“How a B.C. woman got stuck with a $4,000 bill after renting a pickup truck”

[porphyrioskafsokalivitos]

“At the time, Veenstra turned down the extra insurance offered by the rental company because she was confident she had adequate coverage through her credit card.”

“When she returned the vehicle and filed a claim, she was shocked to discover her credit card insurance would not cover pickup trucks.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/8086067/car-rental-insurance-policy-warning/amp/

 

[trackingmorality]

@porphyrioskafsokalivitos I'm going to BC in September and out of boredom I was obsessively looking for deals on car rentals. The vast majority of credit card insurance for rental cars will not cover pick-up trucks. This was a surprise to me-- thankfully I'm not renting a pick-up truck.

A few other helpful facts that aren't common knowledge when relying on credit card insurance:

1. Most credit cards will not cover vehicles with an MSRP above $65,000 (if you plan on renting a luxury car or large SUV). Cards that cover up to $85,000 I've found are (most) Amex, and the world elite Desjardins cards.
2. DO NOT Tow anything
3. DO NOT use the car for anything that can be deemed as commercial use. There's a video I watched of a luxury rental company owner mentioning a case where a guy rented one of his cars to film a rap video. Insurance denied it. The guy is a no-name rapper-- no website, no albums out-- but they refused it because that's what insurance companies do. Try to get out of liability through fine-print.
4. Cargo vans, both regular and mini, are often not covered. The only exception are family minivans.
5. motorcycles and mopeds are usually not covered

 

[chromosome16]

@trackingmorality Just pay the extra for the insurance so you dont have to worry. I once smoked a coyote that ran in front of me as I was coming into town. Front end was fucked, I probably shouldnt have even driven it back to the rebtal place it was squealing and screaming so bad. Radiator totalles, front bumper totalled. This was a 2018 (new at the time) Ford Focus.

I dropped it off, told the rep at the front desk, and left without paying anything extra. Was easily $3000 in damages if not way more

 

[zango11]

@chromosome16

Just pay the extra for the insurance so you dont have to worry.

Yes that is the sales pitch, but this is /r/personalfinancecanada, we are the center for reading fine print and saving every dollar possible. Many of us select credit cards specifically because of the rental car insurance perk, and are deliberate in using said card when renting a car. Paying for insurance when one is already covered is a waste of money.

 

[misst]

@zango11

Paying for insurance when one is already covered is a waste of money.

IF you are covered ..... it really sucks to find out that you werent covered because you didnt read the fine print (fair enough) but sometimes the fine print is intentionally misleading

 

[aaa]

@zango11 Trusting credit card and insurance companies is the very definition of penny wise pound foolish.

 

[marko959]

@aaa How so? If you read the terms and conditions it’s pretty straightforward.

We’ve received literally thousands of dollars in claims for delayed baggage and other coverages over the last decade or so. The insurance has paid for any annual fees many times over.

We’ve never had a problem making claims either, it’s pretty perfunctory.

 

[ericbaker]

@aaa Ok so which insurance are you saying to use then? The credit card company or the insurance company?

 

[aaa]

@ericbaker /Paranoid mode on

Rental agency. If you can loop in your own insurance company AND the credit card company along with the rental agency's, this is better.

Look at the credit card company as being a backup in case the rental agency attempts to deny coverage.

/Paranoid mode off

 

[chromosome16]

@zango11 Well in my experience insurance will do anything and everything possible to not cover. Im not an insurance rep or lawyer so Im not confident in my ability to read and understand the policy/fine print enough to successfully fight them. And I dont have the extra money to lawyer up if necessary. Id rather be safe and pay the extra $50-$100 instead of being potentially stuck with a repair bill thats thousands of dollars.

But that is up to each persons risk tolerance and insurance

 

[zango11]

@chromosome16 That is fair, but then how do you know that the 'additional insurance' that the rental company offers doesn't have similar disclaimers and ways to weasel out?

 

[tootie143]

@zango11 Different incentives, there's really no incentive for the CC companies to have good coverage at all. They really don't give a toss whether you are actually covered they just want to be able to fill that checkbox to get more signups. The rental car companies are incentivized to sell more insurance packages but at least have some skin in the game in terms of caring that their vehicle actually gets fixed.

While it's imperfect given this reality the CC coverage is absolutely the least likely to be useful in the event of an actual claim.

 

[micharlie]

@chromosome16 This. ICBC tried two months to fuck me. I had an accident where another car hit me trying to get into my lane. She admitted her fault and next day I got an email confirming that I can take to any approved shop. I went to shop, showed the damage (mostly cosmetic) and they said will call me when ICBC approves. One week passed, nothing. I called back the shop and they say ICBC denied because it's an old car. Fine, called ICBC and they say now they don't know if it's worth repairing. But they want to give me $1400 if I can repair myself. I declined, the quote is $3500, why would I take $1400? Then they find kijiji ads in remote Alberta, trying to devalue the car. This went on for two months until they finally fixed it. Also, denied any car rental because the car is still driveable. Also, they called me back 12 months later and asked me to fully describe the incidence again, as they are auditing for insurance frauds. What a bunch of assholes.

Even the Government insurances are scams, forget private companies.

 

[resjudicata]

@chromosome16 ICBC has 10$/day rental car insurance. I take that instead of rental companies.

 

[dunak]

@resjudicata

insurance

That's a good tip.

 

[resjudicata]

@dunak good catch

 

[scot21t]

@resjudicata It used to be a flat fee of 15$ for the whole rental period, it's per day now?

 

[resjudicata]

@scot21t yup. minimum 2 days.

 

[thegateway2heaven]

@resjudicata Same

 

[kleez]

@resjudicata Or you can add it to your ucbc coverage