Rental Car Insurance

Yes, this is called "third party insurance". All countries in Europe require third party insurance, so it is automatically included in all car hire (is that not the case where you come from?).
Insurance against damage to yourself or the car is not a legal requirement, and is a matter between you and the car hire company.

In the U.S. the owner of the car is responsible for what you call third party insurance. In California I think we call it PL/PD, public liability and property damage. The reason I ask is that the rental car companies in Norway, Hertz and Avis offer insurance other than collision and theft.

Jim

This is the potential financial liability when you rent a car in Europe.

Thanks for this useful information.

I've always just used the liability coverage provided by my credit card. The item of note is that credit card company only covers 30 days of rental period. So if you're renting beyond 30 days, you need to have a new contract number issued every 30 days to have the credit card liability coverage. Also remember, in Europe, you don't have unemployed attorneys chasing ambulances, so you don't need the coverage you might need in the USA.

It's possible that the terms of your credit card rental car insurance has certain exclusions. You should be sure what those are. In one case, the small print excluded rental in certain countries deemed to be higher risk.

I have visited Switzerland (about 2 years ago) and used my VISA credit card to no only insure the entire rental (by me declining all coverage). Trust be told I damaged the rental and VISA paid a very ridiculous pant repair of $4,000. Fast forward now...

Now I'm trying to rent a car for a weak in Norway and the SiXT representative is telling me I cannot decline their insurance? WTH? My contract reads

incl.

Rate includes all kms Theft protection (IF Skadef.) Loss Damage Waiver
with NWR Loss Damage Waiver with an excess of NKR 10000.00 Theft
Protection with an excess of NKR 10000.00

I emailed the rental company and asked them to remove all insurance, as I would like to "decline all insurance" and the representative wrote back:

Unfortunately, we can not take away the standard insurance. Anyone who
rents a car from Sixt, must have standard insurance.

According to the VISA card rules: To activate coverage, complete the entire rental transaction with your eligible Visa card and decline the collision damage waiver (CDW) coverage if offered by the rental company.

Does anyone have any concrete information on how consumers should deal with declining CDW whilst renting from SiXT or any other car rental company in Norway?

I suggest you check with Auto Europe about the car rental ins. They should be able to tell you if you are legally required to purchase car insurance from the rental company which seems to be the case in a few countries. I have done business with Auto Europe for over 30 years. They have a large presence in most European countries. Their offices are usually easier to find. They will also match a quote from other car rental companies.

Not all credit cards provide insurance for rental cars outside the US. It is important to read the terms and conditions thoroughly. Most credit card companies provide the exact verbiage online. It is good to carry that information with you which provides information on where and when to report any incidents.

I have found most credit cards do not provide ins. which covers the occupants of the car. Our group purchases travel ins. which includes medical evacuation if needed in case of illness or injury. It also provides coverage for reimbursement of unrecoverable deposits in case the travel must be cancelled for a variety of specified reasons, such as illness or accident preventing travel, a death in the family, loss of employment, etc.

I also request a letter of coverage for rental cars from my credit card company to carry with me when I pick up the rental car to avoid hassles about the ins. which agents are often insistently trying to sell..