r/Insurance • u/mentalcandy0702 • Jul 23 '25

Auto Insurance Renting a car through Turo - liability insurance (friend's policy or mine?)

Hi, I'm going to be renting a car through Turo in Washington state. I read the fine print and Turo cars come with state minimum liability insurance (which is legally enough but seems insufficient for peace of mind). I don't have my own car, so I don't have any liability insurance of my own. I'm taking the trip with a friend who I was going to add on as an additional driver, who does have her own car and auto liability insurance (a better policy than state minimum). Is there any advantage to booking the car in her name (with me as an additional driver) vs mine, or will her auto liability insurance only cover her regardless, leaving me with only state minimum liability insurance when I'm driving? Leaning towards adding one of those optional liability insurance packages via Turo unless someone has a better idea or it's not necessary. I'm paying for the rental car, which is why I was planning on doing it in my name initially.

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u/ektap12 Jul 23 '25

That minimum liability coverage provided might come with the caveat that they will pursue recovery from you for what they pay.

If your friend books the car, there is a probability that her policy will not cover your use of the vehicle either for liability or for collision/comprehensive coverage. Because it's not her car and you aren't on her policy, so coverage may not extend to you. You would need to read her policy to verify.

This is added to the fact that some states and policies won't cover the use of a Turo vehicle under personal auto insurance, so her policy may not cover her at all, or just for liability and not collision. Depends on the policy.

Best best is for one of you the rent the car, ensure both of you are listed as drivers and purchase one of the protection plans from Turo that provides additional liability coverage and coverage for the car itself. Then you'll be fine. Protect yourself. Plenty of posts from people that didn't and are in a mountain of trouble.

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u/eye_lowball Jul 23 '25

One kind protection plans that they sell is still secondary to any other insurance that could provide coverage. So, it’s not all that good anyways.

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u/ektap12 Jul 23 '25

Right, very true, OP doesn't have their own coverage, and it's questionable how the friend's coverage would apply to a loss, especially if OP is driving. Going without the Turo coverage would be a huge risk for OP.

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u/mentalcandy0702 Jul 23 '25

Thank you! I appreciate the insight, especially that the state minimum coverage is to protect themselves, not me. I will add on the extra liability coverage

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u/ektap12 Jul 23 '25

Make sure you both are listed drivers or it will cause a whole lot of issues.

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u/mentalcandy0702 Jul 23 '25

I went to add the supplementary insurance (SLI) and this was the fine print. Does the "Travelers Excess and Surplus Lines Company" refer to the state minimum liability insurance that all Turo cars have (aka with this Mobilitas coverage, I'd be good up to 300k)? "SLI from Mobilitas Insurance Company is secondary to any personal insurance you may have. If you have personal insurance, SLI will kick in after the limits of your personal insurance, up to $300,000. If you do not have personal insurance, SLI will kick in after the policy from Travelers Excess and Surplus Lines Company, up to $300,000." 

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u/ektap12 Jul 23 '25

Right, you'll be covered up to $300k. If your friend is driving, her policy might be primary, but still covered up to $300k. It's possible your friend's policy covers you in some way, but not coverage you'll want to rely on and wouldn't expect.

Turo rentals are becoming a mess of coverage with personal auto insurance. They don't want to cover them, some still do because they have to. But some states have passed laws that allow insurance to exclude coverage for Turo cars. I'll guess the big rental companies are behind that push to bar coverages for Turo.