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Things to keep in mind when renting a vehicle

Travelling around New England for vacation may mean renting a vehicle. My friend and I just rented a motorcycle to cruise to Vermont with. While I do not have motorcycle insurance, my friend does. So when my friend rented a motorcycle in THEIR name, their motorcycle policy followed us for coverage purposes. Same applies to renting a car. The person on the rental contract should have coverage from their regular car policy . If there is no insurance in force for the renter, you should BUY coverage from rental car company.

Always talk to your insurance agent when renting to be sure. Sometimes you think you are renting a "like" vehicle, but the insurance company may not cover it, so check first! Example of this, renting a passenger van that may seat more than 7 people may NOT be considered a personal vehicle due to the number of passengers it holds.

Things to watch for...

Person on the rental contract should have a policy in their name for a LIKE vehicle. The policy should include both collision and comprehensive coverage to cover possible body damage to rental.

The vehicle being left at home providing coverage to the rental should not be used by anyone while rental is in progress.

Check with your credit card company as well, they may provide certain coverage's which generally can't be added to the MA auto policy -

- loss of income (if the rental vehicle is damaged while in your custody and it has to be repaired) this happens if/when the rental car is tied up for repairs and can't be rented out

- on the spot deductibles, often called CDL or CDW

For more information visit our website at: www.georgetowninsurance.com or call us! 978-352-8000.

Have a great summer!


Discussion

Lillian Schaeffer

Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 12:46pm EDT

These are some great tips, and I appreciate your advice to check with your insurance company to see if a vehicle rental is covered. My husband and I are wanting to go on a road trip with several of our married friends, and none of us have a car big enough to fit all of us. We want to rent a van so everyone will fit into the same vehicle, and we’ll definitely check with our insurance company to see if that would be covered. Thanks for the great post!


Simon Brooks

Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 9:40pm EST

Thanks for the fantastic article, it really can be confusing to figure out how insurance works with renters vehicles so it’s nice to have someone lay it out simply. I didn’t realize that the bulk of how the insurance was determined came from whose name the rental agreement was under. I’ll have to keep that in mind later this Christmas, my wife and I are planning to rent a car to travel cross country and visit some of our young grand-kids for the holidays.


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