"Should I purchase the car rental company's insurance?" This question is the source of more misinformation and bad advice in the print media and on the television, radio and Internet than any other car rental topic I know of. The number of times that I have read or heard from "experts" that the car rental companies' insurance is a "waste of money" or a "rip off" only reconfirms my uneasiness regarding information reported in the media.

Let me set the record straight. Assuming that you are fully insured for damages to a rental vehicle and for third party liability through your personal vehicle insurance company, the answer to this question is "maybe" and like all insurance matters, is a bit of a gamble on your part.

Even if you are fully insured, are you prepared to immediately pay the deductible on your policy if you are involved in an accident? This is frequently required by car rental companies and could put a strain on your vacation funds. Furthermore, after you have damaged one of their cars, they may very well refuse to provide you with another vehicle!

Are you prepared for the inevitable price increase in the premium charged by your insurance company if you are involved in an accident in a rental car for which you have not taken the rental car company's damage waiver as you drive an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar town?

When the accident occurred, were you in violation of any of the terms of the rental agreement (you know, that document the car rental company gave you with all the microscopic writing on it when you rented the car)? Your insurance company is hoping the answer to this is "yes" so that they won't have to pay a dime, leaving you to foot the entire bill yourself.

Are you prepared to pay for Loss of Use of the rental vehicle? "Loss of what?" you may ask. "Loss of use," also known as "down time," is a part of virtually every company's rental agreement and it states that you are personally responsible for paying for loss of use of the rental vehicle for every day that it is unable to be rented due to an accident, regardless of fault. "Huh?" you say, "My insurance company or credit card company doesn't cover that?" Nope! Somewhere, hidden deep within the legal document issued by every insurance company I have had the pleasure to have known, is a statement saying that they will not pay for loss of use of a rental vehicle. That means that you are personally liable for paying for the rental car at the daily rate for every day that

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