TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Car Rental Liability Insurance - Scubaman

I'm very interested in how one can get liability insurance with their credit card or some other way without paying the rental agency a daily rate. Scubaman if you could get the scoop from your friend that would be great!!! Or if anyone else has the I info on this. Or is it a fee that even needs to be paid? Does the agency automatically have liability coverage on their cars?

Most, if not all credit cards will provide "collision insurance" if you use their cc to pay for the rental I don't know of any cc company that offers free "Liability" insurance.

No, car rental agencies DO NOT provide "free" Liability Insurance. If you want coverage from them you have to pay a "daily fee".

Check with your personal Insurance agent to see if your personal auto insurance will cover you for Liability when driving a rental car - be sure to ask if the coverage will extend to driving while in a foreign country. If not, for a minimal cost you can add "Hired Car" to your personal auto policy which will cover you for both Liability and Collision when driving a rental car.

If you have a "Hired Car" rider on your personal auto policy you do not have to buy the insurance from the car rental company.

Keep in mind that even if you have Liability and/or Collision Insurance through your own policy or credit card and you are involved in an accident in a foreign country you may be asked to pay for any damages or claims "up front" before you are allowed to leave the country. If that happens you'll file your claim for reimbursement when you get home.

Think you should check closer on your personal insurance about liability in a foreign country. I doubt you have that coverage.

Hertz Sint Maarten provides liability coverage in the quoted rate, not as an added on separate cost.

Yup...

Also they include a second driver too.

I use InsureMyRentalCar.com. Policy is issued by Chubb and rates are well below other options. They offer other insurances as well that are attractive to travelers.

yes, but they also don't cover liability. "Unfortunately, we are currently unable to provide third party liability. The insurance available for purchase through Insuremyrentalcar.com covers the rented vehicle only. Most rental car agencies make third party liability available. Please check with your rental agency for terms and pricing." So you still need to pay the agency for liability if you want it.


I contacted my insurance agent and there is not a rider that can be added to add liability out of the country on our policy

Oh so sorry. I should have read your original post closer.

Suggest you read all of recent "Hertz Car Rental" thread. This topic covered pretty well.

That's he thread that prompted it as while covered it basically said nothing. I'm trying to decipher what credit card or whether one really needs to pay for liability insurance. Like Hertz, they cover it. So are other agencies by law covering it and then just charging?

Still nothing factual about any current credit card coverage for liability?

I don't see what you are confused about.

Liability insurance isn't really "free" from Hertz, the cost is built into their rates and thus you wouldn't have to purchase additional "Liability" coverage if you rent from them. You'll also have the option to purchase the Collision Damage Waiver, for a fee, if you want collision coverage. If you use a credit card to pay for the rental your cc company may provide collision coverage for you. While most cc companies offer this benefit you should check with your cc company to be sure.

FYI - other car rental companies offer Liability insurance as an "option" for which you pay a daily fee. The car rental companies are under no obligation to have liability insurance on their vehicles and you are under no obligation to purchase it. If you decline the optional Liability you don't pay the fee but you WILL NOT have Liability coverage unless your personal auto insurance covers you (check with your personal insurance agent for details). Credit card companies DO NOT offer Liability insurance as a benefit.

So bottom line, if renting from Hertz you you will be covered for Liability. If renting from some other company and you want liability insurance you either have to purchase it from the car rental company or have it through your own personal insurance policy. Either way you'll be paying for it.

Yes, I totally understand that. On a previous thread Scubaman stated that a friend paid a fee to AMEX and was able to get liability coverage. I was unable to find any info on which card that is. As HERTZ includes liability in their rates, on a post somewhere someone "implied" that all rental agencies have liability coverage, this was not recent, I can't find any proof that is true. The AMEX program sounded like a yearly fee. If you travel to the island 3-5 times a year that would be a great thing to have instead of paying a daily rate. Honestly I'm not even sure what the daily rates are! It just trying to research and get the scoop.

Previous Discussion

There is unsubstantiated reference made to a certain AMEX card offering liability for an additional fee. Nobody has found the card or been able to provide a link to such a program to actually confirm it.

