Rental Car Policy Coverage

Car rental insurance in Europe is very confusing. I just rented a car from http://www.1st-ukcarrentals.com/ for use in the UK. They rent worldwide. Their coverage includes full Third-Party Liability. Their Collision Damage Waiver and Theft Protection have hefty "excesses" - deductibles in our terminology - as do all rental companies. You can, and I did, purchase coverage for this "excess" from several independent sites for about USD 75. Its coverage is good for a full year on any car rentals in Europe.
I don't know your travel plans, but public transportation within Madrid and train service to places such as Toledo are excellent. You really don't need a car if you're staying in Madrid.

Oops, forgot to mention that personal injury insurance is not provided by the rental companies. For that you should get medical coverage from Travel Guard or similar so any medical problem would be covered, not just from a car accident.

What I need to know is if it's possible to get liability insurance. What I mean by liability is if in case of an accident and it's our fault who pays for the damage and /or injury to the other party.
This would be for Spain only.

Liability is required and is usually already included in the price of the rental. You don't have to buy it separately.

Debbie, In terms of insurance for rental cars, I normally opt for the maximum CDW offered by the rental firm, with zero deductible. PL & PD should be included with that (be sure to ask about that). Should a "mishap" occur, I don't want any hassles or unexpected expenses, so I believe the cost is worth it for "peace of mind". On a trip to the U.K. a few years ago, I rented a vehicle in Bath and returned to the airport in Bristol. The rental agent found some damage, which I hadn't noticed either at the time of rental or subsequently. I suspect someone backed-into the vehicle in a car park. I had paid for the full CDW on that occasion, so just walked away without any hassles. You didn't ask, but I assume you'll be getting medical insurance for yourself and your group as well? Some travellers like to get Trip Cancellation and Baggage insurance as well, but I don't always feel that's necessary. Cheers!

Debbie, when we went to Spain this summer we had reserved our car, but after reading the terms of the rental, we canceled (no cost to us) and re-booked with another agency. We booked our car thru Autoeuorope.EU or.UK. They had the added advantage of complete insurance coverage for about the same cost of our 1st rental, that had "NO" insurance. Our Ford Focus Estate wagon 4 door rental included sales taxes, AP fee,liability,fire, personal accident insur. CDW and theft, and had"zero excess"(no out of pocket deductable $) Our 12 day pre-paid rental cost us $321 Euros, plus about $60 to $ 80 in other charges when we got there: we had to pay $100 for a full tank of fuel, and were told to bring it back empty. And we had to pay a drop off fee of $38 EU. (so these two actually added 60 to 80$) We usually rent from AutoEurope.com (here is the US. they are awesome). When we rent from them we use our VISA card to cover Travel accidents, collision, and theft. But there are restricitions on what country this is valid. And you have to pay them a lot more to get the complete coverage we got when we used AE.EU. Don't forget that you need to bring your drivers license, and have an Internationl Driver's permit. Bring your own GPS, and a small fold our Michelin map of Spain, along with a compass. Many of the newer East West roads/freeways are not in any GPS data base.

Thanks to all for their advice. After carefully investigating all of the costs & insurance benefits, we ended up canceling our rental car from Orbitz & reordered it from Sixt Rental Cars directly. When I called Sixt, the gentleman was super helpful & as we talked sent me the coverage information via e-mail. He was very clear that liability insurance was included with the rental, but we could add more coverage (which we did) for a reasonable price. Plus not only were we able to have both my husband & I as drivers, at no extra cost.--Debbie