Auto insurance can often be confusing and many people find themselves wondering which type of insurance they actually need. It is a legal requirement to have basic auto insurance, but what exactly does that cover and do you also need to take out car rental insurance?

Here you will find everything you need to know about car rental insurance and what it covers. Hopefully this will give you enough information to know whether car rental insurance is an essential for you, or whether your current general insurance is more than enough.

Understanding Car Rental Insurance
Typically car rental insurance is an optional cover that you can take out when you rent out a car. It usually comes into place when your own car is being repaired and it will generally pay out a small sum each day until your car is repaired. However, unfortunately it could negatively affect your current auto insurance policy.

Looking at your Current Insurance
When you are looking at general auto insurance quotes, you will notice that most do include rental car coverage. It will not always be a lot of coverage, but it will cover things such as hiring out a rental car in the event of your car being repaired. You should find that your current insurance policy will pay out more than enough if you were to need a rental car.

With this in mind, if you do choose to take out optional car rental insurance and you do end up claiming on it without claiming on your main auto insurance first, it could have a negative impact on your policy. It could even cause your original insurance to go up in price. So you do need to think carefully before you agree to anything.

The only real time you will need additional cover is if you drive a really old car. Auto insurance on older cars does tend to be extremely basic. This means that damage to a rental car will not be covered and so it would be worth looking into car rental insurance options.

Overall car rental insurance can be a good idea, but generally it is mainly covered in your existing auto insurance policy. So if you are looking around for cheap car insurance then keep in mind that most will come with some kind of rental car insurance and it is not always essential to take out additional cover.
Article by Kian Chew Chong