Miles on a car are not the only thing that stop a household. Days without a car stop it too. When a covered repair keeps the car in the bay, the question is who gets you around while it is there.
What to read for
Read the section that covers transportation or rental. Some contracts say nothing about it. Some name a daily allowance for a rental car, some name a total number of days, and some pay a set amount toward a ride. Each of these is a different rule. Read the words, not the sales sheet.
Check whether the allowance starts when the car enters the shop or after the repair is approved. Check whether it starts when the claim is paid or while the claim is still open. A gap between those two points is where households get stranded.
Check the class of vehicle. A contract may only rent a small economy car. If you drive a larger vehicle for work or to carry passengers, ask whether a comparable vehicle is covered or whether you must accept a smaller one.
Questions to bring to the counter
Ask who pays for the rental, the shop or the contract company, and whether you must use a particular rental company. Ask whether the rental is arranged by the shop, by a phone line, or by you paying first and filing for reimbursement. Each route moves the wait and the paperwork to a different person.
Ask how many days are allowed in total and whether that total resets with each new claim. Ask what happens if the repair runs past the last day. Ask what the contract says about a car that cannot be repaired at all.
Ask whether the loaner or rental clause applies to the vehicle you drive, and whether it depends on the type of repair. Some terms exclude rentals for wear items or for diagnosis alone. Ask which kind of repair triggers it.
Compare two contracts side by side
Put two contracts next to each other and find the same three lines: the start day, the day count, and the vehicle class. If one contract is silent on any of these, ask for the printed sentence before you decide. Silence is an answer too. It may mean you pay for the ride yourself.
The front page table lists companies whose published terms say they accept high-mileage cars. Use it to find the names to ask, then read each contract on its own terms. For the figures a company prints, go to the table, not to this article.