Kevin McCormally: I am Kevin McCormally of Kiplinger's and I am with Mark Solheim the Senior Editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine to talk about ensuring a rental car. Mark what kind of deal you get when you get when you run a rent-a-car. When you get to the counter, there's somebody wants to sell you some insurance that could cost a fortune what you do?
Mark Solheim: Oh! What they are pushing is CDW which stands for Collision Damage Waiver. Basically that means if you have an accident you can walk away from the accident and the rental car company will pay for the damages.
Kevin McCormally: That sounds like a pretty good deal, we are not paying for it.
Mark Solheim: It sounds like a good deal but it's expensive coverage often cost $15 a day which can double, if you got a good deal on a rental that can double your what you pay everyday.
Kevin McCormally: But you don't have to have insurance?
Mark Solheim: You do have to have insurance that your own Auto Insurance will cover you to in a rental car often for most policies 21 to 30 consecutive days. And on top of that you have probably have to deductible that after you pay for collision. But if you use a Gold Mastercard visa and really any credit card it's likely to pick up the cost of the deductible as well.
Kevin McCormally: So you are already covered?
Mark Solheim: Yeah already covered.
Kevin McCormally: Other new restrictions?
Mark Solheim: There can be some restrictions, for example, Visa and Mastercard limit coverage to 15 days for a rental car, so if you take in a long trip you'll lost coverage after that. Also they may limit the amount of coverage to say, $50,000 and certain exact sport cars that are specifically for rental.
Kevin McCormally: What about overseas rental? Is there any twist there?
Mark Solheim: There is a bit of twist there, your own Auto Insurance policy will not cover your overseas but if you use your Mastercard, Visa, MX overseas then you are going to be covered by your credit card.
Kevin McCormally: Okay should anybody buy this CDW stuff?
Mark Solheim: Well certainly if you don't have your own Auto Insurance policy and there are some people that go ahead and buy it anyway just for peace of mind, if you are in any accident you don't have to go through the hassle of the claims process.
Kevin McCormally: And it will also keeps it off of your record?
Mark Solheim: It keeps that off of your record.
Kevin McCormally: Okay, thanks Mark.
