Car rental in Slovenia, credit card CDW, GPS
 

Hello,

Does anyone have experience reserving cars online for rental in Slovenia. I am looking into a couple of car rental companies (ATET and Agio). Particularly, I want to use my credit card coverage of CDW (collision damage waiver) instead of purchasing the CDW from the car rental. But the only options online automatically include the CDW, with no option to get a lower price for rental if I decline it. If I don't decline it, then my credit card coverage does not apply.

I plan on having my credit card benefits outlining the CDW coverage printed out to show at the rental office.

Also, has anyone downloaded maps onto their GPS in the US and brought it to use in Europe instead of renting GPS from the car company? We don't plan to rely heavily on GPS as it has failed us before, and we plan to have back up road maps and google maps printouts as well.

I'll never use a credit card's CDW insurance again after getting screwed by American Express's "Premium Rental Car Insurance" last year after some damage to a car I rented in Croatia. The Amex Assurance company made some apparently minor attempts to contact the rental car company after I filed a claim and when they got no response, they gave up. (What was their incentive to follow up aggressively? That just means they have to pay out more.) So they refused to pay the claim and left me on the hook for it.

Still, I'm not familiar with being required to add the CDW coverage when making a car reservation. In the last few years, I've rented cars in Slovenia and Croatia several ways: once directly with Sixt, once with Auto Europe (who used Sixt), and once with EconomyCarRentals (which used a company called Oryx). Never had to add the coverage when making the reservation, though I probably will in the future.

Last year, I bought a 2015 map card for my Garmin GPS before taking it to Europe. It worked pretty well, but that was before I got a faster Android smart phone. After using Google Maps on my phone to navigate since then, I sold my Garmin before it became completely obsolete - Google Maps on a phone is light years better technology and is only going to get better. In the future, I'll have my phone with mobile data to use as a GPS when I drive over there, but you don't need mobile data on your phone to use it as a GPS; Google Maps (and other apps) allow you to download maps ahead of time to your phone and navigate without any internet connection. GPS on a phone works without internet.

In case it might be company policy or even a legal requirement, trying to convince the clerk at the rental office probably won't work. Instead, try to contact the company beforehand, explain your situation and try to get them to make an exception.

GPS units usually come with regional maps (in your case North America). If you want to use your GPS in Europe, you would probably have to buy the European map package from the manufacturer. When I don't have data available while navigating in Europe, I usually use an app called Here Maps. It's developed by the company that actually provides the map data for most in-car navigation units, other apps (Sygic) and GPS unit makers (Garmin), it works completely offline and is free.

If using Autoeurope or Kemwel as the broker, you will be given two different prices depending on whether or not CDW is included. That is the easiest way of doing it; and if the two prices are not given, it means that generally credit cards will not carry the CDW for cars rented in that country.

I always rely on the CDW provided by my credit card unless there are specific local laws the prevent it, and at least when I travelled in Slovenia, there were not.

I have used my TomTom in Europe with great success (and an occasional quirk), but I didn't use it in Slovenia as I didn't have it at that time. I just used maps. ;-)

As I mentioned on your other thread, I've had great success with gemut.com -- which is associated with Autoeurope.

Sixt car rental in Ljubljana airport seems to running an insurance scam where they don't accept the insurance coverage of your credit card--at least on my Visa. You must buy their insurance (which almost doubled the cost of the rental for the "basic" insurance) or have them put a 10,000 euro charge on your card (which would top out credit on most cards).

I got another rental from Hertz at the same airport a week later and had no problem using the insurance from my credit card.

Thank you everyone. I contacted one local car rental company in Slovenia and it seems like they do not want to honor the credit card CDW coverage.

kja, thank you, I'll look into Autoeurope and some other places. I'll also get the International driving permit for myself, as you recommended on my other thread.