franco

Trying to rent a car in Jordan for two weeks, I find that almost all car rental companies are unsuitable for my requirements for one of three reasons:
Either they don't currently have any local partner and are hence not active in Jordan at the moment (which is true for some of the most interesting companies, like Sixt or Autoeurope); or they are way too expensive (generally, car rentals are surprisingly expensive in Jordan); or they don't deliver their cars to Amman International Airport, but pick their clients up on arrival and shuttle them downtown to hand out the car there, which would be insane, in my case, since I don't want to go to Amman the day of my arrival - rather, I'm heading the opposite direction, south to Wadi Rum, so I'll be in a hurry anyway, and don't absolutely want to waste two hours driving into and out of Amman.
So more or less the only choice (after a really long & thorough online research) is www.montecar.com, who are having quite a reputation for their cars and their personal service (anyone any personal experience here?). The problem is their insurance... their standard is third party insurance and "full comprehensive insurance", which is neither full nor comprehensive but involves a deductible of 300 $ for any damage not comprised by the third party insurance, or 1,000 $ for a full damage of the same kind. However, they "strongly advise" their customers to buy an Additional Insurance Coverage (AIC) for 10 $ a day (140, thus, for my two weeks) warranting zero deductible... EXCEPT FOR: any case of "illegal conduct" on behalf of the driver (like exceeding speed limits!! - really GROSSLY illegal, isn't it?; violating, even unvoluntarily, a traffic light, and so on); and EXCEPT FOR any damage to the wheels and tyres, the underside and roof, the windows or windscreen, and the interior of the car. So this is rather laughable - they're trying to exclude every kind of damage that is likely to occur, and then they're drawing the bottom line "but anything else (i.e. anything else than anything probable) is included in our insurance".
Being a fairly experienced, secure and fearless driver, but having never driven in Jordan, I'm asking your opinions: do you think it's worth paying 140 $ that are unlikely to provide any (realistic) additional insurance coverage, or would you rather pay 300 in the (generally unlikely, but how unlikely in Jordan whose roads I don't know yet?) eventual case of an accident caused by myself?

sandi

Can't comment with specifics as don't (at least haven't in more than 10/years) normally rent vehicles.

However, the site link you show does indicate "they delivery vehicles to the airport"

Also, as I recall, the airport is only a 15/min drive to Amman city, though can't attest to where their office is located within Amman.

franco

Yes of course, this company is delivering their cars to the airport. That's one of the three reasons given above why this is just about the only company from which I'm actually able and willing to rent. Any thoughts on the insurance problem?

lerasp

Amman is NOT 15 min drive to the airport. it's closer to an hour, with traffic. So, i understand not wanting to go into the city (and it's not on the way to Wadi Rum anyway). I can't help with insurance, but I did rent a car in Jordan. In my experience, the roads are fantastic - straight, smooth, wide and well-paved. driving was easy once out of Amman - no traffic jams, signs in English, lights (in major towns), etc. I went as far as Petra, but didn't make it to Wadi Rum. One thing to check - will you have to go over any unpaved roads? usually, that's against rental contract and invalidates any insurance you may have. i suspect some areas around wadi rum will be unpaved.

franco

You're absolutely right about unpaved roads around Wadi Rum. However, we have just a few hundred metres to drive off-pavement (to and from our accomodation), and this rental company doesn't exclude unpaved roads from their insurance, provided that you're driving with care. Apart from their strange insurance policy, my impression (from afar, of course) is that they're actually a laudable company.

franco

And by the way, until few years ago, there was a second airport near Amman, which is, however, now closed for international flights. Perhaps that explains sandi's recollection of a short ride to Amman.

sandi

The international airport as I recall was Queen Alia (sp). Believe this is the only international one for foreign plane landings. We had been inJerash and Amman earlier in the day, then drove to the airport for 5pm flight (which was delayed anyway) to Egypt. Guess 4pm is rush hour in/around Amman, but it took no time at all. That was our experience and I'm sticking to it

Of course traffic or accident can delay even a so-called short distances.

Can't comment about insurance. As I don't own a car at home (thus no self-insurance), whenever we have rented, anywhere, we've always taken that which is offered by the rental firm.