Insurance on Rental Cars

The insurance we carry on our personal vehicles covers rental cars in the US. Does this extend to a rental car in Europe?

That's a question you need to ask your insurance company, not here, but I know my insurance company does not cover me in Europe. I don't think most US companies cover you in Europe.

I would be leery about trusting the credit card company. They don't make any money paying out claims. I read the "Terms and conditions" for one of them and they can deny a claim if you do not provide any documentation that they deem necessary. Imagine failing to get some obscure piece of documentation you didn't think necessary, and then having to make transatlantic calls to someone who doesn't speak English try to get that documentation to satisfy your credit card company.

Someone here recently said the credit card company denied her claim because she didn't have a large enough available balance (or was it the outstanding balance) to qualify. And this was after she discussed it with them before going over was assured she had coverage.

I'm afraid the answers to your questions are going to be a lot of "it depends."

Insurance requirements vary by country, generally the minimum legal requirement is third party liability which is usually included in the base rental price. What is legally required is not necessarily all it is a good idea to have, I like some insurance to cover my losses too.

Some US credit cards will provide CDW insurance in Europe, usually these are premium cards, a lot don't. Even those that do can exclude some countries, Italy, Ireland, chunks of Eastern Europe etc. You really need to ask your card issuer.

Same for coverage from your US insurance. Most don't as standard but it does no harm to check.

I'm sure if you come back with the countries you plan to drive in someone can give some more detailed answers.

There's a good discussion of this in Rick's books, and it may be on this website if you search around. I used to buy CDW but it's gotten more and more expensive (it usually also has a high deductable, so rental companies try to sell you extra CDW insurance at the counter), so now I just use my Visa protection. But as some said there are some countries where you can't do this.

This is a duplicate question. The same question is under "To the Boot". Since there are more responses there than here. Lets move the responses so that there is less confusion and a common thread can be maintained.

Before you accept the extortionate insurance rates offered by the rental car companies or place all your trust in your credit card company, look into a supplemental plan that some companies provide. I like the premium plan that American Express offers for approximately $25 per rental, instead of per day as the rental car companies charge. This plan, and some others like it, is an actual insurance policy that provides primary accident coverage. My American Express card would supposedly cover damages from an accident, anyway, so some would probably consider the separate coverage to be a waste of money, but I like this extra measure of security.

Lee, that was me who had the denied claim. They denied it because, they said, I didn't have a large enough credit LIMIT. As you said, I had checked repeatedly to make sure I was covered, and they told me I was. And my limit was the same the whole time. The only charge on the card was the car rental itself, and there was sufficient available credit to cover the car even if I totaled it. But for some reason, the CC company didn't feel inclined to pay my $500 claim.

Mark,

I've used the rental car insurance provided by my credit card in the past, but found there were a lot of exclusions and a lot of "rules" (ie: the renter has to decline the collision but accept the PL/PD coverage provided by the rental firm). Also, ALL of the rental charges must be placed on that credit card. As I usually have at least two credit cards when travelling, there was always the possibility I might have a "memory lapse" and put the reservation on one card and the balance of the charges on another, thereby resulting in NO insurance. Some credit card insurance coverage seems to have exclusions for some countries also (usually eastern Europe).

With one of the credit cards I've used in the past, the rental car insurance was apparently provided by a third party, so it was necessary to call them for information (rather than the credit card customer service department, who didn't seem to know anything at all about the rental car insurance coverage).

The bottom line is that on recent trips I've decided just to pay the full CDW offered by the rental agency, as (for me) the "peace of mind" is worth the extra cost.

As someone else mentioned, Rick covers this in Europe Through The Back Door and some of his other Guidebooks, so you might have a look at those.

Suggest you rent a car at expedia.co.uk--you will get a quote with the insurance included. Saved $$$ over any .com US site