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There are a few posts around car rental insurances here on Travel but my situation is a bit unique. Some facts...

  • Flew into Vancouver, Canada from New Zealand with my wife and 6 month old and hired a rental car for 88 days
  • Did not purchase the additional insurances which I believe is damage waiver and personal liability, both at $6 CAD and $1 CAD per day respectively
  • I personally am fully covered through my corporate insurance policy which states not to purchase insurance at the desk when hiring a car.
  • Spent 2 days in Vancouver, Canada and then drove to Oregon where we will be spending all my time (working)
  • The rental agreement is actually split into 3 since Rental car agencies only have contracts for 30 days. So I have the 3 agreements on dates of 19 Apr, 19 May and 18 Jun.
  • Oregon has the following requirements for Insurance found on the dmv site
  • My wife is listed as a second driver
  • My wife has independant travel insurance that covers medical and car excess insurance only
  • My corporate insurance does not cover her for vehicle insurance

What I am wanting is to find a way to get my wife covered to drive the car for the rest of the duration. This has been proven to be quite difficult for the following reasons.

  • The Rental car agency will not allow insurance to be added mid agreement. If it is possible to add at the agreement boundaries the insurance would be $24 USD per day making it quite expensive
  • The Rental car agency office cannot add the insurance in Oregon since the car was rented in Canada.
  • We tried online sites but they can only provide insurance with dates that match the agreements. It would be possible to have it start on 19 May, however...
  • They state that it only applies to US rented vehicles. (this particular site which would have given us about 40 USD insurance per the 30 day period)
  • Cannot get personal vehicle insurance such through AAA as they do not cover rental cars (afaik)

So with all that in place. Is there a way to get insurance for my wife for the same rented car while in the US (Oregon)? the most promising lead was were we found specific online companies that can cover Rental cars but we need one that will allow cover while in the US for a Canadian rented car making sure the level of cover match Oregon state law for vehicle cover.

Having a high excess is not an issue because we have travel insurance that will cover that.

Thanks

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  • Do you have an American Express card? If so, check if you can get their "Premium" rental car insurance. $16-25/rental (NOT per day!). You probably won't be able to get it mid-rental, but at your next 30 day period.
    – Doc
    Commented May 10, 2015 at 20:49
  • No I do not have an American Express.
    – aqwert
    Commented May 11, 2015 at 20:49

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This is not a wisecrack, but why rent in Vancouver for 2 days when the rest of the time would be in Oregon? Is this a special car or agency that will be reimbursed by your company?

With all the stipulations and barriers, it might just make more sense to see if you can return the car to a local office and then hire a vehicle in Oregon instead.

You may need to pay some penalty to return the vehicle at an office away from Vancouver, but the cost may be much less than the added mid-agreement insurance fees.

Then, depending on where/when you fly to New Zealand, you can drive the rental to the airport or take a ride on a bus from Washington State to Vancouver.

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  • The rental cost is near half that in Portland. Besides even if we did rent in Oregon the insurance cost would be quite high. Also this is Vancouver Canada not Vancouver WA
    – aqwert
    Commented May 11, 2015 at 20:51
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    No, I understand that's Vancouver in Canada, but the issue seemed to be about the legality and/or cost of insurance versus the overall cost. If your company is picking up the tab for the car hire, no worries (hopefully); if it's your dime and your costs with the new baby -- congrats, by the way -- then you might just choose to get a ZipCar or something on those days that she NEEDS a separate vehicle.
    – CraigM
    Commented May 12, 2015 at 21:26
  • It is sort of my cost. We get an allowance but the rental comes out of that. If the company was paying outright then would have no issues for them to pay the full local amount,
    – aqwert
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 23:16

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