[ard]

Hi,

I am looking for wisdom on personal (not business) car rentals.

What is the consenus of fellow Pelicanites on / what are the alternatives to buying the insurance offered through the rental companies?

I know that if I do not purchase the insurance offered by the rental company, then for a domestic rental my own insurance is "primary".

I don't like that idea, but the idea of paying ~$40 / day (that > $14,000! per year) to the rental company seems like the proverbial highway robbery. (yes I know, a rental car is rarely rented out 365 days a year, but you get my point).

I have heard anecdotal evidence of there being credit card companies that offer "primary" insurance when paying with that credit card, but I have never actually run across such a card. Does anyone know of such a card? Even if such a card exists my, again anecdotal, recollection is that it covers only damage to the rented vehicle not other vehicles, or liability.

I am planning a trip by car from New York (pickup at Kennedy airport), to Philadelphia and back to Boston and up into Maine in the summer. Quite a bit of driving, so "per mile driven" which seems a reasonable proxy for the likelihood of having an accident, buying the offered insurance may not be such a bad deal.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.