Rental Car Insurance Question/Ambiguity

If you are a AAA member, you can purchase their rental car insurance for a very reasonable rate. Last time we used it (pre-covid), it was around $40/year. We had occasion to make claims a couple of times, and the process went very smoothly. You must use your AAA card for the rental, and they don’t charge you until any repair costs are cleared. There is no ambiguity in the wording.
My only caveat is that one should always check to see if current practices have changed from what was true in the past.

People present AutoEurope as the best choice. It isn’t, you can shop around. For example Costco is offering Sportages in Ireland this summer for $140/week w/o collision insurance.

Hopefully somebody who has used AutoEurope can explain. I’ve never used it, but here’s my take.

Full protection doesn’t mean zero deductible. When I look at your list I see items (wheels, windscreen, roadside repairs, theft, etc.) that are normally optional coverages. It seems AutoEurope has lumped everything together and calls it full protection. The combined price is probably lower than if you purchased each coverage separately. Liability is the only mandatory coverage as is included on the price of any rental car.

It is possible that zero deductible is not offered online. We’ve gotten it at the counter when picking up the vehicle.

I’ve never been charged a security deposit more than about €200. Yes, it is a hold on your card. It’s also possible that with the purchase of the more expensive zero deductible option, the security deposit will decrease.

Also, ensure you let the representative know at pickup that you will be taking the vehicle into Spain. There may be a €50 or so fee for taking the car into another country.

Ive been struggling with this for a week now and finally we've gotten some rentals booked. Whether translation issues or intentional vagueness, it can be hard to put all the pieces together and it doesnt help getting contradictory answers. Looking at your post, I cant really make head or tails out of it either.

I found the lack of definitive info from our credit card travel services rep, AAA, AND the USA-based Hertz supposed "international phone no." maddening. I was told things that proved to be not true, or inaccurate.

Finally got onto Portugal Hertz website, used google translator to email and got a better understanding + the exact deposit amounts ! Yay! So I would suggest finding the contact email of the actual rental co. and ask them specifically what is the deposit WITH their CDW insurance and what is the deposit WITHOUT.

FWIW other things i gathered: you can use your credit card's CDW but then when you turn down the rental co's CDW, youll likely have to pay a large deposit and submit docs to CC travel services for reimbursement if there is an accident. The deposit is usually (I dont know about always?) same amount as what the deductible is.

In our case using Portugal Hertz it was 900 euro without full coverage, $0 with, but in both cases you also pay 200 euro gas deposit in case you return with gas not re-filled. In our case, we have 4 rental segments (island-hopping in Azores) so wed have 3600 euro tied up in deposit (could be weeks even if no accident) which made cost of Hertz insurance seem like a good deal. If it was only 1 deposit I would prob use the credit cards CDW (it is quite good) and rent from a reliable co.

ALSO NOTE - deposit/deductible can get much higher if car is automatic and large - I dont know your vehicle but based on what Ive seen the past week, the 3800 is possible if vehicle is large or luxury model and rental co. insurance is not chosen.

Now Im trying to figure out how we access AAA roadside service overseas - supposedly its free due to their partnerships with the European car clubs, but again havent gotten any kind of answer from AAA reps re how exactly we access this while overseas. If anyone has any clues pls let me know!

Thanks all for the advice and info, especially around letting them know we'll drive up to Spain. I had looked at Costco and no option to rent in Porto for our dates. They've been my go-to in the US (and sometimes AAA, but they've been expensive lately!). When renting in the US, I typically decline the coverages since I have primary on my credit card. In Europe, I'd rather not have to hassle with anything if something happens to the car. Much easier to deal with any issues if I'm closer to home instead of thousands of miles away and in a different language.

As someone pointed out, yes, it will be a larger car, so probably a higher deposit, though I've seen amounts all over the place. There's four adults (one who is 6'2") and accompanying luggage so we'll need something a bit bigger.

I'll reach out to Autoeurope and the rental company and see if there's some clarification on this. I might bypass Autoeurope and hop onto the rental companies sites directly too. Maybe that will help with clarification. While not perfect, Google Translate sure makes it easier to view websites in other languages!

Again, much appreciated on the info!

I don’t think Costco serves Portugal at all. When we were going to visit Portugal in 2023 something must have been going on in Lisbon because rental rates were very high. What we did was modify the trip and rented and returned at Madrid’s airport. For Spain we go through Costco and have filled up at both Madrid Costcos (different trips).

Doing a bit more digging, and it seems the Autoeurope full coverage basically is a reimbursement coverage if there's an accident. Here's the language on their site:

"Full Protection reimburses you for supplier charges related to damage and accident fees, such as towing or loss of use. It reduces your deductible (also known as an excess) to $0 (unless shown otherwise). It is often up to 50%† cheaper than equivalent products sold at the rental desk."

and here's language on the refund process:

"Protection claims: If you purchased a protection product, submit your claim for reimbursement online via My Account. Claims are processed by our protection partner, not the supplier."

So basically, when you buy the full protection policy (it seemed to be about $13-$14 day consistently when I looked at Autoeurope) and there's an accident, you pay whatever that deductible amount is to the car supplier. You then contact Autoeurope for reimbursement of that amount. So you do have the full coverage, you just have to deal with the actual rental supplier and then the extra step of claiming a refund from Autoeurope.

Autoeurope also had language on their website around the deposit amount. Basically said some rental companies will tie the deposit amount to what the deductible amount is, that's why you can see those high deductible numbers.