Rental Car Insurance Coverage
Posted date : Nov 7, 2017.
Dear Bird Talk,
We are two of 2,000 in Westwind R.V. Park and many more thousands in 30 other parks in Yuma. We are now aware of a special insurance problem for Canadians and their vehicle insurance. We hope this information will help many others.
We were innocent victims of a rear-end collision last Dec. The offender, a lady resident of Yuma, acknowledged to police responsibility for all damage. The insurance company of Yuma agreed to pay all costs for this lady. The repair costs to our car were more than $8,000.00.
We had to get a rental car for about three months. We had agreed with the rental people to put damage insurance on the rental car. We ended up having to pay the rental insurance cost of $1,000.00.
We found out that our Canadian company had rental damage insurance on our regular vehicle registration. Once we had paid up front for this insurance, there was not any liability for any other insurance company to pay for same.
The moral of the story is to check first with your insurance company before paying up front to the rental car company for possible future damage to their car.
Sincerely,
Lorne Foster
Response:
Ed: Hi Lorne, and a special “Hi” to Westwind RV Park. You are totally correct. Canadian automobile policies have a coverage called “Temporary Replacement Vehicle” which provides for the same coverage on a different car, in the event of an accident. This is usually limited to a 30-day period, however, to avoid being misused, collision and theft damage are not covered unless your Canadian car is covered. Any additional cost for insurance should also have been covered by the other lady’s insurance policy under the “Third Party Liability” coverage. I would call them and ask them to reimburse you for the insurance cost; it IS their responsibility. If that fails, then I would submit a claim to your Canadian insurance company for the insurance cost; they may pay for two of the three months of coverage. One other hint about rental cars provided, or covered, by insurance. Always make sure that the mileage is included in the base rental cost. If there is a separate charge (i.e.: $0.10 per mile), your insurer will not pay that amount. Good luck!