I think it's the AMEX Platinum, but I can. Not find a reference number to call and inquire about the extra fee to pay to obtain the coverage. Giving up!!!

Just call Amex and see if they will transfer you. Don't give up!!

The AMEX Platinum Card DOES NOT provide Liability Insurance - only Collision Damage.

The Annual Fee for the Platinum Card is $550. Go here for a complete description of all the "benefits" the Platinum Card offers: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credi...rdBenefitsTerms

I'll say it again, if you want Liability coverage you have to purchase it from the car rental company or add a "Hired Car" rider for your Personal Auto Policy. It's not very expensive and can be very cost effective if you do multiple car rentals throughout the year.

And again, unless your policy is different than mine, "hired car" coverage does NOT cover rentals outside the US.

Correct, and many AGENTS are misinformed. When in doubt, check directly with your particular company or better yet, read the fine print of your actual policy.

For All - Pro & Con
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Hertz Sint Maarten
http://hertz.sxmrentacar.com/
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CDW waiver comes with a deductible of $1,600 to $4,000 depending upon the vehicle rented (see their website for list of vehicles and deductibles)

Liability coverage comes with $400 deductible.

If you use your credit card for the CDW you are covered 100% but of course you are stuck with the paperwork should you need to file a claim.
==============
"It is important to understand that although referred to as
insurance, it isn�t really insurance at all � rather, the so called insurance arrangements are terms of your contract with the rental car company. The rental car company itself may be backed by its own insurers but this insurance cover, if it exists,does not extend directly to you.The protection you obtain from the rental contract is only as good as the ability of the rental car company to meet any claim. If the rental car company has few assets, in some circumstances that may leave you as the driver of the vehicle open to liability to third parties.It is a good idea to hire vehicles only from rental car companies that are obviously financially sound, and are more likely to be able to honor the insurance provisions of their contracts."

My Amex business card had an option for auto rental car coverage- both collision and liability. It was a $10 or $15 one time fee each time you used the card for a rental car. I no longer have the card but used it many times with that insurance option. Not sure if they still offer it.

That is exactly what I am trying to find. Thank you.

This year was the first time we rented from Value/ Prestige car rental. The price quoted was great, but when we picked the car up they said liability coverage was mandatory and that would add another $70 to the cost. In all our years of renting I have never been told by any company that liability was mandatory. When I complained they lowered the cost from $7 to $5 a day. Has this ever happened to anyone else.

If it is really mandatory, shouldn't it be included in the original quote or built into the price?

I sure would think so. Pretty shifty if you ask me.

Sounds like a company that I personally would not deal with again.

Ok found the info, and it flat out says it does NOT cover liability. So I have no idea what was mentioned on the other thread that AMEX had a form of coverage you pay extra for that covers liability. AMEX

kim,

That's the coverage we had based on whichever AMEX card we used at the time and is the one I was telling you about. Got rid of AMEX card since it was so difficult to use on the island and thats pretty much the only place we do car rentals these days. And as I said, NO LIABILITY COVERAGE on this or any other credit card I've ever had.

For those who 'think' their umbrellas or hired car coverages cover you on SXM, do yourself a huge favor and check your policies closely. I was given misinformation from my agent and when I finally tried to interpret my umbrella and was still uncertain, I contacted the underwriting department of our carrier and they said in no uncertain terms, we did NOT have coverage on SXM even with a million dollar liability umbrella. Just check it out and don't assume coverage and possibly end up sorry down the road. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Follow the link below and hopefully it will answer your questions about Amex and their auto insurance.

https://feeservices.americanexpress.com/premium/car-rental-insurance-coverage/home.do

I also called my support line for my Platinum card and was told that Amex does not offer any liability coverage under any of their programs.

Yup, that's the link I posted. I'm being cheap by want coverage and was hoping there was something!!!

I posted this on 5/31/17.
[color:"red"]For one, it's practically unheard of to find a credit card that includes liability coverage. Travel insurance and third-party rental car collision insurance products don't generally offer it, either. Even American Express's fancy Premium Car Rental Protection doesn't touch liability, only damage to the rental car.
A Quick Primer on Car Rental Insurance - Autoslash.com[/color]
It was a google response to the original question.