European car rental throught Costco question about insurance

We always rent through Auto Europe. Over 20 times in the last 25 years. Never once had a problem. Always get the no deductible. Yes, it costs a little more, but I shouldn't be in Europe in a car if I worried about a few hundred dollars. We are renting in Dresden in July, and I read over the agreement and in the start of a new paragraph was:

An International Driver's license is mandatory in addition to home license if home license is not in Roman Alphabet.
Take it for what it is worth, but we always have one.

Thank you ... we have used Auto Europe for all the past trips and I feel very comfortable with them .... I guess why mess with success. Yep all the "drivers" in our group have the international DL ready for our trip in May.

It’s an International Driving Permit, not license. It is not a license. The rental car company will want to see your valid U.S. license. I doubt anybody will ever ask to see the IDP unless you have an issue.

Regarding Costco, when you rent through it, it will be through one of the major companies, Enterprise, Dollar, Budget, Avis, etc. When you pick up your vehicle at the counter, that’s when you get the insurance. Our upcoming Costco rental for Spain is through Enterprise. On the confirmation it says:

The renter must present their Costco membership card at the time of pickup.
Car insurance, optional equipment and other services may be added for an additional cost at the time of pickup

Edited: As cyn mentioned, the insurance is between you and the rental company and nothing to do with Costco. Your insurance options will be stated when you pick up the car. I equate it to renting a car online. When reserving the vehicle you’re not presented with the zero deductible, full coverage option. That option is mentioned when you pick up the vehicle. Same for renting through Costco.

Every time I’ve rented a car in a non English speaking country in Europe (Spain, Germany, France, Sicily) the people preparing the contract spoke English. I’ve always understood what I was signing for.

@Cyn - Costco offers vacation packages, but I’m not sure about actual tours. You can check the Costco travel website.

My gut feel is that it's better to be presented the insurance terms in English. If you choose to buy insurance at the rental location, it may only be in the local language.

I had no idea that Costco offered European car rentals- that’s surprising, but they’re offering their members another product. I do what insurance options they present - or maybe that’s between the renter and the actual rental company, not Costco, as agent. Are tour packages an option, too?

Not to be facetious, but to maybe bring a bit of levity into the conversation: Since it’s Costco, do they only have extra large vehicles available? Chevy Suburbans, or Hummers - maybe a Mack truck, complete with tandem semi-trailers? And do you have to rent six vehicles, a veritable multi-pack? If you rent on weekends, are there sample test-drives at each corner of the aisles? Maybe Sam’s Club will be joining the rental business, too. Like Hertz vs. Avis - Costco vs. Sam’s.

Cyn, Sams Club does do rentals too. I know some people who swear by Costco for domestic rentals (and vacation packages), but I don't think they provide any real bargain - just the illusion of one.

Just returned from Colorado (not relevant to Europe I know) but the Costco Rental on a SUV was one third of any other rate I was ever quoted by anyone. That was an early reservation, Costo eventually changed their price upwards to near market pricing, but it saved me about $2500.

Costco does not include insurance on their rentals, but your "premium" credit card may provide that coverage (although not in Italy?).

I just rented a car through Auto Europe for 5 days, picking up at Münster airport. When I checked Costco car rentals, their choice of European locations was more limited than Auto Europe - I would have had to pick up in Köln rather than Münster - and the cost was a lot higher. I think I was quoted around $250 for 5 days. My cost with Auto Europe was $130.

I've always rented with Auto Europe in the past and have never had a problem, so even though I love Costco, I'm sticking with AE.

I too have used Auto Europe over the years. And I still have a Hertz Gold Card that's in my company name that gets their deepest price discounts. (I've been retired 14 years.)

I use my credit card's insurance benefits except in Italy and Ireland where the rental company's insurance is mandatory by gov't regulations.

We've been getting by on the last couple of trips without a rental car--traveling by trains. But when we hit mountains and places like Tuscany, a rental car is just about mandatory.

Costco can be the best deal in travel if you want to go where their packages offer deals.

We just got back from NYC on a deal that was 30% cheaper than me putting everything together on my own.

We will be using them for Tahiti in July and, while the savings were only about 10%, the ease of having them plan all inter island transfers was well worth it.

While I have not tried international car rentals yet, I have used Costco for domestic rentals exclusively for the last 10 years or so.

I use Costco for domestic car rentals. I’m not worried about extra insurance since my auto insurance covers rentals here. I’ve always used Auto Europe for rentals in Europe so I got curious about if I would save money with Costco. I checked for rentals in Ireland, Scotland and England, where I will be in late summer. There was no option for an automatic there, so that’s a no go for me driving on the “other” side. For the France portion of the trip it is less than the Auto Europe full coverage, but is it? There’s no way of knowing without knowing ahead of time how much extra insurance would be. When I search on AE it tells me there’s an unspecified additional fee for dropping the car in a different location than where I picked it up. I know I can call AE to ask, but I’m not ready to rent yet. On Costco I don’t get that warning. I’m not sure if it doesn’t apply, or if they don’t tell you until the car is picked up. I’d love to hear from anyone that has used Costco in Europe to get more information.

I have used Auto Europe a couple of times and it worked fine once, but the second time in the Uk, the supplying company Europacar didn't have the car that I had booked at a fantastic price, and was going to provide me with a similar sized car that had poor trunk space and no navigation system as I had booked.

That forced me to pay almost double for a larger car that I didn't really need. On most occasions, I have booked from US rental companies like Budget and never been taken like that.