I was reading the fine print in the <BR>American Express Car rental loss and damage Insurance program. If you decline CDW and use their card to pay for the rental car, they "do not cover loss of use or loss of revenue". I called Am. Exp. to try to get more information and they told me that while they will pay to fix the car after an accident, they will not pay for the additional charge levied by the rental company for "loss of revenue" if the car is out of service while being repaired. When I called Auto Europe, I couldn't get a straight answer. One person stated that rental car companies do charge for loss of revenue only if the car is out of service for a long time, while the other person didn't know anything about this charge and thought that it was covered by my credit card company. Has anyone had any experience with this? I would hate to decline CDW and then be hit with a bill for loss of revenue that in not covered by the credit card company.

AE may have more generous terms than your basic VISA, but:<BR>I was told that my VISA (Canadian Imperial Bank of COmmerce) does not cover cars outside of N. America, no way no how.<BR>VISA only covers CAR rentals, not truck, etc. SUV's are considered trucks, not cars, so that Dodge Durango I rented in NJ wasn't covered. <BR>The basic insurance they make you get with car rentals includes a "deductible" or whatever other places call it - the first $500 or whatever is your problem, the rest they cover. To get a $0 deductible cost us an extra $16/day from AVIS in Florence.<BR>I have never heard of "loss of revenue". I assume this is the Rental Company coming after your insurer for more money? My response - where's the incentive to repair the car in a "timely manner" if you can collect regardless? Also, wouldn't you have to prove that you would have rented the vehicle if available, and no substitute was available to their potential customers? Sounds like a gouging tactic to me.

Loss of use claims are common, however it really depends on where the rental car comes from. <BR><BR>Renting in New Orleans first few days of Mardi Gras? Wreck it as your driving it back to the rental office? Yep, you'll be charged loss of use -- it's pretty much GUARANTEED that the car would have been rented to someone else. The rental co would lose income.<BR><BR>Renting in East Podunk where they only have two rental cars and it's the Appleseed family reunion? Well, you might be charged loss of use if something happens to one of them, but maybe not...<BR><BR>Renting from Newark airport at no special time of the year? Chances are slim unless damage is tremendous -- however you do get that odd claim or two. <BR><BR>Loss of use can be very costly. Your auto policy may cover it. My advice? Call your insurance company's CLAIM office and ask the question -- call two different offices to make sure you get the same answer (I worked in a claims department for auto insurers for many years and have seen a lot of people who can't admit they don't know an answer make stuff up). DON'T CALL YOUR AGENT!! Agents don't handle claims. And be prepared for the answer, "it depends" -- there are things that can change the answer and they can't go through all of them...<BR><BR>And thanks for reading the policy! Insurance is the only thing for which people will write a big check and have no clue what for.

As a follow up to my original question, I forgot to mention that we will be renting a car in Southwest France and our own insurance company doesn't cover rentals out of the country. We would be using the American Express car as our primary insurance. My question is - do rental companies charge for "loss of use" while they are repairing a damaged car? Is this something we need to be concerned with?

Some details from experience:<BR>A rental car company may very well charge you for "loss of use" despite the fact that they may have plenty of other cars in their inventory. It's a pretty hard thing for you to dispute, especially if you are a tourist (likely) from another country(ditto) who isn't fluent in the language (ditto).<BR> However, EVEN if you DO get insurance that covers the same type of "loss of use" charge in theory, the insurance company may refuse to pay it unless the rental company will show them documentation that all other cars in that category were already in use. Of course, your insurance comapny would be "right" , but chances are you'll end up paying the charge anyway

We will also be renting a car during our cruise stop in Le Havre. Our United Mileage Plus First Card Visa does cover loss of use on the car we're renting. I know this because I called and asked. I guess it depends on the credit card your using.

Depending on at what point in your rental the accident occurred, the only party losing use might be you, not the rental company. If the car ends up being repaired during the time you were supposed to be using it, they can hardly charge you twice. You, on the other hand, will have to make alternate arrangements for which you will have to pay.<BR><BR>Furthermore, even if you have to compensate the company for loss of car rental revenue, this amount is likely to be a considerably smaller sum than the cost of any repair that would lay up a car for any period of time. When you consider what you save by using CC insurance as opposed to the rental company insurance, CC insurance is still not a bad deal.

Karen -- I'm not sure why my prior post didn't help (maybe it didn't show up). Anyway, the gist is:<BR><BR>YES, THEY CAN CHARGE YOU<BR><BR>YES, YOU SHOULD BE CONCERNED

Anyone renting a car should check both the car rental company and their own credit card for the finer details - do NOT rely on information given on this forum. While Fodor's is wonderful for little travel tips, none of the information is verifyed and people can post whatever they want. I have seen so many posts on the car rental insurance issue with information that was completely opposite what VISA, my credit card bank and the car rental agenices have told me. For example, Maurice above says VISA doesn't cover cars outside N. America. Well, VISA tells me they most certainly do, in fact, outside N. America is the only place that they are the primary insurance. If you rent here at home they are secondary to your own car insurance. Your own car insurance bought here in the states doesn't cover you abroad. I recently reserved a car through autoeurope and when I inquired about various insurance options THEY suggessted I use VISA if I had a gold or platium card, pointing out that there is a $600 deductible if you go with the car rental agency's CDW. Now maybe my information will turn out to different from what you may find but I certainly feel better having spoken with VISA and the car rentals themselves. Rely on Fodors for personal testimonals to places to go and things to do, but for facts, check them out yourself. (Though this is a great place to raise questions you may not have thought about).

Ann, in general I would agree that a messageboard is a poor place to acquire facts, and of course one should contact one's CC and rental agency for primary information.<BR><BR>However, getting the fullest and most complete version of the facts usually means cross-checking everything that is said to one, including what is said to one by the source. For example, a rental agency might state that under insurance coverage X, no paperwork need be filed by the renter in the event of an accident. This might be factually true as far as the rental agency is concerned, but not as far as the local police department is concerned. <BR><BR>Second, while messageboards aren't necessarily reliable sources of information, neither are the primary sources. I think this is why Karen was looking for opinions in the first place, because the agency with whom she's taking out a contract is unclear on the facts. I at least am not trying to substitute for the rental agency or the CC company, just supplement with such thoughts as I've had that helped me with my own decision.

I've been calling my other credit card companies and it seems that my Visa Platinum credit card has a car rental insurance that does cover "loss of revenue" while my American Express car does not. So, it's important to check the coverage on each type of card to find out which offers the best deal. Visa rental car insurance also told me that if I was in an accident, I should file the claim with them and they would handle it from there. Yes, there would be alot of paperwork - claims forms to fill out, the accident and police report and an estimate of damages etc, but they assured me that they will handle the whole thing. I asked what would happen if the rental company wanted to charge my credit card a lot of money if there was an accident and the amount was more than my credit limit. They told me that I didn't have to allow them to charge my card and that I should show them that I had insurance through my credit card company and that their claim department would be handling my claim. Does this sound correct? Has anyone had an accident after having declined CDW and been though this?

Thouroughly confusing!