLI cover to US$ 300k. In my opinion this is way too low. And the stand alone policies will only increase this to US$ 1 million. Still way to low in my book.

Is anybody aware of any US car rental companies including a higher SLI? Or any standalone policies offering more than, in effect, US$ 700k?

I am surprised the US car rental companies reduced their SLI cover. I'm not an insurance junkie. But the consequences of being involved in an "at fault" accident could be extremely serious indeed.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6674451/usa-car-rental-sli-insurance

But the SLI covers the driver not them so if you have a large debt for the rest of your life its not their problem (I dont know in the US if you can go bankrupt to avoid it, certainly you cant in England & Wales)

Even $2m isnt that much, the largest motor claim I've seen was a hire car employee accidentally hitting and killing a toddler when picking the car up from a hirer with half the family witnessing it. The case was being estimated at $60m. In the UK it would be £15,120 for the death itself, split between claimants, plus general damages if any of the relatives get a diagnosis of PTSD or similar - probably £50k for each parent if they witnessed and much reduced for the grandparents.

Are you sure your standalone policy extends it by another $1m? Most will extend the base insurance to a total of $1m not $1m on top of the base.

Your options are going to be limited, you can buy worldwide umbrella cover, but in the UK it's aimed at high net worths with a price they are comfortable paying. AmEx Platinum card includes £2m (so $2.6m) SLI but it has a high annual fee.

Civvy21

Thanks MRNT.

Sorry. I should have stated it clearer. Years ago my standalone top up policies used to add another US$ 1 million on top of Alamo's one million. To make US$ 2 million in total. But now, as you rightly point out, the top up policies only add another US$700k to make a total of US$ 1 million. I don't know why that has suddenly changed.

The case you highlight is horrendous. I know in the US you have to be extremely negligent to have punitive damages awarded against you. But even a more "run of the mill" type accident could have extremely serious financial consequences. For example, missing a stop sign and colliding with a car with four occupants. Even if there are no fatalities the costs involved could be extremely high. Bearing in mind the high medical costs, it could be well over a million dollars.

I am surprised that when the US rental companies reduced their cover for overseas customers they didn't offer to keep it at one million for an additional payment. I don't know if you can increase cover at the desk. But I'm guessing if you can it will be extremely expensive.

I used to think two millions dollars SLI was just about sufficient. But now, thinking about it, even that would be way too low.