We've all been there. Staring at the website of a campervan rental company and not knowing which insurance to purchase. Between collision damage waivers, excess and deductibles, and liability, it feels overwhelming and scary to chose one. You can't help but think to yourself: 'What if I chose the wrong type or pay more than I need to?'.
In this article, I'll break down the four types of insurances you generally need for renting a campervan. So next time you are staring at that campervan rental website with all their insurance options, you will be able to decide confidently.
Which insurance should you purchase for your next campervan hire? When you are on a road trip with a rented campervan, four things need to be insured:
- Vandalism or theft of the campervan
- Injuries to others and damages to their vehicles
- Damages to yourself
- Damages or theft of your personal belongings
A lot of people believe that their rental is covered through their credit card, travel insurance, or their own car insurance policy (if they own one).
Although some of these services provide some sort of coverage for rented vehicles, there is a catch: campervan hires are most often excluded from their policies. So, before you rely on your credit cards or other insurances, make sure to check with them first if campervan hire is included in their plans.
1. Damages or theft of the campervan
All rental companies offer this type of insurance. They might call it collision damage waiver (CDW) or loss damage waiver (LDW). What this means is that you pay a daily fee to the rental company. If the vehicle would get stolen or damaged then instead of paying for the full amount, you would only pay a capped amount. This capped amount is called a deductible or excess.
How does the deductible work?
In some places, like in California, there is no deductible. So if you purchase this insurance and something happens to the car, the car rental company will take care of repairing it without charging you anything for it.
On our road trip through the Southwest of the US, we bought this insurance for US$11 a day, and it was a lifesaver. As we were driving towards Zion National Park, in the middle of nowhere in Utah, a deer hit us from the side. Yup, you read that right.
The window from the side door broke into one million pieces, and the back of the van got a bit dented. The good part is that the deer survived and ran into the forest before we could recover from the shock.
Luckily, because we had this CDW insurance and we had rented the car from California (no deductible, remember?), we did not have to pay anything for the damages.
In some other places where a deductible is applicable, the amount might be quite high. It can range between US$500 - US$5000.
In theory, the deductible is the capped amount you pay for damages to the rented vehicle. So let's say that you bumped into a pole while reversing out of a parking lot. The car rental company might say that the fix for that is US$1,500. If your deductible is US$500, you only need to pay that amount. The rental company would pay the remaining US$1,000.
If the damage to the vehicle is below the US$500, you should only pay for the amount for fixing the damages. Some rental companies might be tricky with this policy, though.
We once rented a normal car and the CDW was included with a deductible of 500 euros. When we returned it, the rental company insisted that we had chipped the bumper and that the cost for fixing it was above the 500 euros. Since it was their word against ours and we didn't notice the chip when picking up the car and marked it down on the contract, we had to fork the 500 euros to pay for that small chip on the car. It was painful.
So, what can you do about that deductible to bring it down to zero? There are two ways to achieving this:
- Buy the premium CDW from the car rental company directly. This premium CDW might also be called 'excess reduction insurance'. I would only recommend paying for this if it includes roadside assistance, key loss, and damages to windows, tires, roofs, windshields, lights, the inside of the van, and underbody.
- Deny the CDW from the campervan rental company and buy an excess reduction insurance from a third party. I found this great company called RentalCover.com last year. You pay them half of what you would pay the rental company directly and your excess is reduced to 0. This insurance also covers everything that a premium CDW should include (mirrors, lights, etc.).
The downside of purchasing third-party excess reduction insurance is that:
a) You will need to have that excess money available in case of an accident. So if your excess is US$5,000, you will need to have enough funds in your credit card to pay for that.
b) You need to go through the hassle of claiming the funds. This might involve a lot more paperwork and time than if you would have just purchased the insurance directly through the campervan hire company.
Does my travel insurance, credit card or private car policy cover campervan hire?
Some credit cards, travel insurance, or private car policy insurance might offer some sort of CDW for your car rental hires with a deductible. But it's not that straightforward: campervans might be excluded.
There is another tricky thing.
Not all third party insurances cover the amount you would need to pay for 'loss of use'.
Loss of use? You might ask.
If you damage the car so bad that it ends up being in a repair shop for weeks, the rental company is losing money because they cannot rent this vehicle out. So, they might charge you for this. This charge is called 'loss of use'.
Most rental companies require that you purchase a CDW or show proof of any other policy that might cover this. So again, make sure to check with your third-party provider's fine print before relying on their services.
What would I do?
I would purchase the premium CDW directly from the campervan rental company. This has the benefit that loss of use and damages to non-traditional things like key loss, lights, etc. are covered.
At the end of the day, whether you pick to purchase this insurance directly through the rental company or a third-party one will come down weighing convenience (more expensive) vs hassle of dealing with third-party companies (cheaper).
2. Damages to others and their vehicles
The second kind of insurance you need to consider is third party liability insurance or supplemental liability insurance. This one will take care of covering all the damages you might cause to another vehicle or person.
In some countries, this insurance is mandatory for the owner of the vehicle, in our case the rental company. However, most states in the US do not require rental companies to have this insurance. This means that the driver is potentially liable for injuries to other people and their property.
