We are flying into Munich Germany and renting a car there....going on to Italy for several weeks. We went on the europecar.com web site to rent a car but they don't take American Express! We wanted to use that card because of the automatic insurance that comes by using that card. If we buy the extra insurance, it's an additional $250!!! Does anyone know of good prices on a car rental where they take American Express? Plese help!
thanks, Kristie
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Back up. Europcar takes AmEx. They even give a discount sometimes if you use an AmEx card. There's a similar outfit called Europacar. ???? They're reputed to suck. Also, the AmEx program isn't free and it's not automatic unless you sign up for it, then it costs you twenty-five bucks per rental.
Posted by
Silver Springq, MD, USA
5 posts
American Express does not cover rental cars in Italy. Just looked into this myself this past week.
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
It certainly will if you rent the car in Germany, drive it in Italy, and return it to Germany. The same is true for any other credit card. Renting the car in Italy is a whole different deal.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
Ed may be thinking of autoeurope.com (good) and autoeuropa.com (bad).
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Nope. Europacar. It's not well known, but it could sneak in with a typo.
Posted by
Monterey County, CA (formerly Verbania Italy-Lago Maggiore)
1658 posts
We rented a car through AutoEurope using American Express and the extra insurance in Frankfurt, drove TO Italy, and dropped car in Florence. Be sure to reserve using AX, use same AX at the rental counter, and pay with SAME ax if you owe anything when you drop the car. If you change credit cards mid stream, it may negate your insurance. Ok to drive INTO Italy, just can't rent IN Italy for the AX coverage.
Posted by
OP
cinti, ohio, USA
9 posts
It is true that you can't rent the car in Italy with AmEx and be covered, but if you rent it in Germany, it's quite ok to drive into Italy. AmEx confirmed that with me this past week. I will go onto the Autoeurope web site.... thanks for all the helpful replys!
kristie
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Glad it worked out. But don't give up on Europcar if they have the best deal.
I use AmExp with them several times a year. And for future reference, what Karen did left her hanging in the wind. Had there been a subsequent claim, a credit card would not have covered it since a portion of the transaction (the turn-in) took place in Italy.
Posted by
Monterey County, CA (formerly Verbania Italy-Lago Maggiore)
1658 posts
Ed, According to the AX policy it states: "Coverage is worldwide except for cars rented in Australia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, and New Zealand."
I talked to the AMEX Assurance several times regarding our plans to rent in Germany and drop off in Italy to confirm we would be covered. The answer was always yes. If anyone else has heard differently (regarding renting ourside of Italy and dropping off in Italy) please post your response.