In preparation for travel launch I divested myself of most of my possessions. One of the first to go was my car, so I no longer have traditional car insurance. These policies help insure against losses and liability for car rentals, so other coverage had to be sourced.
In the before times I was often adding Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) and Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) each time I rented a car, adding $20-30 a day to the expense.
My spiffy travel focused credit cards include CDW insurance as a benefit (as well as including other car related benefits). Declining this coverage on the rental will save you $10-15/day, and so in a particularly car centric travel year saved me over $1,000. I have had opportunities to explore this benefit. My parked car in Cyprus was sideswiped, causing $400 in damage. The claim process was glacial, required a ton of documentation, but ultimately paid out. More recently a claim from an ‘incident’ in Mexico, in which a stationary metal bollard leapt out and crashed in to my moving car, was likewise paid in full, and was more quickly approved since I (unfortunately) knew better what was required.
Know that some rental companies will force you to buy coverage. Recently, in South Africa, they would only honour my CDW coverage if I produced a letter from the card issuer specifically naming the country as one covered. This is, realistically, an impossible burden. Just smile and pay the additional expense.
PAI coverage is intended to insulate you from property or human damage you cause while driving the car. Again, this runs $10-15/day. Needless to say, if you are drive drunk this voids the coverage. Before you leave your job, and while you still have an actual physical address in the US, buy a ‘named non-owner liability’ policy. These are very, very rare, and offered by only a couple of insurers (Geico issues mine). Unlike normal insurance, which is issued to an individual or family based on the car that they own, the named non-owner policy covers an individual without a vehicle being specified. I picked my thresholds of liability coverage and now know exactly how much is covered with each rental. And I like that the insurer is one I know, and have done business with for many years, rather than XYZ Company that the rental agency has picked. The policy runs me about $360/year and so, averaging eight rental days a month, it saves me over $800/year compared to the à la carte option.