Car rental insurance

You can go online and check your terms and conditions of the credit card being used to charge the rental fees. Maybe they cover physical and comprehensive insurance automatically.

I usually carry a copy of the credit card terms in case a rental desk employee tries to push CDW optional coverage on me when I'm covered already.

I just got back from Portugal. My rental car was $660, one way, Lisbon to Braga, 12 days. Your quote seems high to me. We rented an economy, manual transmission car which could be the difference. Did you try directly with Europcar? I followed a Portugal Facebook group and folks there are always raving about a David Silva with AVIS out of Lisbon.

If your quote includes the full CDW, are you sure that the credit card insurance would apply?

Autoeurope’s rate for 12 random July days of its least expensive Hertz vehicle is about $742 which only includes liability and fire coverage. Adding on a no-deductible collision damage waiver, and theft protection at the time you reserve the car through Autoeurope brings the total to $850. This is likely the way to go because most car rental agencies require renters to
prove they will have collision damage waiver coverage and theft protection or they will require that it be bought through them when you go to pick up the car. So, for less than $10 per day you will have that requirement met.
You may be able to reduce the number of days you need a car by picking it up the day you leave Lisbon
and dropping it off the day you arrive in Porto. You will probably find public transit preferable to having a car that is costly to park and impractical to use in these two congested cities.

www.AutoEurope.com

Avoid the 3rd party and book directly with the rental car company. I’ve never had to pay a security deposit. When picking up the rental a nominal hold is sometimes placed on the CC. I’ve never used CC coverage so can’t speak to it. Liability insurance is included in the rental price since it is compulsory in Europe.

I can tell you this, but not specific to Portugal. Rented a car in Croatia. Used my Visa CC for coverage. Declined any CDW from Sixt. They put a hold of $2800 on my CC.
Not unusual at all to put a hold of some amount on your CC.
There are several CDW coverages usually on rentals. You have to see what is called the "excess" and what we know as a deductible. There are different limits with different prices per day coverage. What you want is ZERO EXCESS. Check on that point.

I have also found that CDW bought online is through third party and not through the car rent company. So when you show up to pick up car, they know nothing about that CDW. It is not on them.
Per my own experience I have done this in Crete. Payment for rental CDW (not car) was due at time of booking. So prepaid. At counter no one knew about this. I was offered CDW through them. I declined. But I was somewhat perplexed. They had no idea how that CDW would work if there was damage. So it seemed like it would be all on me to activate that should I have needed it.

I’m debating whether to post. I’m in the process of requesting a full refund from Europcar and/or AutoEurope. In the past, I’ve highly recommended AutoEurope. They were great to work with and the prices were always cheaper than quotes from each individual company. But, you never know about a company until a problem arises.

For my recent rental in Portugal, I contacted Gemut and they used AutoEurope. The rental was/is a huge hassle. I was given a prepaid voucher from AutoEurope. I was told any deposit/incidentals need to be paid on the same AMEX card to take advantage of the AMEX insurance. When we arrived the Europcar local office, their card reader wouldn’t accept the AMEX. I called AMEX and was told there was no problem with the card and there was not activity/declines, anything. The local office simply would not accept the card. Incidentally, the card worked fine for any transactions later in the day. Europcar Portugal said there was nothing they could do. I couldn’t reach Gemut.

I do not know what, if any, resolution will result. So, right now, I can’t recommend AutoEurope or Gemut for that matter. For anyone considering AutoEurope, you will pay for a voucher. In advance of receipt of the car. I never thought this would be a problem, But, now, I feel renters should consider, that it’s a voucher. If there is a local problem with the rental, you could be left high and dry.

I will certainly report back any resolution which I hope will be coming our way. It could be that this is resolved. But, I feel like I never considered any risk with the voucher, but really should have.

Thanks all, I am still looking into the options.

A bit more info:
This is a 22day trip. First we spend a few car free days in Lisbon, then pick up a 16day rental to drive south eventually to Salema area then north eventually to Porto, then spend a few car free days before flying out. We are pricing the smallest least expensive cars, but the duration bumps up the cost as expected. The airport pickup/dropoff doesn't seem to make sense unless it was cheaper, more convenient or the best location offered. If bringing a suitcase onto the metro/bus is a bad idea (is it?), then I guess a taxi is needed for the few airport<->hotel or car rental<->hotel trips.

For previous rentals in the US I have declined the rental car insurance, since my bank issued Visa Platinum was all I needed, but years later the bank removed this benefit from their card policy. Meanwhile the Visa website still claims that worldwide primary collision insurance is provided to cardholders (no 3rd party liability though), so it really depends on who issued the card and how their current card policy reads.

