If you rent a car with a companion while travelling, the agent will inevitably ask if you would like to register a second driver. If you agree, you will be charged a fee to register that driver (usually about $2 – $3 per day). We have always either paid up or resolved that just one of us would drive. Turns out we were throwing money out the window.
When I travel with Steve on business, he expenses the cost of a car rental, which is a nice perk of tagging along for me. I can drop him off at work in the morning and have the car at my disposal during the day. Except that it hasn’t been totally free because we’ve always had to add me as a driver to the rental contract assuming that without doing so we would not have insurance coverage in the event of an accident while I was driving.
When we went online to book a car for a recent road trip from Vancouver to Seattle, we wondered again about insurance coverage and if it would be worth registering an extra driver. Then we thought it through further. Our Visa Infinite credit card comes with car rental insurance. Because of this, we always waive getting insurance with the rental company. So, did we still have to register (and pay for) an additional driver as part of our rental agreement?
A phone call to Visa revealed that the person who rents the car, and anyone else that person designates as an additional driver is covered for accidental damage of the vehicle as part of Visa’s insurance coverage. It is not required that the additional driver be “registered” with the car rental company for Visa’s insurance to be valid.
Note that the credit card’s coverage does not include 3rd party liability. You must have other coverage for personal injury or damage to property. In our case, our own vehicle insurance at home provides coverage for 3rd party liability when renting a vehicle. One important additional piece of information we learned is that you must make the insurance claim with Visa within 48 hours of an accident—not upon returning the car to the rental agency.
So, all this time, we’ve been paying additional fees for nothing! It’s worth checking with your credit card company to see if the same rules apply in your case.
If you enjoyed this post, why not subscribe to Tag Along Travel? Twice a month, you’ll receive an email with links to recent posts.
I would like to know the terms and condition which they follow whne we register an another driver.
Always good to check this out with each car rental place you deal with.
Hey that’s good to hear Sharon. We’ve never had to use our credit card insurance for a car rental mishap so it’s nice to know you didn’t have any hassles doing so. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks Deb, there is always so much fear mongering re: insurance from rental companies! A 5 min call to your personal insurer and your credit card before you go gives such piece of mind. Unfortunately, I had to avail of my Visa rental car insurance eek!! Called from the airport, was sick to my stomach, but it was enacted perfectly, easy peasy even, before my flight even left!