sueger

We are looking to rent a car in Croatia and return in Slovenia for a trip in June 2018. We have had problems before in Europe with rental companies in regard to the CDW insurance. We would like to waive the insurance and use the insurance from our master card, but this sometimes seems to cause problems..ie the rental companies want to put a hold on your credit card for the total cost of the car. I would really appreciate any advice you can give me regarding reputable rental companies as well as advice regarding insurance. Thank you.

Melnq8

I can't help with specific rental car agencies, but I'm curious if you provided the rental car agency a letter of coverage from your credit card/insurance company.

We always waive the insurance and although I've never been asked for proof of coverage, we did go prepared when we went to Iceland in May, we had a letter of coverage, but were never asked to produce it.

Andrew

Hi Sue. I'm guessing you will want to rent the car in Dubrovnik and return it in Slovenia? Know that that's going to incur an expensive drop fee because you are dropping it in another country. It would be much cheaper to rent the car in Dubrovnik and return it in Zagreb or somewhere in Istria, then take a train or bus on to Slovenia and rent another car there if need be.

Check out some rental car quotes for yourself to see what I mean.

I had a bad experience using my Amex's "premium rental car insurance" in Croatia a couple of years ago. I had damage to the car. I filed a claim with Amex's insurance company, providing everything that they asked for, but the company wasn't helpful to the insurance company, and the insurance company didn't seem to put much effort into it beyond mailing them some forms. I never got paid for the claim, meaning I had to pay for hundreds of dollars in damages.

I did have coverage beyond about 800 Euros though through the company who made the reservation, EconomyCarRentals. The credit card was supposed to cover everything but obviously covered nothing. My mistake perhaps was taking responsibility for the damage (signing a form) when I returned the car - even though it seems dishonest, I should have denied it and let them charge my card for the deposit, then dispute the charge with my credit card company. That would have forced the car company to provide evidence of the damage - all that could have been used for the insurance claim. But I was still very disappointed with the Amex so-called "insurance."

It might also have gone easier with the insurance claim had I rented with an international car company like Hertz instead of the local Croatian company I used. Then again, the daily rate I paid was dirt cheap, and I would have been guaranteed a much higher rate had I gone with a Hertz or Budget - maybe almost as much over extra two weeks as it wound up costing me for the damage.

kja

I did not have a problem declining CDW in Croatia or Slovenia, but I have had a difficult time elsewhere. The letter of coverage might help; I'd certainly be sure to have it with me just in case. I’ve sometimes had to be very insistent, and the rental companies have sometimes placed very high holds on my CC, trying to convince me to just go ahead and pay for the coverage.

FWIW, I always book through gemut.com, a company in the US that works with AutoEurope. There’s some very useful information about renting cars, including information about CDW, on their website.

Hope that helps!

sueger

Hi Andrew
I did look at ideal rent and the drop charge was quite reasonable but I need to check it further. Have you heard of that company? We had such a horrible experience renting a car in Nice a couple of years ago. In order to decline the CDW we practically had to sign that we would pay for the car if it was damaged..it was so stressful, so I'm nervous about renting in Europe again. That was through autoeurope but can't remember the rental company..maybe eurocar.
Thanks kja for the info from gemut.com...really good stuff. I have asked them for a quote.
I will for sure get a letter of coverage from master card and make sure I write on any contract that we decline CDW.
Wish me luck!!!

kja

Good luck!

Andrew

Yes, Sue, I have heard of idealRent. I have never used them but have seen good reviews of them on other forums. However, when I checked prices with them before, for a drop in another country, I found that the total rate (including drop charge) was about the same as renting somewhere else with a low daily rate but a big drop charge. In other words, some of the "drop charge" seems to be included in a higher rate.

To do a true comparison of prices...let's say you are going through Zagreb. Compare the price of a one-way rental from Dubrovnik to Zagreb and another rental say in Ljubljana for a few days (if that's where you are headed). (9 Euros per person for the train from Zagreb to Ljubljana as I recall.) You should be able to do a one-way rental from Dubrovnik to Zagreb without a drop fee if you rent for at least four days.

Try Sixt (not necessarily the cheapest) for quotes in both countries. I've seen car rental rates as cheap as 10 Euros/day, not including other fees like insurance or cross-border fees. I think I paid about 11 or 12 Euros/day with Oryx in 2015.

If the price of the car from idealRent is still about the same price - or the extra cost is worth it to you because of the convenience - then go for it. (there HAS to be some extra cost. idealRent is a Slovenian company, so to rent you a car in Dubrovnik, someone will have to drive it all the way down there for you from Slovenia, pay the fuel costs, etc.) Keep in mind, however, that if you will spend a day or two in Ljubljana itself, you won't need a car there, and it will cost extra to park it most likely; Ljubljana is a compact walking city with large pedestrian areas. Also, taking a train from Zagreb to Ljubljana means no worry about a wait at the border, whatever that may be in 2018. But, if you hadn't planned to go to Zagreb, that is extra time and driving to get there and take the train.

sueger

This is our itinerary. There are two couples on the trip.
May 27-31 Dubrovnik
June 1-3 Trogir
June4-5 Plitvice
June 6-9 Rovinj
June 10-12 Soca Valley
June13-14 Ljubljana
June 15-17 Venice

We plan to rent a car in Trogir or Split, then return when we reach Ljubljana. I will look into returning the car in Porec perhaps and picking up another car in Piran. I will compare the difference in prices. Thanks for your help.

Andrew

There are rental agencies right in Rovinj, too, though not many. Oryx, the company I rented from (booked via EconomyCarRentals) has an office in Rovinj and in Split also.

So you could drop the car in Rovinj, take the bus from Rovinj up to Koper or Portorož (near Piran) and pick up another car there, return it in Ljubljana...or, drive from Rovinj to Rijeka (about an hour), drop the car there, and take a direct train to Ljubljana (I did it the opposite direction). Then reverse your Slovenia itinerary: drop the car in Koper or Portorož, get up to Trieste, take the train from there to Venice.

Many people seem happy with the Slovenian transfer company GoOpti to get between places like Rovinj and Slovenia or Slovenia and Trieste, FYI, instead of the bus.

But...yeah, if the cost isn't too much more for one car the whole time with a drop fee, split over four people, it be worth the extra cost for the convenience. It all comes down to what the extra cost is.

schnauzer

I rented recently with Autoeurope in Antibes it was with Europcar. I had an accident, I had waivered the CWD as I had insurance through my credit card which however didn't cover me for windscreen or tyre damage. When I picked up the car they took two deposits by mistake of 320 euro each. Both sat on my credit card for about a month which was annoying. I had to pay an additional 820 euro on the spot when we returned the car as this was the excess. I put a claim in when I got home and was paid in full minus my own credit card insurance excess of $250 by the credit card insurance company within two weeks. Which I thought was pretty good.

This whole insurance thing is a nightmare... I took out the extra tyre and windscreen damage as I was scared in case something happened and I would be up for over three hundred euro.. I would be interested to hear how many others do this also or just take the risk....

Most people think oh nothing will happen, until it does! I've rented heaps of times and never had an accident until this year.