Please sign in to post.

Travel insurance, esp. car rental insurance for England

Posted by on

Hi, and thanks for reading my post.

We are traveling to England in April. We've never bought travel insurance, but after our rental car was slightly damaged last September (rock thrown up on motorway, large circular crack in windscreen, as well as some weird scratches on the hood/bonnet), we do not want to risk having anything worse happen to a car we're renting. We used the Amex CDW waiver provision, but as we understand it, that is supposed to be secondary insurance after your primary insurance covers any damage. Well, since State Farm does not cover us in any way in England, we in effect did not have a primary insurance. In any case, Europcar never provided any documentation to Amex so the case was closed.

I've been doing research and it seems that no travel insurance company provides ONLY rental car insurance, but that this is an upgrade in their comprehensive plans. That is all well and good, although we will be paying for coverages we are not likely to need. My concern is that on one of the websites I've looked at, mention was made that some rental car companies DO NOT ALLOW coverage from travel insurance companies, only their own. That didn't make much sense to me but since the car is their property, I suppose they could refuse to deal with the travel insurance company.

Can anyone give me some feedback about how to handle car rental insurance in England? I really want zero liability. Thanks again,

Jackie

p.s. I tried to search for any previous posts on this subject but got no hits.

Posted by
5697 posts

Check Amex again. We used their coverage (one premium for entire rental -- for California cardholders it was $17.95) and it was supposed to cover everything and be primary insurance. You have to set this up in advance and pay the entire rental with Amex.
Didn't make a claim so I can't comment on that.

Posted by
5 posts

Is that zero liability? That would be good. We will probably go with the travel insurance anyway, because there is a possibility my husband will be in demand at work and we will have to cancel/reschedule the trip, but the car rental is an extra cost so if we don't have to add that, so much the better. Thanks.

Posted by
5 posts

We just enrolled with Amex's premium car rental insurance. $24.95 each time the card is used, covers up to $100,000 in any damage, or theft. Medical benefits as well.

Can anyone explain to me why the insurance companies exclude Ireland? We're not driving over there but I was just curious as to why they all seem to exclude Ireland. Are they all really bad drivers? Bad road conditions? It seems weird to me.

Thanks.

Posted by
3635 posts

We always use the Amex Premium Rental Car Insurance mentioned already by a couple of the posters; and I have claim experience to share. First of all, it becomes your primary insurance. We had an "accident" similar to yours; i.e., one caused by a rock flying up from the road. It created a tiny flaw in the car body below the passenger side door. Nevertheless, the rental company billed us over $300 for repairs. They did give us a report and invoice on the spot. Upon our return, I called Amex, and they immediately put the charge on hold. I don't know if they needed any more paperwork, but I'm sure that not getting paid until the paperwork is sent in exerts a powerful incentive for the rental company to co-operate. Anyway, I sent my copies; and about 6 weeks later we received word that our claim had been settled. The charge disappeared from our statement. Don't know if they paid the full $300+, and don't care. As noted above, you do need to put the original rental fee on an Amex card.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.