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Help with Rental Car Insurance - CDW, Super CDW, or Travel Guard???

Posted by (Somerville, MA) on

Hi,

For 23 days in France I've got 3 insurance options:

$660 is the price for the Rental Car (I need automatic, so it is more expensive than others have noted on this board)

  1. I can go with CDW for a total of $1160 (EuropeCar 'Compact' similar to a VW Golf through AutoEurope)
  2. I can go with the no deductible option for $1360 (same car)
  3. I got a quote from Travel Guard for $220 (so it would be $660+$220 = $880

I will start making calls to understand the differences, but it seems to me that option 3 is likely a good one, given the notes in the RS Guide ($1,000 deductible, vs. $0 deductible, vs. $250 deductible). Any reservations about this option? Any other thoughts or opinions about this?

I know some will suggest that I lease, but I've looked at 3 different short term lease sites and the cost for the 23 days were considerably higher than these three options. If anyone has links about leasing that you think would lead to a better price, please forward.

Thanks,
Matt

Posted by
995 posts

Do you have an American Express card? AMEX has this amazing coverage where you pay a flat rate of $24.95, one time, for up to 42 days of rental car coverage. It's not valid in a few European countries -- Italy or Ireland, I know -- but I think France is OK. You sign up with AMEX, then when you rent a car using your AMEX card, the insurance automatically kicks in. I've done this in Germany and saved hundreds of dollars on a two week rental. You can google Am Express car rental coverage for more info. I've also had good luck renting cars in several different countries from gemut.com. Andy is easy to communicate with, and he recently arranged a problem-free rental with Europcar in Italy for me.

Posted by
18 posts

Check into coverage through all of your credit cards, not just Amex. I second gemut.com; I used them for a couple of rentals in Germany but even if you don't rent from them, their website has a ton of valuable information on renting cars in Europe.

Posted by
10344 posts

Rick has a good discussion of this subject, somewhere on his site, not on the Forum. You might want to read it.

Posted by
1633 posts

Like yourself, I rented an automatic through AutoEurope (a broker). They arranged my rental with Europcar which I prefer over the other agencies. I use Travel Insured insurance which covers my trip and my rental car. This insurance covers "loss of use", tires, undercarriage, etc. You can get a quote online. I get a discount because I have USAA insurance. On my most recent trip of 30 days and at my age, my policy cost me $81 which covered my rental car and trip.

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