and read this if you are going to hire a car.
Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI) is a form of cover that you can buy to increase your level of Third Party insurance for car rentals in certain parts of the world including the USA.
Third party insurance protects you against financial awards made against you by a court resulting from claims from others (the third party) that you have injured them or damaged their property with the hire car.
For car rentals in many parts of Europe including the UK and in many other parts of the world, this cover will typically be supplied with the rental vehicle and be unlimited, which is to say that no matter how much the court awards in damages your policy would cover it in total.
This is not the case in countries such as the USA where there is little, if any, obligation to buy car rental insurance of any sort. Third party cover as supplied by the rental company, if it exists at all, may very well be limited to amounts which may be inadequate and well below the levels that could be awarded against you by a court.
In these circumstances it would be your personal responsibility to fund any amounts left unpaid by the insurance.
Supplemental Liability Insurance can be obtained from your car hire company but you may find that this is an expensive way of buying this type of cover. There are a number of independent insurance specialist providers who operate on the Internet specialising in cover for car hire rentals. They have a wide portfolio of products specially tailored for your insurance needs in different parts of the world, including SLI and their prices are typically cheaper.
In such situations it may also be worth taking into account that if your rental car comes with little or no third party cover and you need Supplemental Liability insurance, then there may not be sufficient cover for the car itself.
It may be worthwhile to have a look at the collision damage waiver (CDW) and what’s called the ‘excess cover’ available from these Internet specialists to ensure that you have insurance adequate for your needs.
When you buy SLI and/or collision damage waiver cover from these independent providers you will need to take your policy with you as you will need to give the car hire company details so that they can liaise with your insurance company in the event of a claim.
With ‘excess cover’ on the other hand, you may find that the car hire company may just charge the excess to your credit card and all you would then have to do would be to claim on your policy for reimbursement.
So, you don’t need supplemental liability insurance for car rentals in many parts of Europe including the UK, and for those other countries worldwide where third party cover is unlimited. However for destinations such as the USA and Canada where there may be no cover or for other countries where cover may be limited, it may be worth considering Supplemental Liability Insurance from the independent specialists for your rental.
An additional feature of many of the policies available from these independent specialists, including SLI cover, is that their policies can be available on an annual basis. An annual policy, subject to some conditions on types of vehicle, can be used for all of your rentals during the course of the year.
To find out more about car hire excess insurance, take a look at the www.insurance4carrental.com site
As we are now approaching the peak summer holiday period do make sure that you have the proper car hire insurance cover in your holiday car hire rental.
