No. The insured is responsible for paying their own deductible.
You have to pay whatever your deductible amount is.
Read your contract, or talk to the branch where you rented the car. Usually a deductible only comes into play if you did not purchase insurance on the rental car and your own insurance policy is involved.
No. Insurance co will not pay drink and drive accidents. Neither Life Insurance nor auto insurance cos.
The Motor Insurance Bureau's purpose is to get compensation for people who are involved in accidents with uninsured drivers and have no other way to be compensated.
It depends on the person. The advantage to a higher deductible is lower premiums, however, the disadvantage is having to come up with a large sum of money if you're involved in an at-fault accident. A good question to ask yourself is (for instance, if your deductible is $1000), "If I'm involved in an accident that is my fault, can I come up with $1000 quickly?"
Yes, otherwise known as market value less your deductible
Not with respect to personal auto insurance. However, when commercial auto insurance is involved, especially fleet coverage, there sometimes is. It is not called a deductible, but a "self-insured retention". The insured selects an amount that it is willing to pay toward the indemnity of a third party before the insurer's obligation to pay is triggered.
No. But they won't pay for it of course. =)
No, the police never notify insurance companies of accidents or tickets. It is the responsibility of the insured party to notify their insurance company.
Only if there were another vehicle involved. If for instance you back into a tree you wouldn't want to make a claim, unless the damage exceeded the deductible. Perhaps not even then.
has this vehicle been involved in any traffic accidents
Possibly. Insurance companies determine your rate by looking at characteristics that predict future loss. Think about this in terms of receiving a traffic ticket. If you get a speeding ticket, it doesn't cost the insurance company anything, but you can expect your rate to increase. The logic here is that behavior A has a correlation to the future probability of causing the insurance company to pay a claim. Studies have shown that people involved in not at-fault accidents tend to cause future at-fault accidents at a rate higher than those drivers that have not been involved in any accidents.