Collision Damage Waiver (CDW): Definition
What is Collision Damage Waiver? A collision damage waiver (CDW) is a particular type of insurance which is often offered when you are renting a vehicle and is sold by a rental car company. It typically covers a damage/loss should an accident occur. Typically, an auto rental company charges you about $20 per day for this insurance (which is not really cheap), and there are a couple things that you will want to understand when getting this insurance:
- What’s covered? Are only damages to a vehicle covered, or is 3rd party liability covered as well?
- What are the coverage limits? Often these limits can be low (e.g. minimal limit required by law) whereas accidents with bodily injuries can add up to huge amounts.
- What are the exclusions? Some CDWs may not cover driving on unpaved roads and other such things.
Credit Cards and Collision Damage Waiver
Often credit cards have a feature called “rental car insurance”. In fact, it is a collision damage waiver for rental cars. An important thing to know about this feature is that it does not cover 3rd party liability and your personal injuries. Also, in order to use it you need to pay for your rental car with this credit card and decline the collision damage waiver offered by the auto rental company. This insurance is typically limited in time (e.g. no longer than 48 consecutive days), and if you have a non-standard car (e.g. very expensive rental, cargo van or pick up car etc., it might be not covered) you need to check if your card’s insurance covers it.
Your Auto Insurance and Collision Damage Waiver
If you feel that you need more protection than your credit card offers, or you do not want to spend $15-20 per day for a collision damage waiver offered by a rental agency, there is a better alternative: Your own auto insurance. Many providers offer additional pieces of protection (also called riders) which will protect your rental car. This may only cost you an additional $30 per year on top of your usual premiums.
- Interested to save on your auto insurance? Get a free quote today
- Discover the lowest auto insurance rate across numerous insurance companies
- Spend 15 min to start saving hundreds of dollars annually
Get a free Auto Insurance quote from 10+ Canadian insurers in Alberta
Our Publications related to Auto Insurance
What Analysis of 4,000+ Car Insurance Consumer Reviews Reveals about Canadian Insurers
Background: The last two years have been marked by unprecedented challenges due to the pandemic, both for consumers and companies. Despite the pandemic, life continued, and Canadians were driving cars, were buying or renting houses, going to a doctor and continued doing many other things related to insurance. As the largest Canadian insurance review platform, […]
Introducing a New Tool to Find Out What Issues Canadian Face with Their Insurers
The arrival of COVID-19 has pushed Canadians, more than ever before, online for finding and applying for insurance and banking products. It is not easy, though, to make the right choice without knowing if a particular insurer will be there when you need them the most. As the largest Canadian review platform with thousands of […]
Car Insurance in Alberta – Top Media Stories, Spring 2017
Here are two summaries of top Alberta Car Insurance stories that were published in March and May 2017 in Canadian media outlets: CBC News Edmonton: Insurance company offers $5,500 for truck appraised at more than $40,000 (click to scroll to the story summary) Simcoe Reformer: Changes to benefit entitlement in 2016 adds to family’s struggle […]
Cheap Car Insurance – 7 Things to Know if You Are New to Canada
Something that is quite straight forward for Canadians often turns out to be more complicated for those who are new to Canada. Searching for auto insurance and getting a cheap car insurance policy is one such issue, but we are here to help. Here are some questions you need to answer and steps you need […]
111 Insurance Myths – Everything You Must Know
Hundreds of websites on the Internet perpetuate insurance myths. In this article, we have summarized all the insurance myths we are aware of and catalogued them by type, starting with home insurance, followed by auto insurance, life Insurance etc. If interested, you can unlock another 20 additional insurance myths at the end of our article. […]