Renting a car in Europe for a week - Tip

Good advise Joe, now that begs the question, there was previous damage to the car, did the rental agency charge the previous drivers for the damage and pocket the money because they obviously didn't make any repairs between when the damage was done and the rented to you. It would be interesting to know if you hadn't taken the CDW they would have charged you and pocketed the money. Granted it's not cost effective to repair minor damage every time a car is dinged but it should be considered wear and tear. I once rented a car in Seattle, between Seattle and Bellingham Washington a truck kicked up a rock and it chipped the window, when I arrived in Bellingham I went to the local rental agency, they said don't worry about it they chalked it up to wear and tear.

If you enroll in American Express' car rental coverage then each time you rent a car AMEX automaically charges you around $25 which covers the car from top to bottom 100% no deductible for the duration of your rental. It's much cheaper than dealing with rental agencies' CDW which usually does NOT include a zero deductible.

I've never taken the CDW coverage in France in 25 years; just relied on credit card coverage. How wise, I don't know, but it's probably saved me $10-15,000. So if the next time I destroy the car, I have $10-15,000 worth of my time to spend trying to get my credit card company to pay. As to Amex CDW coverage, I've seen a lot of comments about using it, but it doesn't look any different than the free coverage I get from my own credit card, and that anyone who has a gold or platinum card gets. The coverage is identical; the question is whether Amex will be more lenient about the documentation required if there's an accident. Given my experience as a lawyer dealing with insurance companies, I doubt it. The business of insurance involves taking in as much in premiums as possible as paying out only as much in claims as they have to.

Of course if you just take the train you don't have to worry with ANY of this!

Tim, I definitely agree. I just wish the French rail and bus system was a little better. We've spent some time renting houses in cities and villages in France and relying on train and bus, but we wound up wasting a lot of time in connections. But I guess it's still so much better than the US in that regard.

As far as the 'tip', to me it sounds like the tip should be 'Don't rent from EuropeCar'. I've rented several times in Europe from both Hertz and Avis, and they reviewed the car only for significant damage, just as they do in the U.S. I don't doubt this one example happened, but it is not representative of the experiences I've had when renting in Europe.

And I have rented several times from Europcar and never had a problem. In my rentals, the agents also used the same procedures as in the U.S. Every company has had its share of complaints, some of them deserved. Sometimes the problem is local rather a companywide policy. Joe could have been the victim of an ambitious agent or supervisor trying for a promotion. But Joe's problem could have arisen just as easily with Hertz, Avis or any other company. What I don't get is why CDW would make a difference if the "damage" was less than the deductible. If you have, say, a 300 euro deductible CDW, instead of the super CDW, and the damage totaled 300 euros, wouldn't the company come after you for payment, anyway? That was the experience of my daughter in Italy, only it was $300, not 300 euros, for a small scratch.

I agree with Roy about Europcar, which I've rented from (either thru Kemwel or Autoeurope) many times in France. Most of the time the car is returned to a lot or parking garage with no attendants nearby, and then I've returned the keys to the counter some distance away, where the clerk says: Everything OK; I say Yes, and that's that. A couple of times I was concerned because there were dings that I didn't remember seeing before (and didn't know if they were caused while I had parked somewhere), but I wasn't charged. So I think it's correct that the issues will involve a zealous rental agent rather than which company you use.

Why spend money on CDW/theft when most U.S. credit cards provide that coverage for free? The Amex premium coverage for $25 is great but you don't even have to spend that. Their regular coverage would have reimbursed for your scratch. For the best online info on European car rental see "What you need to know about renting a car in Europe" at www.gemut.com

Why spend money on CDW/theft when most U.S. credit cards provide that coverage for free? Read that credit card agreement carefully. Some credit card companies only cover you after you have filed a claim with your home auto insurance company. Depending on your state of residence, filing a claim with your auto insurance company could raise your premiums. For example, in my home state of Massachusetts, an at fault insurance claim will raise your insurance premium for the next 6 years. Effectively this takes the credit card company off the hook for Massachusetts residents. This state has a no fault law so essentially the insurance company has to pay your claim, but of course they ding you on your rates for the next 6 years. So in this case the credit card company is really not offering you any protection (unless you don't own a car and have no auto insurance).

I've lived in Massachusetts and Maine while travelling through France and renting cars, and always understood that my home auto insurance does not cover rental cars, so there would be no possibility for making a claim on my own policy before trying to collect from my CC insurance. Plus, all my CC insurance policies are primary overseas (secondary only in the US), so I wouldn't have to make a claim against my own policy anyway. SO that isn't a concern if you rely on CC insurance.

I stand corrected, at least partially. Your Massachusetts home auto policy only covers you for cars rented in the US and Canada. So the credit card company would be on the hook for a rental in any other country. One other little bit I learned is your auto policy also covers you if you are driving a borrowed car.

Right, Paul, in the US your own policy will cover a rental car, but not outside the country. I assume that's why cc insurance is primary in Europe but secondary in the US. And I assume that a "borrowed car" means borrowing it from someone w/o compensation, as opposed to rental or lease.

My uneducated guess of whether an agent goes over the car with a fine toothed comb depends on whether the branch is owned by the company or a privately owned affiliate. Renting Europecar through Autoeurope for the past 13 years, I've had only one or two branches really inspect the car.

I feel compelled to respond to some of the responses. At the rental car return at the Munich Airport. ALL returns are handled by a single group. Unlike what we may be accustomed to, there is but ONE group that handles check-in for all brands of rental cars. Hertz, National, Avis, Europcar, etc, there are folks wearing vests for all of these companies.
In this case, they checked in (fine tooth comb included) for all the major brands.