Do you know that rental car coverage, often called Transportation Expense, is not automatically included in your auto insurance policy? We discuss this with you when you first get a policy or when you buy new cars, but we are often surprised that people reject this coverage. It is perfectly fine to do so, but we want to make sure you understand it. Often for as little as $20 per car per year you can add coverage, but what is it? This is coverage where if you are in an accident, you will be given a rental car to drive. Your policy determines how much is paid out and for how long. Some insurance carriers, like Erie Insurance, allow you to choose a car type like compact, sedan, small SUV and so forth. The bigger the car you need or want and the bigger the daily limit, will impact your costs (premium). Some people opt not to get it because they have another car they can drive. Some people prefer to save the money and take the chance of the accident. Other things to consider are, if you are on vacation and get in an accident, are you willing to take on this expense? If you need a specific car size while traveling with family, and have rental car coverage for an accident but have selected compact car, are you willing to pay the difference to upgrade to a larger rental car? It’s personal choice whether you want the coverage or not and what limit you want on your policy, but these are some things to think about.
When anyone tells us they want full coverage, we go through coverage available because there really is no such thing as full coverage and that term means different things to different people. To some, that means they want comprehensive and collision or physical damage coverage for their vehicle. For others, it means they want it all such as transportation expense, loan/lease gap, better vehicle replacement, glass replacement coverage with a reduced deductible, diminishing deductible, and everything available from the insurance carrier they are with. Even then, this is not full coverage because you can increase liability limits or add a personal catastrophe liability (umbrella) policy. No one can predict how much they will be sued for or what type of accident they will be in next, but everyone can make education based decisions on what risks they want the insurance carrier to be responsible for and which ones they want to self-insure.
