Renting a car in Israel

This is really a question for your credit card and personal insurance company. Sometimes your own insurance will cover rental car collision deductibles, sometimes not, and sometimes "blanket" credit card CDW coverage isn't so blanket (e.g. Ireland.) Phone the parties and see for yourself.

Personally, even though our credit card supposedly covers these things, I always purchase CDW in Israel. Not as scary as driving in Portugal, but close.

From what country is your VISA card issued? I have been told by many people, and several car rental places in Israel, that for cards issued in the US, only "World Mastercard" covers the CDW. Israel is very typically listed as excluded (along with Jamaica, Italy and a few other places) on every card I have

Keep in mind that even if you can decline the CDW (about $15-20 US per day) Israeli law requires you to purchase a different insurance--I forget if it's Theft Protection (TP) or "third part liability". The cost was still about $8-10 per day. I always see European tourists who can decline the CDW surprised at the costs they do have to bear.

Don't worry too much about what you include on your online reservation. You can always change the insurance options when you pick up the car.

I know that our credit card company told me (because I called and asked them to clarify what was written in the policy) that I just have to be certain to comply with the 'minimum required' by the rental car company. Once I do that, I have $2000 deductible insurance. It's hard to know if the rental agent is telling you what you need to have or what they want you to pay for that you may not need.

US credit cards dont cover insurance in Israel. I am renting a car from Avis and just took out CDW coverage. They wanted 50 shekels extra a day for zero dedutable. So far i have been really lucky and havent had any issues. However the drivers in Israel are idoits so Insurance is a must. $800 is the deposit and if you have a insident.

Mark

An update relayed to me by a friend:
His US credit card said it would cover the CDW, and the car rental company he used , Budget, allowed him to decline the CDW. He still had to pay the "Third party liability and Theft protection". I have heard this from other people as well
The cost for his insurance was $13 per day.
Cost for CDW, which would have include the liability and theft (and I think a lower deductible) $18 per day.
So, he saved $5 per day.

I'm back from the trip, and have a few comments on renting a car in Israel & Budget. We were amazed at how easy it is to drive in Israel, the roads are so good and mostly well sign posted (until you get lost and all the signs are only in Hebrew or Arabic). We only took the minimum required insurance, as our credit card also covered any excess, etc. We had a car for 15 days (Sun afternoon - Sunday morning) and it cost us all up approx US$460 , which is not too bad. We used Budget because they had the best rates, we wanted a car with a big enough trunk to hold our two large and two small suitcases so no one could see them. And also because Budget says they have 24 hour road service anywhere in Israel, which I thought would be a good idea since we drove down to Eilat and back through the desert. However, Budget might want to reconsider and re-name itself 'Budget Rent-a-wreck.' Although our car drove, started, stopped, etc well, the interior light was broken, the light in the gear shift was broken, so we had no light after dark in those places. Our schedule was too tight to want to waste time trying to change it, but my husband thought the car was awful. We also rented another Budget car to drive from Jerusalem - Tel Aviv and to Ben Gurion as it was tons cheaper to do that than to hire a private taxi. We could not walk to a van with our luggage, we needed to be picked up. Anyway, it was worth it. But, be warned that it is confusing finding the petrol station at the airport, so make sure they draw you a map so you won't miss it. Also, the Budget road map was wonderful and we didn't need any other map.

p.s: the second Budget car we rented was even worse than the first and I was grateful we had the other one for most of our trip. Also, we drove through the West Bank twice and it was fine. No problems anywhere.

tinydancer,you mention "Also, we drove through the West Bank twice and it was fine.". What roads do you mean? If it's the road from Jerusalem area to The Dead Sea, no problem.
But I've never seen a car rental company in Israel that allows you to drive on other West Bank roads. Doing so would invalidate all your insurance. If you had been in an accident, you might have been liable up to the full value of the car!
Glad you had a good trip in general, But I don't want other travelers to be confused

AlexA:
Good question; do the rental companies allow you to drive on highway 443 from Modi'in to Jerusalem, or on highway 90 from the Dead Sea to Bet Shean ?

mbgg , you should really double-check with your car rental company. My educated guess would be that both of these are fine because they are Israeli roads going to, from, and mostly through Israeli territory. I know people who have taken rental cars on highway 90 to/from Jerusalem and the Dead Sea but not the northern part. I do not know whether that is allowed and or advisable.

my advice is to rent a car from international firm only, Avis israel preferably.

Sorry AlexA, just checked this again and only now saw your querry. We drove from Afula to the Dead Sea and had no problems. We used the Budget road map which they gave to us and stayed on the roads on the map. Just stick to the maps.