I would say this is by far one of the most important insurances you need to consider while renting a campervan. If you do end up causing an accident and severely damage another person or vehicle, you could get sued for thousands or even millions of dollars.
It is important to highlight that this insurance would also cover the injuries done to the passengers in your vehicle.
In my research, I did not find any credit card or travel insurance that offer this coverage. So your best bet? Purchase it directly through the car rental company.
3. Damages to yourself
What happens if you get hurt or sick while on your trip, and you need medical assistance? A doctor in any country will definitely help you out, but that help will come with a bill at the end of the visit.
Here is where travel insurance might kick in. I would recommend that you find an insurance policy that will also cover your medical expenses.
The way this usually works is that you pay upfront any medical bill that you might have while traveling. You then file a request for a refund through your travel insurance and get your money back. Depending on your travel insurance, this refund might take days or weeks.
Yvonne, for example, tore a ligament in her foot in New York City back in 2010. She went to the doctor and paid US$2,000 for being treated. Luckily she had travel insurance, which refunded her the expense.
4. Damages or theft to your personal belongings
On a campervan road trip, your vehicle becomes your home. When you leave the campervan for an activity, you might leave some valuables within the van.
Some converted campervans include a safety box, which usually is a wooden or metal box with a lock on it. If someone would break into the car, they could easily break this lock and take everything that is in it.
So, it might be smart to have insurance that covers the loss or theft of any high priced item that you might have in your campervan (laptop, GoPro, DSLR camera, etc.). The crappy thing about this is that if your camera does get stolen, yeah, you will get the money back, but your pictures will be gone - forever, unless you daily create a backup to the cloud.
While we are on the road, we usually leave our laptops at home. Our phones are sufficient for us. We don't mind watching an episode on Netflix on a small screen. Plus, we rarely have the time to watch our favorite tv shows while campervanning anyways.
While we are on a hike or any other activity that allows us to have a backpack, then we take most of our high-valued items with us. Which we would need to take anyways for pictures and videos because these items would be a GoPro and a DSLR camera.
In the case of our headphones and other expensive electrical accessories we either lock our stuff in the campervan safe box (if there is one) or try to hide the items between different items in our luggage (and lock the luggage) and close the van curtains. This also applies to cases where we might go out for a swim, for example.
It is important to contact your insurance provider and ask what things are specifically covered. For example, in the case of our travel insurance:
- They only cover high-value items if the car was broken into while parked in a public area no longer than 2 hours
- For long term parking, they only cover the theft of valuables if the campervan is parked in an official campground and if the theft happened between 6am - 10:pm
In both cases, if electronics were stolen, they only cover up to 50% of their value; this is why we try to avoid taking expensive electronics while traveling. And the ones that we do end up taking, we make sure that we can carry them with us most of the time, e.g., a DSLR camera.
The insurance setup we currently have
- We have travel insurance that covers medical expenses, loss of luggage, and theft of our personal items through the German Ergo insurance.
- We buy third party liability insurance from the campervan rental companies.
- We buy premium CDW from the rental companies.
Here are some examples of how much we have paid for campervan rental insurance in the US and Australia:
You might think: "that is a lot of money!" And I agree, it is. But, personally, I rather pay $500 or so to be fully protected and not worry about it, than having to spend a lot more in case of an accident.
In the case of Australia, not taking any insurance would mean that we would be liable for AUS$5,000. If we would have chosen their partial insurance, the liability drops to AUS$1,500.
Believe me, on an adventurous trip like a campervan road trip, accidents are likely to happen. So rather be safe than sorry, right?
Conclusion
At the end of the day, you need to weigh your options. If you are ok with paying a deductible of let's say US$1,500 in case something happens, then don't purchase the extra insurance.
If you have any insurances already, call them up and ask them what is included and what not. This way, you have a clear picture of what you are liable for, in the case of an accident.
If you have any third-party insurance that covers CDW, then remember to bring a copy of your policy. The rental company will want to have a look at that policy before allowing you to take their vehicle.
Before you purchase a premium CDW from a rental company, make sure that they have roadside assistance and that the insurance covers damages to tires, mirrors, lights, internals, roof, and key loss. If they don't, then buy the normal policy and get a third party excess reduction insurance from another company like RentalCover.com.
We strongly advise you to have your own travel medical insurance, as injuries and accidents can shoot up to millions of dollars in treatment costs. As each country has different insurances with different plans, we recommend you to do some research before choosing one.
Please keep in mind, this is in no way any legal advice. Every campervan rental company has different policies and requirements. So weigh your options and do your homework thoroughly before relying on third-party insurances.
Additional to this, no insurance will refund you any amount of money if an accident is caused by negligence on your part. For example, driving off-road when you are not supposed to. So be sure to drive safely and follow the recommendations from your car rental company.
Is there any story or tip regarding campervan rental insurances that you would like to share with us? Please comment below. We would love to hear from you.
In the meantime, always stay safe and healthy!
If you are new to campervanning, we have a 101 section to answer all of the most common questions first-timers have:
- Find out If Going on a Campervan Road Trip Is Right for You
- Do You Need a Toilet in Your Campervan Rental?
- Best Luggage for a Road Trip in a Small Campervan
And much more!
