Sixt Car Rental Slovenia -- help understanding pricing differences

Do Not cancel your current reservation before you book a new one.

I would try booking on the sixth.si site to see if it works.

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I had the same issues when trying to book a rental car in France - different sites including auto Europe were not offering the same insurance options. We also used SIXT and ended up booking direct. I don't see why it would be a problem to use the Slovenian site

Instead of purchasing extra coverage through the rental car company, we always add rental car insurance to our trip insurance policy. With the trip insurance policy we almost always use (Travel Insured), it's an optional extra-cost coverage but only costs $7 per day for each day of the rental. It's zero deductible coverage. Recently we had a trip to Greece that involved 7 days with a car, 7 days without, and the final 7 days again with a car. Our trip insurance agent said that Travel Insured couldn't split the rental car coverage. It was going to be necessary to have the coverage for the full 21 day length of the trip. Not a terrible charge, just $147. Instead, however, our trip insurance agent sold us a separate policy of just rental car insurance (zero deductible), for a premium of $54. It was a CSA Freestyle policy.

Granted, if you purchase the 0-deductible through the rental car company and the car is damaged, you can just return the car and walk away, whereas if the coverage is through an outside policy, you're going to be charged for the damage and have to submit a claim for reimbursement. Maybe that's what you're trying to avoid, since you said you don't want to use your VISA coverage. I submitted a VISA claim once, when I hadn't put our Italy rental car on a trip insurance policy and we were charged 100 euro for some claimed scratches on the wheel cover. VISA did reimburse us for the charge but their claim process was burdensome. I buy the extra coverage now with the assumption that a claim through a rental car insurance policy might be a little easier than a claim through VISA.

I don't see why it would be a problem to use the Slovenian site

Careful, the EU requires certain coverage be offered to EU residents for free, but foreigners will have to pay extra. If you use a foreign rental car website be sure there is a place to toggle on your country of residence.

you can just return the car and walk away,

I recall a post where someone had purchased zero deductible and was charged for damage anyway, and was still trying to sort it out 2 months later.

Also, be careful using travel insurance car rental policy. Car rentals have really cracked down on what insurance they will accept. In the 25 years I have been renting, I have seen more and more of them refuse third party insurance. Do your due diligence on that. It may work for you if you present your Visa card as your insurance when you pick up the car. However, research carefully what you need to have to do that. When I researched it, I found out I needed to have a letter from my CC company that showed I had that coverage and had been dated 14 days before my rental started. (Others allow 30 days, etc)

In 2014, I was refused a car at National Car Rental at London Heathrow. They refused to accept my Travel Insurance car rental policy. They would only give me a car if I purchased their insurance which would have more than doubled the cost. Fortunately, I had rented through AutoEurope and called their 24 hour hotline. They talked to them and then told me to present my CC card coverage as what I wanted to use. (It was London, we were all speaking English but the rental agent probably had an incentive to purchase their insurance and was less than transparent and helpful) I presented my Visa and got my car. If we had damaged the car, I still would have used my Travel Insurance policy, as I had heard a lot of stories about loop holes in Visa coverage.

Do your due diligence! I have found the above situation becoming more and more common.

Frist of all, there is nothing wrong with using the .si to book; it's highly likely that the Sixt operation is an agency of sixt. When we rented in Slovenia from Hertz, it was an agency. So am not surprised that using the local .si is cheaper than the.com site.
Also, over the years, I have always tried to use the country tag as you can save real money using the country tag for most of the EU members.

When we put a rental car on our trip insurance, it's only to provide extra coverage above and beyond the base coverage that we always purchase from the rental car company. It's a reasonable-cost way to get zero deductible, rather than upgrading the insurance through the rental car company.

jkgaliger, would it being an agency mean that the lower cost would be provided at the counter as well, and not only via the .si website?

Thanks, all, for the insights. I talked to AutoEurope yesterday and they do not offer any CDW/LDW coverage for this particular rental. They did not indicate why. They just said I'd need to contact the Sixt agency in Portoroz to find out what $0 deductible insurance plus tire and glass coverage will cost. So I've put an email in and will have to figure out a time to call if I do not hear back.

In the meantime, I've been looking over Sixt info I can find, and it seems like $0 deductible not only does not include windows and tires, but also undercarriage. And I cannot seem to find anything we can buy that would include undercarriage --- which is strange to me, but we've never rented a car before so perhaps my expectations are flawed.