Car rental insurance, waiving CDW

Cathy, I am not the expert on this-they'll be along soon, I am sure, but I would refer you to my post in the Ireland section about my positive experience after taking the CDW and buying down the deductible to zero:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/ireland/driving-in-ireland

For me, if I'm going to drive in a foreign country, unfamiliar with where I'm going and the rules of the road, I don't mind paying a little extra to be covered. I believe it is generally true that your U.S. auto insurance will not apply.

Good luck and have a great trip,
Dave

I don't know how much time you have but if you have or can get an American Express card and use it for the rental you get CDW at no charge.

My husband, after 40+ years in the insurance business, says "Always buy the CDW." It's expensive, but should anything happen the damage will be charged to your credit card and you will then have to wrangle with your credit card company to (hopefully) eventually get the charge reversed.

The CDW question has so many aspects, it's no wonder you're in a quandary. First of all, if you take the rental company's insurance, you'll add a hefty, not a small sum to the cost of the car. Only you can decide how much you want to shell out. If you do take the CDW, be sure you understand what is and isn't covered and what is the deductible, if any. I'm sure I remember complaints on this site from people who got hit with large deductibles that they thought they had protected themselves against. Also note that tire damage is almost never covered. The suggestion about getting an AMEX card is a good one. We have had two experiences using them for rental car insurance. The first (broken windshield) was without the separate Premium Rental Car Insurance; i.e., just with the insurance that automatically comes with the card. They handled the claim promptly and efficiently. In the past several years we've taken to buying their Premium coverage, under $20 if you live in some states, a little more in others. That's for up to 42 days, not per day. We had some minor car body damage on our last trip; and, again, the claim was handled with dispatch. You can get an AMEX card for $95/year, almost certainly less than CDW coverage will add to your rental cost. BTW, Gemut, has an excellent statement, on their website, about the ins and outs of renting cars. If you're not familiar with them, they're also good people to work with.

Your problem is the combination of exposure vs hitting the credit card limit which would cramp the rest of your trip or maybe even impact beyond.

You don't know the financial situation of the people giving advice, nor should you. Undoubtedly some have all three cards, could put the price of the whole demolished car on one, and keep on traveling on the same card without having to drag the others out of their pocket.

Our credit card includes CDW (on paper) but we now purchase the CDW anyway. This is because years ago I phoned them and asked multiple times, in multiple ways, was I covered for any eventuality. They assured me no matter what I was covered. Well, we had a small mishap and banged up the bumper. I called them to ask what to do and they said they had to research to see if I was covered. They said that in fact, no, I'm not covered for everything and that each claim is judged individually.

(happy ending - there was a huge kerfuffle with another customer when we returned the car so the depot wasn't at all fussed about the damage to our car)

I have related my experience with credit card insurance here many times, so I won't get into it again. I will just say that, based on that experience, I will never again trust credit card insurance when traveling abroad. Not taking the CDW just leaves you so exposed if the credit card insurance should decide not to cover you.

We have a Capital One World MasterCard which offers the same CDW coverage plus no foreign transaction fees. We always travel with that card, a Capital One ATM only card (again, no fees, plus it won't work as a debit card so your exposure is less should it be lost or stolen, and it's associated with a money market account which earns interest between trips . . . and it's a handy way to save for the next one!), and a back-up credit card (Amex is a good one, again with no foreign transaction fees).

Full disclosure: I've never had to actually make a claim, so I don't know how it would work in practice. However, I would expect to encounter some resistance (any CC company would want to do due diligence to be sure they're paying a valid claim) in the form of paperwork, time on the phone, etc. I believe this would be true no matter what option you choose - insurance companies love to take your money, but don't particularly care to part with theirs!

We just applied for American Express card for the purpose of using it to rent a car. We plan to purchase the "premium" car rental insurance for a fee of around $20.00 for our one month rental. The card we chose has no annual fee, our reservation will be made and paid with USD, so there are no other fees. In the past we have just used our Visa card "insurance" , but after reading from others that this premium insurance is much better, we decided to get it for this trip. Have only heard positive feedback from those that use this insurance .