Car rental companies love to upsell you on their insurance plans. It starts during the booking process and will continue when you arrive at the office to pick up your car. Sometimes, we politely decline and they don’t press any further.
Other times, we have declined insurance and they proceed to scare the stuffing out of you until you give in and buy their ridiculous insurance plan. Typically this happens with smaller companies and not name brands like Hertz, and Enterprise – but it all depends on the location!
For Americans, if you have your own auto insurance policy, it may cover collision damage and even personal liability for a rental car. It’s worth making a call to your insurance provider to check what is covered. Additionally, many travel credit cards provide secondary CDW that will help after your primary insurance. A few notable credit cards provide primary CDW insurance we have this with our Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, two great travel credit cards.