Collision Waver on Car Rental in Europe

[itrainu]

I am trying to figure out the best way to be covered for collision and theft for a rental car in Spain. Looking for suggestions on using coverage provided by credit card companies vs. buying coverage from rental car companies.

[dougp26364]

Originally Posted by itrainu

I am trying to figure out the best way to be covered for collision and theft for a rental car in Spain. Looking for suggestions on using coverage provided by credit card companies vs. buying coverage from rental car companies.

First, call your own insurance company to make sure they don't provide coverage for you when you travel oversea's. Mine does not and when I'm traveling abroad and need a car, I just bite the bullet and take out all the coverages offered by the rental car company.

In most cases, I'm sure that my CC would probably cover a lot of things but, I'd rather pay the car rental company their premium and not have to deal with the paperwork or worry that that the CC policy has some loophole that allows them not to pay.

[Keitht]

You might also find that the car rental company won't accept the fact that your CC company is providing the insurance. You could easily end up having to pay the excess and then claiming it back from the CC company insurance.

[3kids4me]

The other think I found out regarding my upcoming rental in Scotland (not sure if this is the same in all of Europe) is that even if you take the CDW, there is a deductable of $1,000. It's better to use your own coverage if you have it. (In the U.S. sometimes people just pay for the CDW even if they have their own coverage because there is no deductable and you can just hand the car back in and not give it another thought. This would not be the case in Scotland at least.)

Sharon

[Jimster]

When I was in Spain 3 years ago I used Auto europe. All insurance was paid in the rental price, and a very low price at that. I rented an economy car and if I am not correct the whole bill was $120 for the week.

[Keitht]

Originally Posted by 3kids4me

The other think I found out regarding my upcoming rental in Scotland (not sure if this is the same in all of Europe) is that even if you take the CDW, there is a deductable of $1,000.
Sharon

Which car rental company did you check with. I haven't heard of any company that charges that sort of excess in the UK. It's possible that they have experienced high levels of claim from US drivers and therefore instituted a high excess.

[Strong1]

We just returned from Spain and Portugal 2 weeks ago. We rented a vehicle for the 2 week period through Carjet (http://www.carjet.us) on the internet. Their price was the best and included all insurance except for tires & undercarriage (which we purchased for $10 Euros for the entire rental period at the desk when we picked up the car). They sent us a voucher, which we printed off and presented at the rental counter.

They are a broker, so our rental ended up being through Crown Car Hire and we got a beautiful Peugot Wagon with a moon roof, etc. for $336.60 Euros for the 2 week period. Pick up and drop off were a breeze. I would highly recommend them.

Colleen

[Jimster]

Sorry for the double post but now I recall I used carjet myself- it may be a divsion of Auto Europe I'm not sure. In fact, Crown was the specified carrier as well as I rented in Malaga. Eveything went fine-EXCEPT we got to the counter right after 2 Easyjet charters landed and the wait to get the car was over 1 hour. Carjet was swamped and the rest of the rental car agencies looked like a ghost town. They can be reached on line and they run some excellent sales as well.

[Keitht]

I looked into this a bit further after the post about $1000 excess even after paying for Collision Waver and found more information here

It certainly makes very interesting reading. The difference in charges was a surprise to me.

[dougp26364]

As you can see if you read the article, it can get pretty expensive renting and insuring a car when traveling in Europe. I have a car rented for the week we're in Ireland. The base rate is $130 for the week but I fully expect it to run upwards of $500 by the time I add in all the coverages. Since my own auto insurance won't cover me in Ireland, I feel the need to take out every piece of coverage they offer. I don't want to end a trip to Europe on a sour note from an accident.

[scotlass]

We are renting in Ireland this July. The USAirways Mastercard will cover the CDW with a letter from the CC company shown to the car rental agency. Having been through this several times, I finally found a card which will offer the CDW in Ireland. The poster was correct about the deductible. First the CDW is an outrageous price, and then if you have an accident, the deductible could be upwards of $500. You must fully decline the CDW for the credit card coverage to kick in. Some rental companies in Europe will not let you rent without the CDW so you have to shop around. Hertz is one which includes it in the price and you cannot decline it.

[3kids4me]

Originally Posted by Keitht

Which car rental company did you check with. I haven't heard of any company that charges that sort of excess in the UK. It's possible that they have experienced high levels of claim from US drivers and therefore instituted a high excess.

Hi Keith,

They were all like that...Hertz, Avis, etc. (Booking through Expedia, Orbitz, AutoEurope...it didn't matter...I did check with AutoEurope to confirm.) I think it's just something that a lot of people don't notice because it's in the fine print.

Sharon

[Keitht]

It certainly came as a shock to me as I have rented cars in Europe on many occasions and having paid the Collision Waver premium assumed that was to cover the excess. Thankfully I have never had cause to find out.
The link on my previous post indicating the comparative costs of actually removing the excess is interesting. It seems the big companies are simply using it as a way of making more money whereas the smaller companies would appear just to be covering their additional costs.

[dougp26364]

But you also need liablity coverage as well as the CDW. CDW is just a small part of the bad things that can happen if you're in an accident. Normally, I completely bypass all the coverages but when my own company doesn't cover me oversea's I take what should be the path of least resistance and pay the price for the piece of mind. I don't want to get hung up in forms and lost E-mails, faxes and snail mail while all the time having a big bite taken out of the credit card used to secure the rental.