Car Insurance in France

Diana - this is a question you need to take to your own insurance agent and credit card company. Ask the worst case - what happens if you kill a pedestrian and your car bursts into flames. Will they cover you? If not, then you should be thinking abot the rental car company's insurance.

I am with Doug. About a year ago or maybe more, there was a series of posting describing a horror story that someone was having with rental car damage covered by her credit card and US insurance. It was a mess. Buy the extra coverage there so that the problem are handled and solved THERE by people who know the system THERE.

I have some experience here:

US car insurance does not cover rentals in outside of the United States. At least State Farm does not, but I have checked others, and it has been the same. I called my agent and he said no.

If you buy the Collision Damage Waiver from the rental company you automatically void the coverage from the credit card, if you card provides that coverage. Also the purchased CDW is only partly effective (HUGE deducitible), so to be fully covered by it, you need to purchase the premier version, which is costly.

Check carefully with your credit card company prior to using their coverage, as it is usually better (and free) than the basic CDW offered by the rental company.

Sue, I think that part of the issue was with the credit card company. Having trouble remembering the details. But, I think (someone can correct me) is that cc insurance is often secondary to your primary coverage. So if the primary coverage does exist (i.e. - your US insurance) then there is no secondary. Need to be absolutely sure that your cc will provide primary insurance and is first in line if something goes wrong. You also have a question of general liability if you were at fault in an extremely serious accident. I personally carry an umbrella liability policy over my auto insurance but have no idea if would cover an European incident. It is a complicated area and not sure if anyone on this site has the expertise to address your concerns without a lot more information from you.

Thank you all for your information. I might go with auto europe again because they sale you an all inclusive which is full coverage. Sixt car rental has a descent description of their coverage but I would need to talk to someone to be sure. Sixt car rental appears alot cheaper until you add all their insurances and than it is comparable. I just was not sure if you need all the extra coverages.

Diana, I corresponded with Sixt via email many times last year and they always promptly answered my questions. I'd be willing to bet they'd answer any questions you have if you sent them an email.

The following came from Autoeuope's site.

"The following guidelines apply to rentals commencing in France.

Required Coverage:
Fire and third party liability insurance is mandatory and is included in all rentals. Third party liability insurance offers unlimited coverage in case of damage or injury to people or property outside of the rental car."

I asked the question about liability to Andy Bestor at gemut.com in April 2007 and received this reply:

"Hi Mr Clark - Thanks for the reply.

Liability is included w/ all rentals in europe by law.

You are protected for damage to people or property oustide your vehicle. $0 deductible.

Kindest Regards,

Andyb ."

Check with your credit card company on the cdw as suggested. There are some vehicles that certain credit card companies will not cover for cdw. Also, Ask what the limit of their liability is. If not comfortable with the credit card's cdw coverage then opt for something that will give you more peace of mind.

If you are going for 17 days or more your may want to check with the short term lease or "buy back" program, with all insurance covered plus you get a new car. Autoeurope should be able to tell you about that program since they participate with Peugeot who offers this program. Renault also has a buy back program.

Thank you so much for the definition on third party insurance that's very helpful. I did not see a place to email sixt car rental with questions.

I just heard on Clark Howard that some of trip insurance policies include CDW. If you go to insuremytrip.com, hit "compare" in the "Package Policies area, it lists all of the insurers, and lets you review the policies.

I always take out a trip insurance policy before I leave, and this is one option that can be used to obtain CDW.

I've been struggling with the same question for a trip we have planned to France in July. I am booked through Avis since I have preferred status there through my work travel and get a better deal there. I live in Washington so the TravelGuard CDW that Rick recommends isn't available to me (not sure what TravelGuard has against Washington drivers!), and all of the others that I found were comparable in price to Avis' coverage. I called my insurance company (Allstate) and they couldn't help me. So then I contacted my credit union -- the issuer of my visa -- and they were very helpful. They spelled out the coverage that I would have (no deductible!) and the way it works is that when you are travelling domestically the insurance is secondary to your own personal auto insurance, but when you are travelling internationally it is primary -- you just have to make sure you waive CDW on the rental agreement. They also mailed me a copy of the policy coverage which spells out all of the terms and limitations (no fancy sports cars!) which I am planning on taking with me in the event that I need to show anything to the rental agency. From what I've gathered, the one big risk of going this route is that oftentimes you will have to pay things up front and get reimbursed. So for example if you blow out a tire and end up in a ditch, you will have to pay for the new tire and the tow right there and submit receipts to your credit card company. But, with the CDW through the agency, you'd have a big deductible anyway, unless you paid for the super-CDW. So either way there's some exposure for unplanned expenses. Hope this helps.

Diana, go to Sixt.com. At the bottom of their main page, click on "Contact." Lots of email options there.