Questions about insurance

Travelers insurance covers many potential losses depending on what you buy. If you have made non-refundable purchases like airfare, for example, as well as medical and evacuation coverage.Look at insuremytrip.com to compare policies. None of this is mandatory. An international drivers license is. Get two passport photos, take them to your local AAA and get that. But do it now, or you will be out of luck for your trip.

When I last rented a car in Italy (October), the only document I needed was my driver license. When renting in Italy, vehicles are covered by CDW with a deductible. An option, which I recommend is to get an extended non-deductible CDW. Though I've never been asked for it, it is mandatory for each driver to have an international driver permit, available through AAA. If a police officer asks for one and you don't have it, you are subject to a heavy fine. I'd suggest going to the AutoEurope website to check on rentals. Generally excellent prices and service. If you go to the website, you can see the different pricing for CDW with or without deductible. Also make sure you read ALL the fine print as to restrictions, what insurance does not cover, etc. Also be aware of traffic cameras that will check your speed and ZTL zones that restrict traffic in cities. You'll be charged a research fee by the auto rental company and then get a ticket as well.

To find out more about this, read the transportation section under Travel Tips on this site.

While you may only need a drivers license to rent a car, you should carry an International Drivers License. On our last trip we were stopped twice by various uniformed police. These were routine random stops. They did not look at my drivers license, only the IDL and insurance papers.

Perhaps the drivers license would have been okay, but with their lack of English and my lack of Italian, having the IDL was important.

Remember, it would appear that in Italy, you can be stopped for no apparent reason by uniformed people, many of whom are heavily armed by Canadian standard.

Check out the info at insuremytrip.com. The biggest expense related to travel/insurance is medical evac - it can run upwards of 50k to get you hoime if you have a medical emergency.