We are going to Israel in June. Can anyone recommend a reasonable and reliable company to rent a car? Also do you recommend buying both liability and theft or is just liability enough? We only need the car for 3 days in Tel Aviv and will be staying at the Sheraton Moriah. We will be using the car to visit friends in Zahala and Ramat Chen and perhaps one outing to Zichron Yaacov.

I know that some people tend to use Sun Car - it's cheaper than most of the bigger firms. Theft is not as big an issue in Israel as car accidents, and the areas you are staying and visiting are good areas.

Good Luck!

Donna

I wouldn't rent a car in Tel Aviv. Especially if what you need it for is just for going to Ramat Chen and Zahala. Take a taxi to those places aor ask your relatives or friends to drive you to or from the hotel. That is what we usually do, at least one way. It is not far and really not a big burden. I live in Ramat Hasharon, so believe me when I say that I am doing it without hesitation. I am sure your family and/or friends feel the same.
If at all renting a car, rent it only for one day for going to Zichron Yaacov. Finding parking in Tel Aviv is a real task and the parking of the Moriah is awful.
If you decide to rent a car after all, take all the insurances. Eldan is the biggest car renting company in Israel.

Thanks for the information. I called Eldan and reserved a car. It is still much less than the American car companies. As it gets closer I will see if it makes sense just to rent for the day trip to Zichron Yaacov. I havenever heard of Sun Car and will look at their web site as well. thanks for the help.

"much less than the American car companies"? That's news to me.... But then the average car in Israel is MUCH smaller than here in the USA... They drive some tiny cars that we don't even imagine they can exist...

I fully agree with eri. Let the cab driver wrestle with (terrible TLV) traffic... And you won't need to worry about directions...

But if you still elect to rent, use MasterCard-World (not just any MasterCard) and you can pay only for the mandatory part of the insurance.

Eldan is a good and reliable car rental company. Their assistants are not very helpful and the girl who helped us could not give us any valuable information on routes or even which road to take out of Jerusalem. Otherwise, they are not too bad.

Mamamia. you mentioned that "...if you still elect to rent, use MasterCard-World (not just any MasterCard) and you can pay only for the mandatory part of the insurance."
Can you tell me more about this? What is mandatory and what is not and how can the World card help? Thanks for your help

rgsidorsky and others,carefully check the written policy statement of your credit card company regarding if it covers car rental insurance in Israel.
Many policies still say something like "you may not be able to use this in Israel etc".
If you call the credit card company to clarify things, you will probably get some vague answer about the Israeli law requiring you to buy insurance anyway. The only thing that counts is what you have IN WRITING from your credit card company, so if you see any exclusions regarding Israel, You are probably not covered enough

I have noticed recently on various car rental websites and some rental contracts that says that even if you decline some insurance (cdw) because you are covered by your credit card, you have to buy a different insurance (TP, Theft protection)
Its all still ver complicated. I have noticed over the past couple of yeasr that rental car rates seem to have gone down a little, but the insurance situation is more complicated!

Mandatory insurance is what we have here (in the USA, at least), which is Liability ins. That kind of insurance you have to buy.

The other, which is covering damage to your own (rented in this case) car, INCLUDING Theft (Eldan includes it with what they call CDW), can be covered by the CC company, but not every card company, or every card would cover it -- of course, as long as you pay with that card.

We use MasterCard-World, which has always been covering the CDW and theft. Actually Eldan wants you to use that card (the agent one told me so), knowing they have the coverage.

A friend just got back from Israel where he rented a car from Avis. He did not have coverage from his credit card, so he paid for CDW and theft. But, he noted that when another customer was paying with a card from Europe that did cover the insurance, she was told that "all" she would have to pay for was the Theft protection, at the not so small rate of $9 per day. This was a mandatory charge, at least at Avis, but seems to have occurred at other agencies too, so I believe that some insurance still has to be paid by all renters, either due to Israeli law or very common practice.

I may be wrong, but as much as I know the mandatory insurance you have to pay is the LIABILITY (3rd party) insurance (damage to the OTHER party, in case of an accident, in case you're at fault), not for Collision (CDW) nor theft.

So if you damage, or total the car or if it's stolen, the CC covers you (as long as it's the right CC), but the renter is still responsible for mandatory Liabilty insurance.