As a homeowner, I am concerned that your liability insurance coverage (state minimum, in NYS = 25k/50k) will not protect me or the injured party should I cause an accident. I called your rep and was told to check with Commerce or State Farm Insurance for additional non-owners liability but these companies do not cover New York. I can get GEICO but it is about $1000 per year. Is there any chance you can offer optional additional coverage like the car rental companies do?

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2004

Answers

Judy,

We are not able to offer any supplemental insurance at this time. We are always looking for improved coverage and options and we hope to be able to address this for our members going forward. We will continue to recommend that members with special insurance requirements consult with a broker on meeting those needs.

Thanks

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2004

I believe Zipcar's normal liability coverage is $1 million. This has not been the easiest question to answer, and almost stopped me from joining Zipcar.

In fact, according to this page: http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/faq-28 Zipcar's liability insurance is the state minimum. This is simply unacceptable for anyone who owns a home or anything of value.

However, there's good news here: http://www.zipcar.com/help/insurance which states that Zipcar maintains a $1 million liability policy in addition to all state minimums.

I don't understand why Zipcar's own people appear to be confused on this issue. I called the offices several times about this before I joined, and nobody seemed to know much about the insurance questions. Maybe it's not important for college students or others who are just getting started in life, but for many others insurance is either a strong selling point or a deal-breaker.

For now, I am relying on Zipcar's help statement about the $1 million liability. But the answer from Stephen Oakley doesn't refer to this and it makes me worry. Please, Zipcar, can we have a clarification? If all you provide is state minimum liability, I'm afraid I'll have to stop using Zipcars immediately.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2004

I had called the Zipcar staff because I was also confused regarding the $1 million liability. They told me that the $1 million does not cover the member, and I think they said it is to protect Zipcar. I agree with you, this is a big problem.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2004

I'm another member who has worried about insurance and exactly what it covers. In addition to all the grief and enormous liability from an accident is the cost of a stolen car. What coverage does a Zipcar member have if the car is stolen?

I've had rental cars stolen while rented to me and those are exciting. The rental car company would bill me for the replacement cost of the car, loss of usage which could be many weeks or months of rental, plus lots of other costs which would add up to more than twice the cost of a new car. Fortunately, I had coverage elsewhere so I didn't have to pay for the loss.

Now that Zipcar has expensive cars, how much coverage does a Zipcar member have for theft?

I've tried to buy insurance from Metlife for the cars I rent, including Zipcar, but they would not sell such insurance. For now, I've minimized my usage of Zipcar and keep the membership only for emergencies.

Sure would be nice if Zipcar said a little more about the extent of insurance coverage.

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2004

The question regarding coverage if a Zipcar is stolen while on your "watch" is a VERY good one. I hadn't considered this. I know I'm a little unclear on what the insurance covers if involved in an accident, but I REALLY would like to know the answer to the stolen vehicle coverage question. Anxiously waiting...

-- Anonymous, November 08, 2004

Try going to your current homeowner or apartment insurance provider and request a Personal Umbrella Policy quote. If you don't have a car or a youth driver in your household, you may find that being a good solution. Being a MA insurance agent, can't help you much outside of my resident state, but the product should help you better protect your use of non-owned cars.

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2004

About the umbrella policies:

I checked with Metlife in Massachusetts and was told that their umbrella policy will cover claims from Zipcar usage only if the policy holder has an existing Metlife automobile policy. Since I don't have a car, the umbrella policy won't work for me.

Maybe other insurance company umbrellas will cover Zipcar usage without an existing auto policy, but it would be much more expensive since I get Metlife insurance through my employer at group rates. I think I tried this some time ago and the rates were almost double or about $400+, if I remember correctly.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2004

I just joined zipcar and am concerned about this issue, too. In fact, I'm not going to drive a zipcar until I can get more info on this subject. BTW, as I understand it, liability umbrella policies usually require that one maintain a level of primary coverage which is much higher than the New York state minimum. I'm not an expert in this field, however.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2005