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Italian Car Rental & Insurance

Posted by (Seattle, WA) on

Not sure how well RS answers my question about what insurance I should have for our upcoming trip to Italy (4 weeks; we will rent a car for about 3 days of that time, to go from Puglia to Naples): I have looked at https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/car-rental-cdw RS DOES say:

Baseline rates for European rentals nearly always include liability
coverage — for accident-related damage to anyone or anything outside
the car. (The company may offer additional liability insurance, but I
wouldn't buy this without some extenuating reason.)

So, I get that CDW, or Collision Dmaage Waiver may well be required by the rental car company ... they want to make sure that their vehicle is covered, if I remodel it through an accident. One's own credit card might, perhaps, provide coverage, though apparently many no longer do or, in the case of AMEX, Italy (and Australia and NZ) are excluded from their world-wide coverage. Looks like Citibank no longer provides coverage on many of its cards, except on Citi/Costco VISA cards ($50,000 coverage). See, https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/credit-cards/articles/5-little-known-perks-of-the-costco-credit-card/ (BUT SEE: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/rental-car-with-costco-visa-card). Looks like buying the CDW coverage from the rental car company may actually/arguably void a credit card's coverage.

So, what about liability coverage ... to third parties? Am I right that the registered owner of the vehicle in the EU (incl. Italy) MUST have liability coverage and that such coverage is necesarily included when you rent a car? (SEE: https://carinsurent.com/car-rental-insurance/car-rental-insurance-for-italy-what-is-it-how-does-it-work/#:~:text=Third%2DParty%20Liability%20Coverage%3A%20Every,coverage%20cap%20required%20by%20law.; https://it-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Responsabilità_civile_autoveicoli?_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc; and https://carinsurent.com/car-rental-insurance/car-rental-insurance-for-italy-what-is-it-how-does-it-work/ I think that required, minimum coverage may be as much as 7,000,000 Euros. That sounds like it would pretty well eliminate the need to get a surplus liability policy.

What exactly is the "car excess" coverage ... and is it the rip-off that it sounds like? https://carinsurent.com/car-hire-excess-insurance/should-i-take-a-daily-or-an-annual-car-hire-excess-insurance-policy/

Grazie Mille.

Posted by
5409 posts

No one from the RS office answers questions posted here. You may Search car insurance here on the Forum and review the answers. Good luck.

Posted by
6788 posts

Agree with @Tom_MN above, he's spot-on. You must decline all optional insurance that's offered, and then the insurance provided by your credit card should be in effect (and some liability insurance is mandatory in Italy, so it can't be declined, and it should be rolled-in to the basic rental cost). Insurance that you can't decline will not void that.

For Italy and other European rentals, I simply follow the above guidelines (after checking with the insurance folks from the credit card that I'll be using to pay for the rental - don't skip that step). Just decline anything that you can decline.

The only case (so far) I've run into where I decided to purchase additional liability insurance was when renting a car in Mexico. There, a tiny amount of liability insurance is also included automatically in your rental price, but the level of coverage is extremely low. And in Mexico, you are assumed to be "guilty until proven innocent" and if you have a bad accident where someone is injured or worse, or even if you just have a collision with some poor farmer's cow (not very far-fetched, wildlife and stock frequently wanders on roads after dark and I've had some close calls with cows when driving at dusk), you could be stuck in jail until you get things legally sorted out, which can take a while (and it's worth remembering: that would be in a Mexican jail, not a posh Italian jail, where I'd expect gourmet food and uniforms by Armani...). For Mexico, I'm paying for extra insurance to ensure I don't spend too long in that jail...

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