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Liability insurance for driving in the US


elisabeth

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Now that we don't have homeowner's or renter's insurance, I'd like to know what people do about liability insurance when renting a car in the US.  It appears to me that you can buy supplemental or extended liability insurance without buying the collision damage waiver.  I know I can get much cheaper insurance for damage to the vehicle if I buy third party - I just want to be sure that I won't have to buy collision damage from the rental company in order to buy their supplemental liability insurance.  Any experience with this?  TIA. 

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4 hours ago, tomgates said:

Liability insurance comes with the car in the US. With all major credit cards providing CDW, no need for insurance from the rental co. 

 

We just came back from a trip to the States and rented a car using our AmEx card. We declined the CDW from the rental car and bought liability from them. It's important to check what coverage your credit card company offers.

“If you damage someone’s property or injure someone, your credit card insurance will not protect you,” Dubash says. “If you have credit card coverage but no car insurance, that’s a case when I would buy the rental car company’s liability insurance (but not their collision or loss insurance).”

www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/best-card-rent-car-insurance-1273.php

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Liability Coverage is available for the number of days one travels NOB in one's Mexican plated car. To my knowledge, collision and comprehensive are not available. On our last trip north, liability coverage was $300,000 combined single limit.

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14 hours ago, tomgates said:

Liability insurance comes with the car in the US. With all major credit cards providing CDW, no need for insurance from the rental co. 

 

When we rent (frequently) in the USA our coverage on our US auto will cover all but the deductible. The Costco CITI MasterCard will cover the deductible. The Rental car company requires proof that we have US Auto Insurance by seeing a copy of the policy, or the card. They will not rent you the car without seeing proof of insurance. 

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We keep storage coverage on a US plated vehicle that has been in Mexico for 14 years and activate it to full coverage when we are in the US for longer than 2 or 3 weeks.  The price is negligible at just a couple $100s a year and provides peace of mind.  The vehicle we drive in the US is Mexican plated and has a full coverage Mexican policy.  Since the US policy follows us as individuals it fills the gaps in the Mexican policy.  We also choose to use car sharing ZipCar when we travel short term to various cities and want more freedom of movement than a cab or Uber allows.  The hourly fee includes all costs for full insurance and gasoline.  It will run generally about $65-75 a day well more than a cut-rate car rental but again there isn't any question about the coverage and we aren't looking to save money at the expense of asset protection.

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Good info solajijic Thank you.

My problem has always been driving my US plated car to the US once a year or so and being forced to buy 6 mo US auto insurance to get any coverage. After more than 10 years in Mexico, I pay through the roof for not consistently maintaining auto insurance in the U.S. (one of the criteria for setting rates) and not having good credit in the US because I don't use credit in the US. (In the US, your credit score is also one of the criteria for setting rates.) It is a double-ding!

Getting a 6-mo policy is getting more difficult, too, as I always cancel after a week -- upon my return to Mexico. Insurance companies don't want to take me on as a client. A Mexican plated car is the only way to ferry items back and/or forth. Insurance booth selling temporary US insurance abound on the Mexican side of the border. But you must have a Mexican-plated car.

Flying and renting a car is the best way to go, unless you want to ferry items back and/or forth... which is the only reason I make the arduous drive in the first place. It costs more in tolls, gas, food, lodging, etc., than it usually does to fly anyway.

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If you are lucky enough to be a member of USAA, they have great auto insurance where I can place my US plated in storage when I am out of the US and take it out of storage when I return to Seattle and drive around in the US or Canada. I think the minimum period I can have it out of storage is 4 weeks or a month at a time. That is about how long I  am up here each time I visit the US some three times per year.

I have had USAA insurance since Sep. 1961 the day I first went on active duty in the US Army. They also provide my Seattle Condo Insurance.

Back in 2000, I went up to San Antonio, Texas, bought a new Texas plated Ford and drove it directly back to Ajijic. I needed US insurance while in the states which was only 3 days until I drove into Mexico. USAA insured my car while in the US those three days and because I was there less than 7 days, they didn't charge me a cent. I had to get Mexican Auto insurance when driving my US plated car in Mexico until I had to return it to the US to sell it when I turned Residente Permanente in 2013.

If there is any way you can be covered by them, check their rates out, they are fantastic. Sadly they do not provide insurance for autos kept in Mexico.

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On 10/5/2018 at 8:44 PM, johanson said:

If you are lucky enough to be a member of USAA, they have great auto insurance where I can place my US plated in storage when I am out of the US and take it out of storage when I return to Seattle and drive around in the US or Canada. I think the minimum period I can have it out of storage is 4 weeks or a month at a time. That is about how long I  am up here each time I visit the US some three times per year.

I have had USAA insurance since Sep. 1961 the day I first went on active duty in the US Army. They also provide my Seattle Condo Insurance.

Back in 2000, I went up to San Antonio, Texas, bought a new Texas plated Ford and drove it directly back to Ajijic. I needed US insurance while in the states which was only 3 days until I drove into Mexico. USAA insured my car while in the US those three days and because I was there less than 7 days, they didn't charge me a cent. I had to get Mexican Auto insurance when driving my US plated car in Mexico until I had to return it to the US to sell it when I turned Residente Permanente in 2013.

If there is any way you can be covered by them, check their rates out, they are fantastic. Sadly they do not provide insurance for autos kept in Mexico.

we pay $25/year just to keep the account active which gives us basic liability coverage whenever we fly back in and rent a car. Credit card covers the rest. We don't have any stateside property so all other financial services have been moved elsewhere, but it's pretty handy for just that one thing.

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On 10/2/2018 at 6:42 PM, tomgates said:

Liability insurance comes with the car in the US. With all major credit cards providing CDW, no need for insurance from the rental co. 

 

Sorry this is just not true. May vary by state, but in general you either need to prove you have liability coverage, or buy it from the rental company, which can double your daily cost. 

Credit cards only cover collision.

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From this article, https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/best-card-rent-car-insurance-1273.php

 

Quote

 

If you don’t have personal auto insurance

If you have no car insurance at all (like many New York City residents, for example), then any credit card that offers rental car coverage will become your primary collision coverage, says Daraius Dubash, founder of reward travel blog MillionMileSecrets.com. You can decline the rental agency’s collision damage waiver (CDW) or loss damage waiver (LDW), but that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. 

You still need liability insurance to protect you from claims related to damage caused by your rental car, and no credit cards offer that, Dubash says. Rental companies provide the minimum amount of coverage required in each state, but it’s not much in the event of a serious accident. “If you damage someone’s property or injure someone, your credit card insurance will not protect you,” Dubash says. “If you have credit card coverage but no car insurance, that’s a case when I would buy the rental car company’s liability insurance (but not their collision or loss insurance).”

If you rent frequently, you may also want to look into a “nonowner” liability package sold by some insurance companies to those who don’t own a car.

 

 

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