In each issue of Business Travel Executive, the members of our Buyer Think Tank offer their individual thoughts on what’s hot, what’s cool and what’s coming next in managed travel.

The Think Tank is a team of eight veteran travel managers from programs that run the gamut in size and complexity – but each member contributes a unique viewpoint. Travel Buyer’s POV brings fresh perspectives and ideas to inspire innovation and thought leadership in the corporate travel industry.

With the effects of the pandemic fading, there’s a steady drumbeat of business travelers returning to the road – in many cases, literally. The result is a bounce in rental car demand, and a resulting rise in rates. Accident repair costs have soared as well, meaning insurance is a bigger piece of the pie.

Given that, we take another look at the do’s and don’ts of rental car insurance elsewhere in this issue (Bumper to Bumper, page 16). And for our Buyer’s Think Tank, the problem of how best to deal with rental car insurance always raises as many questions as answers.

Playing the Odds
When I think about car insurance in a corporate program I tend to err on the side of caution. Include the insurance in your negotiated rate. Make sure that you have LDW, liability, and no deductibles. It makes management of the program simple, safe, and unequivocal. There is never a guarantee that one of your travelers won’t have a catastrophic car accident happen while on the road. The additional cost in your rate for the insurance is minimal compared to the potential cost of a major accident. Now I will qualify my position a little bit.

I have worked for three corporations in the last 22 years. Total T&E for my first company was $150 million. The second was $16 million. My current program is about $80 million. In the two larger programs I’ve made sure insurance is included. The smaller program did not because we were self-insured. The odds are, a larger program is more likely to have a costly accident so including insurance in the rate is worth the extra. Your odds are less in the smaller program, so it’s up to you and your company whether it’s worth it. Mind you, one accident can wipe out any savings. You decide.
– Mark Ziegler


The Hassle Eliminator 
To insure or not to insure – that is the question for car rental. I am a firm believer that contracting your car rental rates inclusive of coverages is the best experience for your travelers. Why put them through the hassles of claims and being chased by suppliers to get damages paid? That’s one less thing for travelers to worry about if something should happen, offering fewer problems when returning the vehicle.

It makes the job easier for buyers, too. It eliminates the need to chase down claims and avoids having to work with your internal insurance folks to get claims paid and fight off the car collection people threatening your travelers for payment. These awful experiences make your travelers question your travel program as a whole. So why not just make life easier for everyone?
– Jennifer Steinke


Risk Tolerance
Is there any sexier topic in our business travel Industry than car rental insurance? Like so much around insurance, it’s absolutely necessary and if you’re not paying attention, it can be one of the hardest spots to find out what your coverage is. Over my career, I’ve worked at companies that self-insured, ones that negotiated it into the rate, and finally ones that made use of coverage that came with the corporate card program.

If insurance is not negotiated with the rental provider, employees tend to pay for it on site as they’re unsure if they have coverage and want to do the right thing. This leads to additional unnecessary spend (although far less than when an employee gets into an accident with no coverage). Since every travel program is different, look at your own risk tolerance and your company’s culture to determine how to deal with the question.
– Rosemary E. Maloney


What Are the Priorities? 
As corporate travel continues to rebound closer to the levels we were seeing in 2019, rental car providers are having some of the biggest changes and challenges, from having cars available to the maintenance (or lack thereof). Travelers are feeling the pain – cars aren’t clean, deductibles are higher and service levels are lower, etc. How should corporate travel buyers and their travelers react to these problems?

My concern with rental car companies today is the increase in deductibles and the no flexibility when issues arise. You rent a car and the tires are old. You have a flat, replace the tire, return the car and now you have the car company not wanting to refund the expense but to charge you for replacing the old tire. Something does not seem right – is it all about the money or the safety of the traveler? Do the right thing.
– Gloria Gonzalez


From Near to Far 
Despite the rise of ridesharing, many corporations still rely heavily on car rentals for business travel. Not only are corporations negotiating rental prices but these rates factor in insurance coverage as well. In the event of an accident, there is very little for a traveler to do since the claim is handled by the rental company. The question arises whether a traveler should purchase the insurance if it’s not built into the rate. Some corporations are self-insured and don’t need the additional coverage, while others have high deductibles which isn’t always cost effective.

I recommend that my travelers traveling within their home country not purchase insurance even if it is not included in the rental agreement. We have found when pulling expense report data, the cost to pay for accidents is far less than the additional fees to insure the car. However, when travelers are on trips outside of their home country and no insurance is built into the rate, we recommend that they pay for the additional insurance. We have messaging setup with our TMC and online booking tool to direct travelers when to purchase insurance based on the rental region.
– Chris Brockman