Also depending on the type of credit card you have you may be eligible for free rental car coverage.

Can you use your own car insurance for a rental car. If you rent a car you need some form of insurance to protect the vehicle and yourself. You can contact your insurance company to see if they can provide temporary insurance for the rental coverage. Coverage from your own policy applies when you are using a rental car for personal nonbusiness purposes.

The rules may be different for business use. If you dont own a car you most likely will not have your own car insurance. This is especially true now that rental car companies are competing with ride-sharing.

Many of the insurance providers offer this service. Some rental car rates are surprisingly cheap. Even if youre not required to buy coverage its probably a good idea unless youre prepared to cover all the costs of an accident.

But for those of you without cars of your own it can be a fiasco to rent a car since you generally dont have car. If you dont own a car and dont have regular auto insurance you may be required to buy some rental car insurance depending on laws in the state where you drive. You should check your insurance policy or call your insurer to make sure but most policies extend the definition of your covered vehicle to any vehicle you rent.

Another situation to get the rental car coverage is if you are leaving the country. Without it you would have to pay for any damage out of pocket above basic protection. In this case you will need to opt for the rental car insurance.

Damage cover technically called Collision Damage Waiver theft cover Theft Protection and third-party cover. When you book a car online you may see rates of 10 a. Normally rental cars come with three basic types of cover.