hey this is Jeremy from shine insurance
and today we're answering a question
that I get all the time in fact it may
be the question that I get the most
often over email or phone is does my
auto insurance policy cover a car that
I'm renting maybe it's for a family trip
or you're just headed somewhere for a
little while or maybe you just need a
different kind of car for a little bit
some of those kinds of things does my
auto policy cover the rental car and
we're going to answer that question for
you in this video today here's how we're
going to break it down we're first going
to talk about like kind vehicles then
we'll talk about location we'll talk
about liability coverage property
coverage and loss of use three different
types of coverage you need to consider
as to whether they extend from your auto
policy or not and then you should
definitely stick around to the end
because I'll talk about if your policy
doesn't have any of these things doesn't
extend out to a rental car what you
should do about it
so let's dig right in insurance policies
should extend coverage to other vehicles
that are like the one that you have
insurance on so if you have insurance
then your insurance policy should extend
the coverage limits that you have to a
rental vehicle that is like kind but
what does like-kind mean well usually
that's you know personal auto you have a
personal car that's generally why you're
checking this video out and so you know
a regular old car and if you have a
personal auto like this one then the
policy should extend coverage to a
regular rental car like this one now
does it have to be exactly your like
your car well well no it could be just
exactly like your car you've got a sedan
car and you rent a sedan car but it
extends out to most kinds of regular
personal cars as well so maybe it's a
station wagon or an SUV that you want
even if your regular car is a sedan type
car that's okay the coverage would still
extend in the same way maybe it's a
sports car that you want to drive maybe
you want to you know have a convertible
that you want to take
the coast of California or something
your personal insurance policy should
extend to that maybe even a personal
truck maybe you're you know just going
to the local hardware store to pick some
stuff up and you need a truck and so you
rent a truck and that's perfectly fine
as well so a personal auto like kind
auto is going to expand to all these
types of regular personal auto vehicles
so what would it not extend to your
personal auto coverage generally will
not extend coverage to other types of
vehicles so what are some of those types
well a rental truck lots of times you
rent a truck to move from one place to
another oftentimes your auto policy will
not extend to that rental truck so I
would definitely call my insurance agent
and ask once in a while an insurance
company will have extension for a rental
truck but not always definitely call
your insurance company and ask about
that one motorcycles we would not extend
to an RV is similar to the rental truck
it's definitely one I would call my
insurance company about before renting
an RV and thinking that your auto policy
would cover a racecar obviously is not
going to have coverage a Humvee military
Humvee likely not going to have coverage
on your personal auto policy a jetski an
ATV or even a helicopter not going to
have coverage on your personal auto
policy so well like kind vehicles should
have coverage when you rent them other
types of vehicles will not have coverage
or likely will not have coverage you can
check in with your insurance agent to
find out so that's what like-kind means
you have insurance for a regular car
that policy should extend coverage to a
regular rental car let's talk about
location where your rental car is going
to be a United States insurance policy
generally extends to I'm in the United
States and so I'm using the United
States as an example generally it
extends to the United States and Canada
and sometimes Mexico is if you're going
to be going to Mexico I would suggest
that you check in
your insurance agent and asked about
coverage in Mexico some policies do some
policies don't definitely want to ask
your insurance about that but if you're
going over to Europe say and you have an
American insurance policy that policy
will not extend coverage to you driving
in Europe or Australia or you know
wherever and that is true for most
countries so no matter where you
actually live your policy likely will
cover in your country and if you're for
example in a European country it likely
will cover throughout Europe but if you
extend beyond kind of the regular space
that your car should be in you
definitely want to check in with your
insurance agent and make sure that
coverage extends along with you so
that's location let's talk about the
three coverages that matter on your
insurance policy and whether each of
them extends to a rental car so the
first one is liability coverage the
second one is property coverage and the
third one is loss of use which is only
applies to rent rental cars first off
let's talk about liability coverage your
polish c should extend for coverage for
bad things that happen to other people
because of you generally when you're
driving a car that means you've hit
another car and damaged their car or
caused injuries to another person with
your car and liability coverage should
always extend to you a rental car of
like kind of course it with the coverage
limit that you have on your policy so
all insurance policies have coverage
limits hopefully you know what your
coverage limits are and those would
apply to a rental car in the same way
they would apply to your own car
so that's liability coverage property
