Should a traveler renting a car get insurance when they rent?

Depends on the country you go to. In doubt, yes. The average price of insurance per day is nothing compared to potentially having to pay an entire vehicle.

you should also check whether your credit card provides rental car insurance when you use it to pay for the rental.

renting a car? i definitely recommend the car insurance.

@avalmez

Totally forgot about that! True….

First, check and see if your policy covers it. If so, skip it.

Second, if your policy doesn’t cover it, see if your Visa card does. One nifty secret I found out was that many Visa cards do cover it if you pay for the rental with your Visa.

Third, if neither one of these covers it, definitely get the insurance. I recently learned this the very hard way, when I backed into a rock and got some scrapes on the bumper of the rental. Most companies charge you to “restore it to new” regardless of how superfluous that may be. They decided to replace the bumper and the part attached to it – with my minor scrapes totaling 700.00 I have to pay out of pocket. This could have totally been avoided if I had looked into it first.

We’ve never bought the insurance at the rentals. Our car ins. already covers it.

even if your policy covers it , there is almost certainly a gap (deductibles, limits) in the coverage. if no coverage or covered with a gap, then find out if your card covers the gap. if not, then consider buying the daily coverage.

You should have insurance. If you do not have any before you rent the car, you should purchase it, because the premium is so much less than the damages in the event of an accident.