Named Insured Vs. Rated Driver for Rental Car Accidents and Credit Card Coverage

[mahnamahna]

I was driving a rental car and got into a small accident with a pole. I was planning on submitting a claim to my credit card company for their rental car protection. This requires a notarized statement that I have no other insurance. Talking with my parents about it I learned they kept me as a driver on one of their cars despite me being out of the house for a while (i'm a grad student so apparently they were able to do this?) Does this count as me "having insurance" despite the fact that I have no control over the policy? Could I file a claim myself if I am not "named insured" or would they have to? Thanks for any help y'all can provide clearing up this confusing mess for me.

 

[mahnamahna]

By eat the claim you mean pay out of pocket? Why would I do that? $2000 is a lot for my poor grad student self. My father guessed that any increase in rate would cost less than the repair costs. I'm just trying to figure out whether that is counted as me being insured. Seems weird that my liability in driving a different car is affected by whether someone lists me on *their* policy. But this **** is all weird. To me the relevant question in answering this is whether I can file a claim on their insurance or whether they need to. If I'm not able to than I don't know in what way I meaningfully have insurance. But I am not my own lawyer or a lawyer period. I'm not trying to do so against their will or anything.

Burning things is fun. But my parents and I are finally starting to enjoy each others company again.

 

[djs]

Most credit cards that offer insurance on rental cars offer secondary insurance. In other words, they pay only what your insurance doesn't cover. This is exactly what you are running into.

Your parents policy counts as insurance. You will need to file the claim with them.

The good news is, the credit card should cover the deductible that you would normally pay. You'll have to read the terms on the credit card to verify this.

I do consider a $2000 accident a fairly minor accident. No airbags / no injuries - everything else is minor in comparison (airbag deployment is never a good sign).

Dan

 

[BlockO]

By eat the claim you mean pay out of pocket? Why would I do that? $2000 is a lot for my poor grad student self.

depends on your deductible. but unless you have a very low deductible, eating the claim might be a real option.