Why Do Rental Agencies Push Insurance?
Why does anyone do anything in America anymore? It’s about money. High fuel costs and falling demand have cut into car rental companies’ revenues. By offering insurance (which can cost twice as much as personal car insurance), they are attempting to recoup lost profits. The latest trick of course is to require customers to “opt-out” – but putting this information in fine print so that it is usually overlooked. Even more egregiously (but still within the law), car rental agencies get “kick backs” from the underwriters of this add-on, but usually unnecessary, insurance. If you do opt-out, the rental agent will probably tell you that by purchasing their auto insurance coverage, if you do wind up in an accident, you won’t have to file a claim with your own insurer because their own insurer will take care of it – and you won’t risk getting stuck with higher rates from your insurance company because of it. This is a half-truth; their insurer may handle the claim, but the accident report will