If I went ahead with my current car reservation I would either be driving around without any liability insurance, or more likely I would get a surprise charge for it at pickup. Booking direct with someone like Autoeurope may be the best bet since they at least mention liability coverage.

As previously stated, liability insurance is mandatory in Europe and is included in the rental cost. What isn’t included in the cost (depending on the company) is CDW, zero or low deductible CDW, windshield damage, damage to tires, personal accident insurance, theft. Liability insurance pays for the other vehicle in the event of an accident while CDW covers the vehicle you rented.

The main question was not about whether it is required or not, but about the quotes from popular rental sites and if the liability insurance is:

A) included in the quote
B) maybe part of the 'full CDW' or 'top up'
C) not included but shown separately
D) shown only after you run your card to book
E) a surprise charge when you pick up the car

I have only just started, but I believe C,D,E are the most common.

The other question was if a US CC or existing US car policy would ever cover liability (a big no).

Ask the company you’re renting from that question and see what it says. I just look up a rental from Lisbon for June, and it shows Liability Insurance is included.

Spent an hour talking to both Expedia and their insurer AIG, asking them to show me how & where the liability coverage is coming from. All they could do was refer me to the CDW policy which specifically excludes 3rd party liability. All I have is a reservation, not a booking, but I expect to see every charge before I book even if it is a local charge. Expedia seems to prefer option E) a surprise charge at pickup.

What rental site were you using?

Sent you a private message.

tns1:

Suggest that you check out zestcarrental.com. Highly recommended car rental broker for Portugal both on this forum and on TripAdvisor. I found Zest to have the best prices and have reserved for September Includes CDW, second driver free. Some of their vendors do not require the credit card deposit/hold.

I do like that Zest has 2nd driver free and you get to pay for transponder up front. But they treat the different dropoff location as a separate local charge, and like others the site is not mentioning anything about the required liability coverage. Like others they seem to want you to submit your info/book before telling you the full story so there is no simple way to comparison shop.

Another example Kayak selected Avis/Wisecars which has a great price and is already asking for payment but has made no mention of liability insurance.

Every company incorporates some form of drop off charge if you drop off in a different location. Some will show it as a separate local charge. Others will incorporate it within the total quote. For example, go to Avis and compare pickup in Lisbon and drop-off in Porto versus the same rental dates where you pick up and dropoff in Lisbon.

In the case of Zest, you do need to compare the different rental companies because they have different office locations. For example, if you pickup and drop off in Lagos, LagoRent does not have a local charge, but Rent Car 4 Less has an additional €130 mandatory local charge. That is because LagoRent's office is located in Lagos and RC4L is located in Faro. RC4L needs to deliver the car from Faro to Lagos and to return it afterwards. Also, it is cheaper to pick up the car at the respective Lisbon rental company office as opposed to Lisbon Airport, probably because airport authority may charge a fee or the rental co incurs an expense to deliver car to the airport or to shuttle people to off-site location to pick up car. It is all there for you to compare, or you can email Zest.

I find Zest very responsive. I will be using them for the first time this Sept. They have answered my emails within hours, cancelled one reservation, made a new reservation for a larger car and changed a delivery option so that I could pickup the car in the local office instead of incurring a €25 delivery charge to my hotel. Plus I can still cancel for free up to 48 hours before the rental start date.

As far as I can see, Zest includes the CDW and there is nothing else to buy or decline. Credit card CDW coverage always advise you to decline the optional CDW offered by the rental company. IMO, the CC does this so you do not waste your money. If you still opt to buy the optional CDW, your CC protection is still there, you will have double coverage, but you will not get double indemnity. Only one will pay out in the event of a loss depending upon the wording with respect to priority. When I rent in Hawaii, I sometimes have triple coverage: my home car insurance covers rentals in the US, my credit card has CDW protection and sometimes the Hawaii rental company or broker includes the CDW coverage.

I am guessing that Zest the broker (not the rental company) is providing the CDW protection for the customers that book thru them. Some but not all of the rental companies working with Zest require a deposit or hold probably to make sure that any damage is paid out immediately until Zest reimburses them, after which you would get your deposit back from the rental company. This is often what happens when you decline CDW coverage and rely upon your credit card protection. If you were to go to and book directly with those particular companies, they would often ask you to pay for the CDW or take a deposit/hold if you decline and rely on your cc. If you still have concerns, I suggest you email Zest and ask them to answer your questions.

I talked to a helpful agent at Auto Europe who helped me change to a rental that included zero deductibles plus liability coverage all up front leaving only some small estimated local charges and a smaller security deposit. Hopefully any surprises will be minimal. So far this seems the best deal with the fewest unknowns.