The sunset clause for the amendment that allows New York car rental agencies to sell collision/loss damage waivers to their customers was recently extended to 2013 by the New York state legislature.

In 1989, New York legislators took away car rental companies’ right to sell CDW and LDW, limiting the RACs to customer liability , which only required the renter to pay $100, despite how the accident occurred.

“When a lot of customers found out about the $100 limit, they would just take $100 or $200 from the person who hit them and let them go,” says Sharon Faulkner, a Thrifty licensee in Albany. “We lost over 300 rental car companies in New York, most of which were never were able to come back from this.”