I want to know if the car I’m renting comes with liability insurance. I just want to be sure that if I am at fault in an accident, that the other car will be covered. Lets try to ignore any personal car insurance policy and let’s ignore collision insurance for now.
I am under the impression that in many countries they are required to give you liability insurance when you rent the car, but I don’t have a good source. Many articles have mixed information.
For the US, this article says:
For a registered car rental company in the US, they must provide a minimum level of liability protection for cars they rent out.
But this other article says
In the U.S., every state requires a minimum amount of liability insurance on car insurance policies, so you may already have liability coverage through your personal auto insurance.
Which sounds like in the US your personal insurance is all you have.
At the end of the day, you are the only one who is genuinely interested/invested in ensuring that your ass is protected with a rental vehicle. Rental insurance is one of the things you should neveral generalize; always investigate and fully understand your specific car rental. Never trust that just because you’re in province/state X that the rental vehicle must adhere to the local insurance requirements - rental companies often register vehicles outside a specific province/state (because its cheaper) and the liability limits may be very different. Vehicle rental companies generally offer add-on insurance - if you want to go this route then fully read the details and ensure that you are satisfied that you’re adequately covered; this is particularly important when you’re out-of-country.
Personally, when feasible, I always pay for my rental with a credit card that includes rental insurance that I have confirmed adequately covers me. As a backup, my personal vehicle’s insurance also includes full rental coverage. In all cases, make sure to speak with the insurer ahead of time and discuss the limits of the insurance and what their procedure is if you get into an accident, particularly when you’re out of your home province/state or country.