It has recently come to light that when you rent a car from an auto rental agency and pay for auto insurance, you are not getting coverage for any act of nature that may damage the rental car. It seems that this is not a new practice and has been in effect for over a year. Even a company as big as Hertz is going along with this policy. If they are doing it, then you can be sure that most of the other large auto insurance companies are deleting this coverage from their policies, and that the smaller companies will also.
Reading a rental agencies’ contract can not only be overwhelming but almost impossible to understand. These contracts are very long and written in language that the normal person probably won’t understand.
The coverage for acts of nature used to be written into the contract that you signed when you rented a car from an auto rental agency. If you find that it is not, ask the rental agent to write in comprehensive coverage so that you will be covered.
If they will not add the comprehensive, you will then have to make sure that you have comprehensive on your own General auto insurance policy. Make sure that they will cover you for any damages to an auto rental car caused by any act of nature. If you don’t have the comprehensive from either insurance company, then you would be personally libel for the damages to your rental car.
This means that if you’re in a rental car, and in an area where there is a flood, and the rental car is “totaled”, then the rental car agency will look to you for the reimbursement of that car. That would cost you thousands of dollars and who has that much money just sitting around. You might have to take a second mortgage on your home, or use some of your children’s college funds. You will have to come up with the money to pay for the damages one way or another. This doesn’t seem right to most consumers to have to pay for what used to be covered and has changed without warning. Consumer beware now more than ever!