Jayne11159

American Express tells me to decline the CDW as they cover that if the rental is purchased on my card. Liability is another story. Also curious if anyone has ever had to file a claim with AMEX and how that worked out.

hanleyster

I Will always get insurance after my incedent. they didnt notice a dent on the rear fender when the person before me broughgt iti in. i didnt see it whe i picked it up, i dropped it off to them and they say hey you broke our car and i mlike no i didnt it was like that and they sue me fo rmoney and my insucane had to apay!

hetismij

Third party liability coverage is compulsory in Europe and should be included in the rental fee.

ira

Hi J,

Third person liability insurance comes with the car. By law, in every civilized country in the world, the rental agency must provide it.

oinchats

I never purchase collision damage (tuesday will be 8th time renting a car) as most credit cards (if you use the card to pay for the rental) cover the collision damage.

Alec

While third party (liability) cover is compulsory and comes with the rental everywhere in Europe, things work differently in US, hence the confusion and queries.
In US, rental cars usually only come with legally-required minimum liability cover mandated by each state, which can be quite low. But it's no problem for most US drivers as their own auto insurance normally covers rental cars as well, and if you have high-enough liability cover there is no need to buy supplementary insurance. For non-US drivers, it's important to check they are adequately insured and buy any necessary cover that is offered or take out separate insurance before travel.

Challiman

Well, I have heard and read too many stories about the hassle of not taking the CDW and then having a problem if there's an accident or damage somehow. It is a dreadful expense, but I just don't want to deal with all the paperwork and back and forth if there is a problem. That said, we don't travel all that often to Europe, but in the US we decline CDW as we always use a credit card.
Just my opinion, certainly others have had different experiences.

azzure

I've never had to file a claim with them, but I can tell you it was disappointing dealing with Amex customer service when we suddenly realized we were not insured -- I had reserved the car with my Amex card but then we listed my husband as "primary renter"...don't do this, the name on the card and that of the primary renter must be the same.

Anyway, Amex couldn't have cared less when I called them and explained the situation...they just sort of shrugged and said "it's your problem." We did go back to the Europecar agency and tried to switch things around, but I was never confident that we had coverage. Luckily nothing happened to the car.

The entire episode convinced me that I will probably purchase the rental company insurance next time.

NeoPatrick

I was happy to do the paperwork involved for saving ourselves well over $1000 because we declined the CDW and used our credit card for it, when we totaled a car in Wales!
I can do a lot of paperwork for $1000 savings!

Underhill

We always buy trip insurance that includes rental-car coverage.

Pegontheroad

I never get the CDW, but I've always made sure my credit card will cover it.

I know nothing about AMEX, but I did have an accident in England, and my Visa did cover it. As I recall, I had to pay for it, and then Visa reimbursed me. Aside from the fact that I had to fill out and submit some paperwork, it wasn't a big deal.

Robert2533

If you're an American, then you USA based credit cards (Amex, Visa and MC) becomes the main, or 1st insurer when renting a car while traveling in Europe. If you accept the CDW, then the credit card company will no cover you as the first insurer of record. If you do go with the CDW, then you might as well purchase the 100% coverage. Accepting CDW can, at times, depending on the rental car, double your rental rate.

Amex does offer an all-inclusive policy for $19.95 per rental, which is actually quite good.

Jayne11159

Thanks Robert I'll look into that. I talked to someone in their rental car coverage department and they never mentioned it.

eurogals

<most credit cards (if you use the card to pay for the rental) cover the collision damage.>

Last winter while renting a car in Los Angeles, we had a flat tire on the freeway which resulted in a bent rim. A costly item @$600. When I tried to claim it on my VISA credit card they said they only cover rentals if it is less than 2weeks. We were renting for one month.

I thought it covered for any length, I guess I was wrong. Anyone else have this problem?

robjame

length it covers depends on the card company. Mine covers 45 days.

Most credit card insurance does NOT cover a luxury car. You should check before you rent a Mercedes and decline the coverage thinking your CC will kick in.

If you purchase (some) coverage thing more is better... the CC insurance defers to what you purchased. In other words they will not accept any liability.

The above is true with my Visa and a call to the insurance part of the CC company will set you straight.

Tx_lv2trvl

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drebin

My husband and I just returned form Germany where we rented a car. We had a reservation for one at Dollar which I made through the Continental.com website after getting our tickets.
When we got to the Dollar counter at Frankfurt A.M. airport, the agent told us we needed to have IN HAND a letter signed by our insurance company that we were insured by them and they would pay for any damage we incurred in Europe. Just showing them our insurance card was not acceptable. In lieu of having this letter, you had to buy their expensive insurance at a very high deductible.
We ended up going to every car rental place at the airport...none asked for this requirement, but only Europcar had any cars! We got one, did not have an accident and had a very nice visit even if it did start about 2 hours later than it should have.
Also, the print-out I got off the Cointinental website telling me of Dollar's requirements never stated that this paper would be needed!
One added thought...get a small car...some of the garages we were in were incredibly narrow!!

Michael

I had to split my rental in France in two because my car travel plans defined by the plane flights were one day over the 31 day coverage by the credit card. Turning in one car and picking up another one was not a problem but it does increase the cost because an 15 day rental plus a 17 day rental have a combined cost that is higher than a 32 day rental. In addition, I had to pay a RR station pick-up fee for the second rental.

As to the issue of insurance, I always use my credit card as primary carrier for collision coverage and decline the CDW.

kenav

drebin -

We are renting a car from Dollar too. In Italy. My husband's cc covers the CDW in Italy. What insurance are you talking about that Dollar didn't accept and made you pay them for it?

Bellarosa

We purchased the all-inclusive insurance as an extra with our American Express card last year, dented the heck out of the back fender and never had a bit of trouble. As Robert said, it is pretty inexpensive, as it cost $24.95 for a car up to 80,000 Euro in value.