Our trip is on !! Passports are back and we are ready to go. My question now is about car insurance and what should I take and decline. I'm checking with my credit card company to see if I am covered by them. Trip is in early May for 10 days. Help again, please. <BR>Jim

Your credit car will not cover you in Italy (and the insurance is mandatory there anyway), nor in Ireland (where I think you have a choice). <BR> <BR>You have to decide which is worth more, your money, or your peace of mind. Sometimes, the money is considerable. I have gone both ways, depending on how I felt about it at the time. <BR>

I look at it this way. Suppose I had a major accident or damage to the car and it cost maybe $10,000. If I didn't get the insurance with the car, I'd have to put that on my credit card and try to get it back from my insurance company when I got home -- not a pleasant thought. I know of no car rental agency that will accept the fact that your own insurance or credit card company will take care of the damage. They will charge you for it and then let you deal with getting reimbursed. No thanks, I'll take the included insurance for peace of mind.

Thanks, mind was just a little foggy. If we can afford the trip, we can afford the insurance, and I do not want to deal with the insurance company !

Jim, you wouldn't be asking this question had you rented your car through AutoEurope, Kemwel and the likes (car rental wholesalers) because their rental is inclusive, that is, including theft and CDW insurances. If you rented (or are renting) from a major car rental company, chances are that you got an attractive bare quote (unlimited mileage + mandatory liability and fire insurances) possibly even without 20% VAT. If so, by the time you get there to pick your car, you'll see your rental costs hike to the sky ... Do que all inclusive quotes from Autoeurope and Kemwel. <BR> <BR>Paulo

Paulo is right. The low-ball quote you get for a rental is less than one-half of what you will end up spending after fees, taxes, and insurance. AutoEurope gave me the best quote on all-inclusive, using Avis out of Munich airport. (An Audi A4, if we're lucky! They never commit to a specific model, though.)

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I rent cars in Europe several times a yea, and I NEVER pay for the collision damage waiver because I am covered for it on my VISA card and so, why should I pay an extra $10-$12 per day? I have in the past 10 years had 1) a minor collision with a cathedral, a hood broken while I was shopping at my local Intermarché, and a side mirror snapped off by a driver who passed too closely. In every case, AutoEurope (my preferred provider of rental cars) assessed the damage and contacted my credit card company, which took care of it immediately. I was out no money at no time. The only insurance that is mandatory in Italy, by the way, is theft insurance - same in Spain - and it's a negligible expense. I guess I don't understand why someone would pay for something fairly expensive that has already essentially been paid for. If your credit card covers you, let them do that. Collision damage insurance is not cheap!

Jim: I have rented cars in Spain, France and Italy and I have NEVER purchased CDW insurance from the car rental company. My Platinum Visa covered me for those rentals. You must know how much CDW adds to the total cost of the rental. It is amazing. I also must say, that I have never had an accident. You must make sure that one of your credit cards covers you in the country in which you rent the car. Also, make sure the company you use will allow you to decline CDW and use the benefit from your card. The rental card company will inform you of their rules and your credit card benefits book will tell you theirs. As Paulo says, get the TOTAL cost. Those insurance extras really make a difference. Know also that there is a airport tax usually that is paid locally, extra drivers are sometimes charged. Read the fine print. If I can help further, e-mail me.

AutoEurope rents cars two ways. <BR>1. Basic rate: includes unlimited mileage, madatory liability insurance, and fire insurance. <BR>2. Inclusive rate: includes all of the above and CDW and theft insurance. It also includes the VAT tax!! 17 -22% <BR> <BR>Therefore, when figuring the basic rate, be sure to include the VAT, whatever it may be, to the total cost. <BR> <BR>I personally, would take the basic rate and let my credit card coverage cover the CDW and theft insurance.

I have checked with both Master Card and Visa - both their fine print and verbally by phone - and was assured that the Gold or Platnium cards cover collision, damage and theft including in Italy. Therefore I wonder why people who post here who really do seem to know alot about various issues keep saying that it doesn't work in Italy. Can you give examples of why or how it doesn't work in Italy? I've rented through autoeurope and kemwell in both England and France and declined the CDW with no problem (though I didn't have an accident). I am planning a trip to Italy and would like to decline the extra insurance so really appreciate hearing from those of you who have done so.

