Renting a car can be a quick and viable option to get around when you require a vehicle. However, the process can be confusing and often expensive when it comes to vehicle insurance. In this article, you will learn about renting a car without car insurance Alberta.
To legally operate on the road, all rental vehicles have the basic level of insurance. As a standard part of your rental agreement, the car would automatically come with theft coverage, damage coverage, and third-party liability.
When you rent the car, the employees there might insist you purchase an add-on rental insurance package, warning you of the fallout if unexpected incidents occur. However, before deciding what’s best for you, it’s important to find out more about renting car without insurance.
Is insurance necessary when you rent a car?
When you rent a car, you can proceed even without having an automobile insurance policy of your own. Most rental agencies cover the basics for their vehicles. However, in most cases, the coverage is not adequate to cover major accidents. Therefore, if you do not have enough coverage and opt-out of the additional packages, unforeseen incidents might require you to shell out large amounts of money.
Therefore, although buying insurance is not mandatory, most people prefer to have enough coverage.
This explains why most individuals use a credit card for insurance coverage, buy additional packages, or purchase an add-on coverage through a third party.
When can you ditch the car insurance?
If you are bent on saving a few dollars, you can ditch your car insurance under the following circumstances:
- You are travelling in a rented car in Canada, and your insurer offers adequate coverage
- You have rental car insurance coverage as a part of your credit card benefit
- You already have a standalone policy, purchased through a third party
However, experts recommend purchasing insurance in the following conditions:
- In case you are concerned about shelling out a higher rate or deductible in case you damage the rental vehicle
- Your credit card does not come with a rental car insurance coverage
- Your personal policy doesn’t cover the damage, particularly when you are driving overseas
Renting a car without insurance: How to go about it?
Explore four of the most viable options for renting car without insurance.
Credit card coverage
Many credit cards have the provision of rental car insurance coverage. This is an excellent option if your car insurance policy doesn’t cover you in a particular location.
However, you might have to use the card to pay the rental company. Moreover, the rental should be under your name. With this process, you won’t have to deal with the hassle of signing forms. The deal comes along with your credit card. Remember, these are all secondary coverages. This implies that you can only avail of the benefit if your car insurer doesn’t cover the accident.
Coverage from the rental company
As stated, the car rental company would offer some kind of coverage for the vehicle. If you are ready to risk hitting the road with minimal coverage, you can proceed and rent the car. All the companies have basic coverage on third-party liability, theft, and damage due to accidents. You don’t need to pay any additional amount for insurance after you pay for the rental.
However, it makes sense to know how much coverage the rental company provides. Once you know the coverage, you can weigh your risk and opt-out of additional packages accordingly.
Your own automobile insurance
If you have a car insurance policy of your own, it would probably cover the rented cars that you use personally. However, this won’t cover vehicles for business use. If you know what your own car insurance policy covers, it makes sense to decline the extra insurance from the company.
However, if you do not want to rent the car for business purposes, make sure to check out the rental company’s coverage. Under any condition, you should have adequate coverage for the vehicle you are using.
Non-owner car insurance
You might not own a car but prefer renting them frequently. In these cases, it would be wise to get a non-owner car insurance policy. This type of policy is also available as “non-driver insurance” in many locations.
With such a policy, you would have adequate liability coverage for bodily injury or property damages you inflict on others while driving a rented car. Besides, some policies also include medical payments and personal injury coverage.
Remember, non-owner car insurance would not cover loss or damage to the rented car. You need to have other provisions to cover these damages.
Does it make sense to secure yourself financially when you rent a car?
Have you ever wondered about the financial repercussions of getting into an accident with your rented car? Medical expenses and compensating damage might cost you thousands of dollars. This explains why you need to financially secure yourself before jumping into the driver’s seat.
To be on the safe side, make sure that you have a suitable credit card to cover you, your automobile insurance, and the rental company’s policy. If you don’t have adequate coverage, it makes sense to purchase a small package that the rental company would offer. Renting car without insurance is certainly not worth the riosk
