Life is good.  You are on day 1 of your 8-day vacation to Destin Beach, Florida.  You have made it though the flight and eagerly look forward to some beach time.  You are feeling pretty good about the trip because you managed to find a good deal on airfare and hotel.  Car rental was a pretty good deal as well.  However, when you get up to the counter you are faced with one of the eternal questions: Should I get the car rental insurance offered by the rental company or risk it?

Ok, so saying that car rental insurance is one of life’s eternal questions maybe stretching things a little bit, but it is a dilemma that most of us face at one time or another.  According to a survey done by the Progressive group of insurance companies, about a third of people accept the supplemental car rental insurance.  Of those that accept car rental insurance, 54% said that they do so because they want extra insurance coverage, 32% accept because they don’t know if their current auto insurance coverage covers them and 9% said that they feel pressured into buying the car rental insurance by the counter personnel (wimps).

So they question remains, are these car rental insurance policies a good deal or not?  While car rental insurance can be expensive (adding up to $40 a DAY in costs to your rental) they can be a godsend should an accident happen.  To further complicate things, in many cases you may already be covered by your car insurance policy or though the credit card that you use to pay for the car rental.  In this article, Mr. Thrifty walks through the different types of car rental insurance usually offered and gives his opinion whether or not the car rental insurance coverage is needed.