I too have rented without taking the extra insurance and not had a problem, but then there was no accident so what problem could there be? On the other hand, twice we have had damage to a car when we had the extra insurance. In both cases we asked what would have happened if we didn't have that extra coverage, since our credit card covers all damage. The answer was the same. "We charge the amount of damage to your credit card and you then collect it back from your credit card company." Suppose it was $10,000 worth of damage or the vehicle was totaled? It is worth it to me not to have to go back and try to deal with the credit card company which may say that we didn't have the proper accident report, the estimate was too high, or whatever else. And since I am often returning a car just before a flight who wants the problem of trying to settle such a matter then? In Finland they told us that if we hadn't had their insurance we'd have to wait for an adjustor to come to assess the damage before we could leave the vehicle which would take hours or possibly an entire day of waiting. There was a similar post recently and one guy said he was still trying to settle on such a problem with his credit card company -- American Express, maybe? I'm still trying to picture my renting a car from AutoEurope, prepaying on my plantinum Visa, and turning in a totally wrecked car to Avis or whatever their jobbed agency was and having the clerk say, "oh, don't worry about the damage, we'll send the bill to Visa for you." Maybe I'm being negative, but I just don't trust the whole operation. Incidentally, when I add the necessary extras onto the base price for Auto Europe I usually find that all that extra insurance is really not so great as it first looks. I could probably save money by staying in cheaper hotels than I do or eating at less expensive restaurants, but to me the total peace of mind is worth the extra money for the insurance in the overall travel budget, so for the time being I won't try to save money by declining the insurance.

Message to Ann. <BR>Ann the reason that your gold cards(visa/mastercard)don't work in Italy is because if you rent in Italy, their laws say that you must have CDW and theft paid to the rental agency. No "using your gold cards." However, if you rent in France,Germany or most other western European countries and then enter Italy,Italy doesn't enter into the equation and you are covered by your rental car agency,wherever you rented from, even if you had an accident in Italy.

On several trips I did Not get insurance & worried about it every day. On other trips, I Did get insurance & was mad at myself the whole time for paying rip-off prices. Then along came AutoEurope: I can now get the inclusive coverage for LESS than the cost of a rental through Avis or Hertz with NO insurance. Do a comparison on each website & you'll be a believer. <BR>

Has anyone purchased CDW from a company called "TravelGuard"? They offer CDW coverage at $6/day. It's quite a bit cheaper than the coverage through the rental company. I've rented a car for this summer through AutoEurope, and I'm considering using this instead of my VISA to provide the coverage. <BR> <BR>Has anyone had experience using TravelGuard? <BR>http://ww.travelguard.com

Paul you asked the very question I was going to ask. I would like to hear about anyone's experience with Travel Guard.

Be careful with AutoEurope's inclusive quote. The fine print says the deductable is $440!

Jim, I guess I am not sure where you are traveling, Ireland or Italy. We rented a car in Ireland through Dan Dooley. They have a web site also an 800 number. My daughter put the car in her name as her Master card covered collision. She got a letter from her credit card company stating they covered this and had it with her just in case Dan Dooley wanted it in writing. I would recommend Dan Dooley to anyone interested in renting a car in Ireland.

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I think it's worth pointing out that Mastercard has a limit of 15 days on auto insurance, whereas Visa's limit is 31 days.<BR><BR><BR>I'm planning on renting a car in Calais (Autoeurope) to tour France and Spain this summer and I intend to use my Visa to cover the insurance. <BR><BR>Am I correct in thinking that the 20%vat is unavoidable here? i.e you don't get it back when you leave the country as you do with other purchases. If so, the lower of the 2 rates listed by Autoeurope is pretty meaningless.<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR>

Andrew:<BR><BR>No VAT refund for rentals. Have you looked at the leasing plans offered by Renault and others? They are tax-free and include all insurance.