car rental and insurance for England
 

I am hopeing one of you may know the best place to rent a car....flying into Manchester, I was told by alamo that if i wanted to be fully insured it would cost me 30 pounds a day extra! Can we get insurance in the US to cover driving over there? If anyone has the best idea for safe car rentals, i do really want to be fully covered.....driving on the left:)

Call you own insurance company; and call your own credit card.

In general, your own insurance and CC will cover rentals in the UK, and you may want to make sure.

I half agree with rkkwan. Call your credit card company and see if they will provide full insurance (often they will only IF you DECLINE all optional insurance with the rental car agency). That will save you even more money.

But I know of few if any car insurance companies in the states that will cover you when abroad with your US coverage.

US car insurance is valid only for the US and Canada.

Driving anyplace else you need to rely on the insurance provided by the credit card you use to pay for the rental - and these are all different - by company/bank and by level (basic, gold, platinum, titanium, black etc.). You need to contact your company and find out if they cover liability, collision, medical (you and anyone you my injure), what the max limits are (in case you hit a Rolls you don;t want to lose your house) and if there is a deductible.



Then you can decide if you need to buy an insurance in europe.

Actually - you should first call your insurance provider. All underwriters have different rules with the countries they cover. Some cover – other countries – some do not. Best to call and/or read your policy.

If you are not covered, . . .

In the UK - Third Party Liability is required by law to be part of the base rental. That takes care of that piece.

For damage & theft - best bet is with a credit card with coverage. Both Visa & MC require you to decline CDW offered from the rental company, but if you are covered by your card – fortunately the coverage is determined by Visa/MC and not your issuing back. I believe all Visa cards now have coverage (recent change), but call call 1-800-VISA-911 to be sure.

All MCs that have coverage, have the same coverage, . . . but each bank can choose whether they participate or not. Call your issuing bank first to see if your card has the the MasterRental coverage. If you are, then you can call 1800-MC-ASSIST for the details.

Both Visa and MasterCard will tell you exactly what is, and is not covered, and can send/EMAIL you a letter that is good for you to know - as well as can be provided to the auto provider if they push back on insurance when you rent.

Not sure if any other cards provide these benefits. If this doesn't work out for you, you may need to use the CDW from the rental as a last resort.

Good Luck!