Car Rental Liability Insurance in Italy- Florence

click here for advice from Rick Steves on that

The most important thing is that, for driving in Italy, you get some CDW coverage (if you damage the rental car) that limits your worst case scenario financial exposure to an amount you're comfortable with, if there is damage to the rental car.

The reason for that is: your US auto insurance won't cover you, and although we have no hard stats there's anecdotal evidence, on this site and others, that damaging a rental car is somewhat more likely to happen in Italy, compared to your experience driving around home or the US, where roads are wider and signs are more familiar. And that has been my personal experience, as well.

Getting adequate coverage won't be cheap, but we've had bad stories reported here in the past, where someone figured they'd save the x euros per day by not getting CDW coverage and then, guess what, the unexpected happened and the rental car company was after them for serious money, which can happen more easily in Italy than when driving here.

CDW (damage, theft, vandalism)is mandatory in Italy, and is not an option to purchase. But it has deductibles. Ours, for our trip in a few weeks, had a $350 eu deduc. for theft, and $200 for damage and vandalism.

Liability (bodily injury and property damage to others) was covered in our car rental agreement.

Personal liability insurance for my wife and myself was covered when we used our VISA to pay for the rental car, and plane and ferry tickets.

Be very careful with credit card coverage as there has been frequent reports horrid stores with the credit card company denying coverage or not stepping up.

I just talked to the folks at TravelGard. I was told that they do cover you in Italy. I am picking up my rental car in Frankfurt Germany and dropping it off in Pisa Italy. Drop off fee is $400!

Research whatever company you decide to use and find out what experiences people have had filing claims. (I also have heard "horror" stories with credit card coverage, but I have also heard success stories) We used CSA and got a mulit- coverage policy. It covered Medical, car, lost luggage, trip interruption, etc. and was cheaper that just getting CDW from the rental company. (and yes, we had to file a claim and I have nothing but positive things to say about this company) I researched CSA before purchasing and found several positive reports from people who had to file claims. After purchasing, make sure you read and are familiar with what you need to do if there is a problem. My brother-in-law actually brought a copy of the policy with him. None of us had bothered to do much more than peruse it. After the accident, he pulled it out and we found out there were some steps we HAD TO DO to keep the coverage valid.

"After the accident, he pulled it out and we found out there were some steps we HAD TO DO to keep the coverage valid."

Yes, damage to rental cars does happen in Italy. Based on my own experience and those of others posting here over the years, it seems that it's somewhat more likely that you'll damage a rental car in Italy, compared to your experience driving around home or other places in the US, where roads are wider and signs are more familiar. Many of these are scraping the car on various fixed objects, such as other cars (the streets can be unbelievably narrow), bollards, walls, and even the sides or corners of buildings. If you can't imagine scraping the car on the corner of a building, wait until you get there, then you'll believe it could happen. (Yep, over there is different from here)

Even that kind of relatively minor damage can be very expensive in terms of the repair bills presented to you by the car rental company.

Since we live in Oregon, our CSA policy is NOT allowed to cover rental car damage (if we were in any other state we would have had $25K of coverage for this). This is true of Texas also. Don't ask me why.

Steve- Not being covered in Oregon has to do with them complying with Oregon laws. (In 2008, they had compliance and we could get the insurance for my brother-in-law..) Anyway, we here in Washington state can't use Travelguard for the same reasons...but Oregon can. Hopefully, there is a reliable company out there for everybody.

Rule of thumb. Buy all the insurance and insurance upgrades that the rental company throws your direction. It will be more expensive, but better safe than sorry! Use any credit card "insurance" as a secondary policy. You want to be able to walk away without the logistics of having to deal with an outside company if possible. CYA--Cover Your Ass!

When we looked into using our credit card for insurance, we were told that it would only be in effect if we refused all the insurance the car rental company offered. Therefore, in our case, it would not have worked as a back up. (That is one reason I avoided using it. I felt too vulnerable refusing all other insurances and hoping I did not have trouble with a credit card compnay)At the rental place, we were offered expensive coverage with a $1500 deductible (crazy). The other option (no deductible) was really really really expensive. (doubled the cost of the car). CSA was inexpensive, covered the car with no deductible and gave us other insurances as well.