Car Rental with Chase Visa--coverage

We always take the full no deductible coverage
Peace of mind
Just drop the car and walk away

( I believe with any credit card coverage you will pay the agency first then deal with getting reimbursed later)

Have you called Chase for answers? I’m sure you know to record date, time and customer service name. I’ve had excellent responses from them for my questions.

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Car+insurance+Italy&utf8=%E2%9C%93

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Car+insurance+Italy+credit+card&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Perhaps the above Searches will help. This is a frequently discussed- and tricky - issue. Good luck!

I have dealt with this. You can decline the optional coverage. You don't have to pay the damage up front when you drop off the car. The thing you must do to get coverage is to have the right paperwork. This means that at both pick up and drop off you want the rental agency to give you a statement that has the dates of your pick up and drop off, verification that you picked it up, verification that you dropped it off, and the last four digits of your credit card must be on each statement. This can be an issue if you (like me) get your rental car online (I got mine through Air France) and the confirmation they send you is not what Chase requires. You do have a year to resolve it. I ended up not being able to get Chase to pay the $300 damage (someone hit my side mirror) because I didn't have the right paperwork. Next time I'll know. Hope this helps.

The advice given above, to call Chase for verification of all details of using their cards for rental car insurance, is spot on. I’d go one step further and get it in writing. Chase has lots of different cards with different benefits. Also, provisos can change from time to time. One super important issue regarding car rental insurance in Italy is that many cards exclude that country from their coverage.
On the subject of buying the insurance from the rental company; I was once ready to do that when I noticed that tire and window damage were excluded from the “total” coverage. Always read the fine print.
I actually have had an experience or two with relying on cc coverage for a car rental. Yes, I did have to pay up front; but I was reimbursed in a timely fashion, maybe 6 weeks.
Another very good option, for anyone who has an Amex card, is their rental car insurance. For something like $25/ year you get up to 42 days of coverage. ( details on their website). You must use their card for the rental to acquire the insurance. In that case, they put the charge on hold, so you don’t even have the inconvenience of having your money held for any amount of time.

Thanks all....I did further research after reading your responses and was glad I did. My Chase Visa (Marriott Bonvoy) does indeed offer several "flavors" of credit card...and mine does NOT include rental car damage--only the top tier card (which is thru Amex). Zero excess for me on my rental!

I have been told by AUTOEUROPE that Italy does not honor credit card coverage and you need to purchase it.
The rates they quote include basic covera.ge. I have always used Autoeurope and been happy with their service.
Good luck

I have dealt with this. You can decline the optional coverage. You don't have to pay the damage up front when you drop off the car.

You won't have to pay the damage but you will probably have to pay the deductible up front when you drop off the car. That's what happened to me. I was eventually reimbursed by Chase (I have the Sapphire Preserved cc). Time frame was about 6 weeks from time of reporting to Chase and the receipt of the direct deposit reimbursement. But overall I probably spend about 30 minutes total on this, so it was not time-consuming for me in terms of labor. I just had to wait a bit for the payment.

I have been told by AUTOEUROPE that Italy does not honor credit card coverage and you need to purchase it.

Nigel makes a good point. I do know that there are some countries that credit cards with CDW coverage will not cover, and I have heard that Italy is one of them. I've driven in many countries in Europe and Japan, but I would never rent a car in Italy. Partly because of the above, but I've read too many stories here of tickets being issues and all the problems that arose because of that.

Here's one thing to watch for- We rented an automatic car (compact or economy, I forget which) from autoeurope last year in Italy. The car was supposed to be an Audi or similar. I called the CC (Chase Sapphire Preferred) because the fine print read that certain LUXURY vehicles were not covered. They researched the car we were supposed to get and said that it was NOT covered. Mind you, we picked the cheapest, smallest automatic car available, but they somehow considered this to be a "luxury" car. In the end, the rental place gave us something different, as seems to always happen, but I was glad I called and paid for the full coverage.

I use my Costco Visa for all car rentals. We were in England and returned a rental car. They said we had scraped the side of a tire..we hadn't. They insisted on putting a $1000 'hold' charge on my credit card. When I got home I called Costco Visa. Visa asked for all of our rental documents. Visa then removed the $1000 'hold' charge. We then got confirmation that we would not be charged for a new tire or anything else!...Visa picked up all of the charges. It is important to know NOT to purchase any additional insurance from the car rental agency...it will negate Visa's involvement. Several Visa cards have this benefit. Check ahead of time.