coverage is coverage for damage to the
rental vehicle itself so you're in an
accident and that rental vehicle of
damaged property coverage generally on
your auto policy would be for your own
your own car and this acts in the exact
same way it's going to be coverage for
the rental car if you have it on your
policy and this is where some people get
into trouble if you have an older car as
your personal
Otto cut you know your car then you may
have chosen not to have coverage for
that vehicle itself that's called
comprehensive and/or collision coverage
oftentimes it's called full coverage
referred to as full coverage but you may
not have full coverage on your personal
insurance policy if you don't you've got
a problem when you go to rent a car
because you don't have any coverage for
that rental car itself that rental car
is likely worth you know ten fifteen
thousand dollars and you don't have
coverage on your policy for that car
itself so if you don't have full
coverage on your car then watch out for
that when you go to rent a car because
you have a serious gap in coverage for
that rental car
so that's property coverage and of
course your deductible will still apply
just like it would on your personal auto
one last thing this is kind of a Tiggy
one and sometimes let's just dig into it
the loss of use is when the the rental
company can't rent out a car because
it's been damaged in an accident that
you were driving it so you're driving a
rental car you get in an accident that
car is damaged it's going to take some
time to get that car fixed and
everything taken care of that period of
time the car is out of rotation and
can't make any money
so sometimes rental companies will say
well we're going to charge you for the
loss of use or the lost income for that
period of time that it was out of
rotation and a lot of them will use this
to confuse you and convince you to buy
their expensive rental car insurance
even though you know that your policy
extends you've talked to your agent does
it cover loss of use and then you become
confused because you're not sure and the
answer is confusing to be quite honest
you know if if this charge is applied in
an accident accident your regular
insurance policy may cover it under the
liability part of the policy if you
really want to know check in with your
insurance agent and say hey I'm going to
rent a car in a couple of weeks I want
to know if I have coverage and I want to
know if my policy covers loss of use
oftentimes it will cover under the
liability part of the policy but this is
something that more and more rental car
companies have been trying to
money for and most companies most
insurance companies are fighting this as
an undue charge and unfair charge and
just not a fair thing to do and rental
companies don't really have the ability
by law yet to fight this
in fact some states have even made it
illegal to charge loss of use on a
rental car
other states have not but when the
insurance company fights back there's
kind of a back and forth there so
there's not a clear answer loss of use
is a little gray but in general either a
rental company won't charge it an
insurance company will cover it or it
can be fought and the rental companies
don't have a whole lot of backing
legally to be charging that fee to you
so hopefully you'll never be in that
situation but that's loss of use and if
they say hey well your insurance policy
doesn't cover loss if you use at least
you understand what they're trying to do
there and what that all means okay so
what if your policy doesn't have
coverage through this video we've talked
about the right all the different things
and if it turns out your insurance
policy doesn't have the right coverage
what do you need to do well it's pretty
simple you talk to the rental company
about it and purchase their temporary
insurance policy make sure it's set up
properly take all the time you need to
talk to them about it but if you don't
have coverage on your personal auto
policy then you obviously want to
purchase theirs so you're not left
without coverage while you're driving a
rental car all right what did we learn
in this video we covered like-kind
vehicles personal auto vehicles location
where your car insurance policy covers
and where it doesn't the liability
coverage property coverage and loss of
use of three different coverages that
you should consider when renting a car
and finally oh well that was it all
right if you want to check out some
other shine videos we've got some great
ones on our Channel versus the new home
buyers guide this is a great video and
series of interviews and videos all
about buying a home if you're
considering buying a home or are a first
time home buyer it is a must check out
playlist on our Channel 5 steps to a
homeowner's claim if you're interested
in how claims work on the homeowners
insurance site and finally how not to
light a bonfire just some poor
decision-making we can laugh at a little
bit in our no insurance for you series
so those are some shine videos you want
to check out if you want some insurance
and feel like we could maybe help you
out do you live in Indiana Ohio New York
or Florida that is where shine insurance
can help you out do you want a true
adviser someone who's actually going to
help you walk through insurance take
care of you along the way find you the
best companies the best prices and the
best coverage if that sounds good to you
then that's great check us out at shine
insurance calm and finally last step as
always please subscribe to our channel
if you haven't done so already and share
this video out in social media good
information is only great if it's shared
with others all right until the next
time have a wonderful day