Car rental insurance and Autoeurope zero deductible?

Autoeurope doesn't rent cars. They are just a third party reselling company.
You will have to buy your 'additional assurances' at the actual rental company itself.

I'm very sorry, and really don't want to go the political way, but many things in Europe will change for american customers.

Actually that’s incorrect. When purchasing our rental car for our trip last summer the Autoeurope website provided several options for insurance coverage to purchase, offered for sale by the various rental agencies. We purchased the “zero deductible super coverage”. As I mentioned this no longer appears to be an option. The problem with purchasing this coverage at the counter is that you don’t know what the final price will be until you actually get there. I’m not sure how any business would expect you to commit to buying something where the final price is unknown.

I have recently booked a car with AutoEurope for rental in Milan for April of 2026. I was able to add on the zero deductible feature. I was also able to purchase wheels and glass damage coverage .Perhaps the type of coverage available varies by country? I would call AutoEurope as I have often found their website confusing when attempting to book a car online with them.

Update: I contacted AutoEurope. The gist of it is that if the rate with insurance is available from the rental car agencies then it will be available for purchase. Still find it odd that this particular type of coverage level doesn’t seem to be available for purchase from any agency. (I tried multiple cities and dates with the same results).

As mentioned since the total insurance price is unknown when purchasing a rental car it may be necessary to purchase coverage from a US based travel insurance agency going forward. At least you know what you are paying for it.

Additionally, some may say you are covered by your credit card, however I feel it is a bad idea to rely on that. Mainly being that you are responsible upfront for the costs then have to deal with various entities in Europe to get reimbursed. There is lots of information about that here and elsewhere.

Lakosky57: I also have a car reservation coming up in April, purchased through Autoeurope with full insurance coverage. I made the reservation several months ago.

Searching the Autoeurope website for the same dates and city as my existing reservation (with full insurance coverage) gives me the same results, specifically that level of coverage is not available for purchase now.

Something definitely has changed.

Autoeurope no longer has a direct contract with the firm they are using.
Use their site to get a comparative quote for the car category you want, then go direct.

Do you have a source for this information? If that is true, then Autoeurope has no direct contracts with any car rental agencies in Europe since none offer this level of insurance for purchase.

As pointed out, the big problem with purchasing coverage “at the counter” is that the price of it is unknown until you are actually standing there at the car rental counter.