If you have rental car coverage on your automobile insurance
policy, and you go and rent a U-Haul cargo van or pick-up truck -
are you covered? What do you think?
This is not an easy question and is misunderstood by most. The
safest route is to talk to your insurance broker before assuming
anything is covered ... that is what we are here for. That being
said, here is the basic answer:
The rental car coverage on your auto policy is designed for when
you rent a personal vehicle, and not for most trucks and vans that
you might hire for a move. As a result, there are some exclusions
that would apply. Here are the main ones that would apply:
- The coverage would not apply to any vehicle with a gross
vehicle weight rating over 4500kg (that would exclude most moving
trucks and large vans) (check your specific policy wordings to
confirm exclusions).
- The coverage would not extend to carrying passengers or
commercial use of the rented vehicle, in case you were running
errands for your business.
- The coverage is restricted to only those people named on the
underlying policy.
- Note that there is also a dollar limit to the coverage that
might be an issue.
So as mentioned, every situation is unique, so give us a call to
make sure.
Of note, one of the recommendations put forth in the Report on
the Five Year Review of Automobile Insurance, presented to the
Financial Services Commission of Ontario is as follows:
"The superintendent intends to amend the OAP 1 to provide a
limited amount of coverage for vehicles with a GVWR over 4,500
kg's."
This is just a recommendation and has not been adopted, so
ensure you are properly covered.