Rental Car Insurance

Check with your credit card company
In 99% of situations, it is best to decline the rental company and utilize that of the CC
Dennis

Be careful with your credit card. Read the fine print. For a very low cost we have used rentalcover for car rental coverage. Used it in November for 12 days on mainland Portugal and for a week on Madeira. Also used it in Spain and Croatia and Slovenia. Good coverage and speedy recoup when Sixt in Slovenia claimed undercarriage damage that didn’t exist!!

Thank you both for the helpful replies. We will look into Rental Cover.

Someplace between CC and rental car coverage is getting CDW from a third party provider like Allianz. Its CDW is $11 a day. As somebody stated, read what is and what’s not covered. Liability is mandatory in Europe so is included in the rental price.

Some exclusions, depending on country, are wheel covers and windshield that rental car companies charge separately for. Also personal injury protection in the event you hit a person or building. Finally, some people like to go with low or no deductible through the rental company. If you decline the company’s CDW it will be unavailable to you.

Contrary to Dennis above, there is no best. In the end it’s a personal choice with what you feel comfortable with, along with your budget.

Thank you, Jaime. I appreciate the additional advice.

I think the question to ask is what do you do when you rent a car in the US?
Why would you do anything different when you rent overseas?
Bearing in mind that taking the rental company insurance voids any that comes with my CC, I choose the devil I know verses the devil I don't know.

I also follow RS's advice to check my CC policy VERY carefully to make sure I am comfortable with what that Devil is promising.

Dennis

Is your credit card insurance primary or secondary?
If it is secondary it means the CC will only pay after others forms of insurance are used first ( ie: your own car insurance).

I always buy the CDW insurance from the car rental company, that way if there's any scratches or damage I don't have to do anything and just walk away.
If you use CC insurance most car rental companies charge you for the damage and then you have to deal with the CC to be paid .

Has anyone had to resort to actually using CC insurance coverage on a car rented overseas? What was the process? And how hard was it to deal with and were there upfront costs that had to be covered by you until such reimbursement?
Also, the same for full insurance for the rental car when you rent? What’s up with that? Rented a car last year in Crete. Full insurance when I put in the reservation. The insurance was paid upfront. At the counter they offered insurance. They knew nothing about coverage I had paid during reservation. So maybe that is a third party coverage. What would it have been like to actually get the coverage paid if needed?
This whole insurance coverage is fraught with unknowns.

I'm in the same boat as aulopone.

Is the extra insurance offered by car rental agencies a ripoff? Almost certainly. That's why they offer it along with multiple extra tiers. I do know others who use their CC and end up saving a lot of money because of it.

But to me, it's a peace of mind thing. In Italy, I got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere in the Lake Como region. In Croatia, someone smashed the side of the car while it sat in a confined parking lot. In both cases, I just handed over the keys and walked away. Meanwhile, a colleague had a fender bender in his rental car in the US once and it turned into a nightmare lasting months: He had to serve as a liasion between a rental car company (that had every incentive to charge as much as they could for damages) and a credit card insurance company (that had every incentive to reject as much as they could).

Another thing to consider is that most rental companies don't like you declining all coverage and as a result demand a very high pre-authorization on your card to protect themselves, which can sometimes mean you can't put anything else on that card for the rest of the trip.

treemoss2,
A number of years ago I rented a car to drive across England and back. (Picked it up in London and had to stick shift and wrong side drive my way out of London to start the trip. Not that bright)
I used my American Express at that time and the insurance that came with it was all I used. Had no problem with the rental counter.

Dennis

8 yrs ago in Germany they refused our CC insurance and wouldn't rent to us (multiple companies) unless we took some level of their insurance. They said the US cc companies were too slow and difficult to work with. We went mid level and were constantly concerned about banging up the car in narrow walled towns and I almost backed into a light pole. In Italy we went with full walk away coverage and it was worth the peace of mind. After lunch in Bagno Vignoni we discovered our car was missing , but it wasn't stolen. It turned out the brake hadn't set properly (or it failed) and the car had rolled across the narrow parking lot down a slope to the field below with enough momentum to cross the field and go over the edge on the other side. When we clicked our key fob all we could see were the tail lights and trunk almost vertical sticking out of the brush. After several hours trying to get a tow truck through the rental agency (language issue) They came and pulled it out to much cheering. The rental company was prepared to bring us a new car, but as it tuned out, it was dusty an a little leafy, but not a scratch.

I would recommend using the rental car insurance. Twice in Europe (Ireland and France) I have had incidents where damage occurred to the rental car. Both instances the rental car company just swapped me out with keys to a different car with no questions asked. If you decline their coverage and/or use your credit card you might be faced with having to pay up front for any incurred damages and sorting it out when you get back home. Or at a minimum the paperwork or back and forth between them will be a hassle. For rentals here at home in the USA I always decline their coverage but in Europe, I always take it and twice now it has definitely paid off!!

Hello from Wisconsin,
We had a minor accident that blew out a window of our rental while we were in the Czech Republic, very rural Czech Republic. This was long enough ago that Czech English speakers were age 12 and under. Only kids and their English teachers had English speaking ability in rural areas. I took the car to the Opel dealership and had the window replaced. No problem there. No police report. I just had the bill which I submitted to my credit card insurance carrier (CHUBB Group) along with a long letter explaining the situation.

I got a check in no time at all for the full reimbursement.

Oh, by the way one of the responses tried to answer your question and said your US auto insurance would be the primary insurance. At least that is how I read the response. That is Not true. Your auto insurance doesn't cover you outside of N. America. It might not even cover you in Mexico.

wayne iNWI

I have Auto coverage on American Express. I feel that is great for the US and decline coverage in the US. However, in Europe my husband and I opt for the coverage. It may cost $100 but I look at it as a happy tax. Like many others here, they didn’t get a hassle. I’m happy when I don’t encounter a hassle and my husband is happy because he doesn’t have to hear about it! There is a lot of fine print in the credit card agreements. So who knows what they really pay for and what the process is, how long it takes, and how much money out of pocket. For $100 or whatever, it’s worth the peace of mind, and yes it may seem like a rip off , but reading the others stories here, validates my thought process.

Check with your auto insurance agent to see if your own auto insurance is already providing you with rental CDW coverage. I know my policy has it; it is a small option that costs about $30 a year. Along with my credit card benefits, if I paid for the rental car CDW, I would effectively end up paying for triple coverage. It's your money, spend it any way that makes you happy.

PS We are in early planning stages of our Sept Portugal trip. I found Zest car rentals to have the best rates so far. Zest also includes the CDW and second driver without extra charge. We have not booked yet, but I have emailed them a few times about pickup locations and drop off fees and they were very prompt in replying.