Booking with Insurance

[Z3R0]

You'll notice that when booking on Hotwire, you're given the chance to add things like Rental Car Protection, Trip Protection, Hotel Protect, etc during the booking process. I think a lot of people make the false assumption that this is 'I changed my mind, cancel my reservation' insurance.

It's important to read the brief description given for each policy, as they tell you valuable information. For instance, the Trip Protection policy will tell you that it covers for cancelation due to medical or other serious emergencies. It also mentions that the policy doesn't cover for non-medical, pre-existing medical, or non-emergency situations.

In addition, all of these plans are provided by a partner company called Access America. You'll notice on the billing review page that it mentions the policy will be billed by Access America directly. You also receive a seperate confirmation email for this including your policy number and conditions.

Now, this next bit is a pretty big deal. Car rental agencies have a tendancy to "bully" customers into accepting their insurance policy(which is for a much higher price), saying that they do not see any other policy booked with in their system. Whether or not this is true no one seems to know except maybe Hotwire and the rental Agency.

It's important to print your confirmation email and take it with you, as this provides proof you have pre-existing coverage. If they hassle you about it, contact the company you booked with and explain the situation. This usually results in the agency Corporate office getting a call, which results in the local counter agents getting straightened out.