We will be renting a car and we were wondering if the credit card coverage is enough. They cover theft and collision of the rental car. Should we take out more coverage through the rental company. We are using Hertz. I know rental car companies have a tendency to take advantage of the consumer.
Thanks,
Bonnie
After a bad experience in a foreign country, I will never again trust credit card insurance to cover me in case of an accident. I was assured repeatedly before my trip that I was covered, but when I had a small accident, the credit card company decided I wasn't. And since I had turned down the rental company insurance, as I had been instructed to do, I was stuck with the bill. A poster here not long ago confirmed that credit cards will take any loophole to avoid paying on insurance claims. The cost of the rental company insurance is a small price to pay for the peace of mind. You might not want to find out the hard way what can happen without it.
One of the things that's always bothered me about credit card coverage is that they require you to submit a whack of forms before the claim is paid. Your rental company could charge you for the damage and then you'd wait for the credit card company to pay you back. For a couple of hundred dollar repair bill, that may not be too much of a problem. But if you total a $30,000 car, you may not have enough room on your credit card to cover the bill! IF you use the auto rental company's insurance, at least you don't have to put anything up front, except the CDW (and possibly Super CDW) premium.
I'm with Nancy. Had a bad experience - nothing but headaches and runarounds, ultimately ended up just paying out of pocket. Major "gold" credit card, and I did everything by the book. Never again. Now I always buy the maximum/ultimate/super/"zero-deductible" coverage offered by the rental agency, and I drive away happy. YMMV, but I've learned my lesson. Yeah, it's an extra expense, and it's probably not a great bargain, but I'm on vacation and the last thing I want to worry about is car insurance hassles.
A number of travelers here have ended up deciding that what's recommended by Nancy, Norm and David is the path of greater wisdom on this: trading dollars for peace of mind while on vacation.
Steve....but can your credit card handle the total value of a car that's been written off in an accident? ;)
I have no international experience, but in the US on an Avis rental charged to an American Express card, my rental car was hit by a commercial vehicle. I called Amex (as well as my personal insurance carrier) the next day and Amex said that they would take care of everything, and to call them back if Avis tried to stick me with anything. I had to complete an accident report for Avis but other than that I never was hassled by Avis or Amex.
Hmmm, why didn't we have any of the above problems with our visa? We went with their coverage in Italy - a country many cc will refuse to cover. Had an accident (the car was still drivable) and called Visa for instructions on what to do (do have a NON 1-800 handy for such a case!!!). They basically reinforced all the kinds of paperwork that need to be filled out upon return of the car at the rental agency. That we did and that was it. We never dealt with the repair bill, the amount was never charged to our visa.
CC used: CIBC Aerogold
Rental: AutoEuropa
The only cost that was unexpected and didn't get covered by the insurance and most likely wouldn't have been covered by any additional insurance through the rental agency either: Since we had to return the car during office hours but had a VERY early flight we ended up returning the car a day earlier and got stuck with two rather expensive taxi rides.
In my case, the rental car agency even went to bat for me with Mastercard, but Mastercard's insurance still refused to pay. How long ago did your accident happen, Beatrix?
Steve, any savings you might see by not taking the rental counter insurance (or other third party insurance) can be wiped out by one little accident if the card's insurance refuses to pay. And, as Norm points out, it might not be a little accident, but a big one. I'll pay for insurance -- at least I know what I'm getting.
Nancy, that was last year.
Something to consider, too -- does your credit card have a foreign transaction fee? I took out a 3rd-party policy to cover the deductible, which was 1100 euro. We put a scratch on the car which, amazingly, cost almost exactly 1100 euro to fix. Anyway, the rental company charged me the 1100 euro and I'm in the process of getting reimbursed by the other insurance for this. But, since my credit card charges a foreign transaction fee, I got dinged for an extra $48. So, although I saved over $100 by getting a daily excess policy elsewhere, my savings are now down to about 50 bucks.
So, if you do use your credit card for coverage, even if they do pay for the repairs, do you still have to pay the foreign transaction fees? That could more than make up for the difference in the savings by not taking the rental insurance.
I know by checking out my World Mastercard's plan that they don't cover liability. That was enough for me to not go that way.
Maureen, our visa insurance has no deductible. I didn't see them charging any exchange fees on the repair bills to us.
I have seen several posts in the past referring to an American Express insurance option. How does it compare to Visa and MC coverage? to that offered by the rental agencies?
The wonderful world of Allstate told us that they WILL NOT insure us while driving in France. They only bother with Nexico and Canada because those countries are attached to the US. We have been with them for years and I consider this a bit of a rip-off.
The wonderful world of Allstate told us that they WILL NOT insure us while driving in France. They only bother with Nexico and Canada because those countries are attached to the US. We have been with them for years and I consider this a bit of a rip-off.
Linda, I don't know of any US car insurance company that covers you while in Europe. It's not just Allstate. It's not a rip-off, it's just the way things are. (Incidentally, you might want to delete your duplicate post.)
Same as Nancy, I can't remember anyone here ever saying that they had an expectation that a domestic auto insurer would cover them while driving in Europe.
I've used insurance provided by premium credit cards in the past, however on more recent trips I've just opted for the CDW offered by the rental agency. I suppose I'm another of those in the category that Kent described as trading dollars for peace of mind while on vacation.
The credit card insurance seems to be provided by a "third party" as I had to call them for specific information, rather than the usual credit card customer service number. I've found that the provisions of coverage are somewhat confusing at the best of times, as there are exclusions for various countries and the card holder has to follow specific steps for the insurance to be valid (ie: decline the rental firm collision but accept the PL/PD). Also, the entire cost of the rental must be placed on that particular card.
I find it provides much more "peace of mind" to just pay for "hassle free" CDW and enjoy the trip. The insurance issues are one reason I prefer to use public transit most of the time, except for specific cases. Also, as I travel solo most of the time, a rental car isn't as cost effective as public transit.
Finally, the information posted by Steve regarding rental exclusions for Ireland and Northern Ireland isn't surprising. Apparently this is one of the more risky places to drive in Europe, a fact which was confirmed on my last visit there. The Garda suffered a week or so of horrendous traffic problems and fatalities. At that point, I was glad I was on a tour and someone else was doing the driving!
Cheers!
I just returned from France and spent last week driving a rental car in Provence. I declined the CDW and used my Visa card. Fortunately, we had no scratches, dents or accidents. But, in the future I will buy all of the insurance coverage I can from the car rental agency just for the peace of mind. My biggest concern was damage from another car while our car was parked. With parking at a premium and the spaces tiny, we saw drivers bumping into parked cars while trying to parallel park and opening car doors into other cars parked too close! From now on I will gladly pay more for insurance and avoid the stress of worrying about the rental agency charging me for any damage to the car and then trying to collect from my credit card.
Buy everything that the car rental agency offers (top coverage) and use the credit card as a backup. Better safe than sorry.
