Auto Insurance

You don't have to get it, however, I always do regardless of where I drive in the EU. I think it's about 15E a day in Italy. It's not about how careful you are; 1 accident or someone scraping your parked car and all the savings evaporates.

In Italy third party liability coverage is mandatory and will already be included. In addition, make sure you have theft protection and CDW (collision damage waiver) coverage. If you want to avoid having to pay deductibles, which can be substantial, get "Super CDW" coverage. You might also want Personal Effects coverage - for items stolen from your car.

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/carrental_cdw.htm The link takes you to a discussion by Rick of some of the details that Dave mentioned in the first post. Some travelers think driving in Italy is more challenging (more likely to lead to scrapes and dents) than over here or in some other European countries.

You cannot have too much insurance. And do not rely on any credit card unless you have read the fine print several times so that you know exactly what is covered and HOW.

Short answer: No, as Hertz (and others) require CDW for all rentals in Italy. You can optionally buy super-CDW, which is basically a $0 deductible, but check your credit card as you may be covered there. We decided super CDW was not good value for the money, but it's really a judgement call. We have claimed twice on our Amex card rental car insurance for damage not covered by the main contract -- once when our car was vandalized, and another time for a tire replacement. They paid up in both cases, though it took a while. Make sure you have good documentation. In the vandalism case, we had to go to the police and file a formal report, and send Amex a copy. As someone else pointed out, be sure to read the fine print. Amex limits the kind of car it covers -- e.g. "luxury" cars and SUVs are explicitly excluded.

American Express does not cover cars rented IN Italy. However it covers rentals if rented outside of Italy and driven in Italy.

@Karen -- as you have proved, it pays to read the small print! Must have been all those claims... Interestingly, capital one says you "may not" be covered in Italy, rather than the outright "not covered" in Ireland, Israel and Jamaica.