Alamo is one of America’s best-rated rental car companies. Like other rental car companies, Alamo offers a full suite of insurance products to their customers.
The Alamo webpage proudly claims: "Alamo Rent A Car, the largest car rental provider to international travelers visiting North America, is a value-oriented, internationally recognized brand serving the rental needs of airport leisure travelers." All good so far, but what about the Alamo car rental insurance plans? In this post, we’ll look at Alamo’s insurance coverage options for their rental vehicles so you can make an informed purchase decision.
Alamo Car Rental Insurance
Most major rental car companies like Alamo offer a variety of rental car insurance products to protect you while you're on the road. These include the usual types such as Collision Damage Waiver (CDW), Liability Coverage, and Personal Accident/ Personal Effects Insurance (PAI/PEI).
In addition, Alamo also offers Roadside Plus, a roadside assistance policy that lets customers access 24/7 roadside assistance during their rental car agreement for an additional fee. This service covers lost key and flat tire replacements, jumpstarts, and fuel delivery when you inadvertently run out of gas on the road. Without this policy, you’ll get charged separately for each service you avail.
Alamo’s CDW coverage is now built into the price of the rental car so you’re automatically opted in to the damage waiver during the booking process. But all other coverages are add-ons that you can buy when you book your rental car with Alamo.
How Much Does Alamo’s Rental Car Insurance Cost?
Alamo’s rental car insurance can add anywhere from $10 to $500 per day to the cost of your car rental, depending on the type of car you’re renting, your location, and other factors. For instance, your CDW can add between $29.99 and $34.99 if you’re renting a car in Florida, while it can be as high as $500 in California. Since CDW is already inclusive of your rental quote, you need to check your Alamo rental confirmation if it discloses the actual payment and limits for your CDW coverage.
For the other coverages, the cost is around $9 to $14 per day for liability insurance and between $5 to $9 per day for personal accident insurance policy. Should you want roadside assistance, be prepared to add around $7 per day to your rental bill.
You can check out our comparison of major car rental companies’ insurance costs to see how Alamo compares with others.
Should you get rental car insurance from Alamo?
So what precisely is the verdict when it comes to Alamo? Well, as a mega rental company, Alamo promotes a range of services to suit your needs. So you might think you’d benefit from convenience when you avail your rental car insurance from them when you book your rental vehicle. But hold that thought: While this global entity is among the trailblazer’s ITO rental car offerings, it all may sound good only on the surface. When you dig deeper, you are bound to find less attractive options with Alamo, especially considering competition in the market space. Reviewing the terms and conditions displayed when searching for a quote online from Alamo makes a good start point. Click here and learn all about Alamo Rent A Car.
No cash payments allowed
Alamo's Car Rental Cash Policy does not allow cash payments, not even as a deposit to secure a booking. The reason given is the security risks placed on their agents, but we suspect it goes deeper. Credit cards offer the best guarantee for rental car billing as it is quite open-ended. The Rental Agreement you signed even empowers Alamo to raid your finances via your credit card for the deductible and other third-party billing (citations, etc.).
Bad customer experience
Before you do buy your rental car insurance from Alamo, you should be aware that there are customers who have had a very bad experience with their insurance purchase. For instance, there are some complaints from customers about getting charged for CDW despite stipulating that it was included in the rental price.
Race Against Time
One of the FAQs listed on Alamo’s About Page is, “Does Alamo have a grace period for returning a car late?” Under the heading, “Grace Period for Car Rental Returns” is this comment:
“There is generally a 29 minute grace period for daily rentals. If the vehicle is returned within 2 hours of the time it was rented on a subsequent day additional hourly charges will apply. If you return the vehicle 2 hours or more from the time it was rented on a subsequent day, you will be charged for an additional day of rental.”
Not much maneuver room there and presumably, an additional day of rental penalty attracts extra billing in respect of Alamo car rental insurance, if it was accepted.
Which to Choose: Alamo Car Rental Insurance or Bonzah.com?
None of the rental giants is in the business of insurance, although they all want to make money out of what they term “insurance”. A clever renter will seek rental car insurance from professionals authorized to provide this service. Check out our more affordable car rental insurance options on Bonzah.com, and experience getting fully covered when you rent a vehicle from almost any rental company.