So you are standing at the truck rental counter and the representative asks, "Did you want to purchase insurance for the truck?". The answer is commonly "no" because many people believe that their auto insurance covers rental trucks. Fact: 99% of the time auto insurance does not cover a rental truck, and for the 1% of cases where they do cover the truck it's limited to the smallest truck available (usually 10').
To be clear, we are not suggesting that you have to buy the insurance or, for that matter, suggesting that you should. The decision of whether or not to purchase the insurance should be based on the size of the truck, your familiarity with driving rental trucks and, of course, the distance that you plan to travel. For those of you who opt to purchase the insurance we want to bring a little-known fact to your attention: The two most commonly damaged areas of the truck are not covered by the rental insurance.
Truck Rental Coverage Exclusions
The two most commonly damaged areas of a rental truck are the corner cap and the tires. Unsurprisingly, these are also the two most important exclusions in a typical rental truck insurance policy.