Renting a car for vacation

Vacation season is upon us and many people may opt to fly & rent a car at their destination or rent a car to drive to their destination instead of using their own vehicle.  Should they purchase the rental car insurance?  What should they consider before making the decision to buy or decline the rental car insurance? - While many insurance carriers will provide coverage for a rental car, it may be better to buy the rental car coverage.  First, they will probably be driving a car they have not driven before, in an unfamiliar area.  So while they are reading a map or trying to manage the GPS (or just looking at the sights) it's easier to have an accident.  And if their vacation spot is a popular destination, there may be other tourists driving around in rental cars who are distracted by trying to figure out how to turn on the windshield wipers or headlights.  Other considerations are dimunition in value & loss of use.  While the rental car is being repaired, the rental company can't rent it out, which represents loss of potential income for the rental car company.  And once the car has been repaired, a CARFAX report will show that it was damaged, so the resale value may be less.  Since most insurance will not cover loss of use or dimunition in value, the customer could be responsible for paying.