In most foreign countries your credit card usually covers you on collision damage when renting a car. I understand that this is not true in Italy, you must buy the CDW (collision Damage Waiver) at the rental desk. Anyone have any input?

I was in Italy this past summer and was told by Auto Europe that I had to buy the CDW; however, I bought it at time of making the arrangements, not at rental desk in Florence.

CDW is mandatory in Italy. To my knowledge, no credit card company offers coverage in Italy. The cost of mandatory CDW coupled with a 20% VAT makes Italian auto rentals among the highest in Europe.

Although it is required for rentals made in Italy, it is not required for cars rented in other countries and driven to Italy. Many rent in Nice and drive into Italy, returning car to Nice.

Hi Doug,<BR><BR>There is a reason that CDW is not provided by credit card companies in Italy; it is, 'a high rate of damage'.<BR><BR>Buy the CDW - particularly if you are going to be anywhere near Naples.<BR>

Doug, Many of my trips start and end in Nice, Lugano/Zurich, or Munich to avoid the rental car costs in Italy. If you rent in Italy, get the coverage.

First time EVER I took the CDW was because I HAD to in Italy....also the first time EVER I actually needed it...<BR><BR>I know this is not statistically meaningful, but sure glad we had the coverage. Dented up a brand new Mercedes on all sides, in a tiny hilltown street where we got the car (literally) stuck. No injuries just the scary thought that we'd need a helicopter to airlift the car out...until an Italian man (an angel!) arrived and carefull backed the thing downhill for us.. "Mille, Mille, Grazie." No hassles when we turned the car into Avis, booked through AutoEurope and they beat everyone else on price.<BR><BR>Buon Viaggio!

In the US, Both Visa and Mastercard exclude Italy from their list of places that they will cover. It is probably because a) the high rate of theft and accidents b) Italian law says you must buy the coverage. In other countries I've visited, it wasn't the high accident rate that invalidated the credit card insurance, but the fact that local laws required you to buy the insurance--even in the US, to get the CC insurance, you have to decline all the insurance offered by the rental comany--you can't buy some insurance and have the CC pick up the rest for example) (BTW-It doesn't matter which bank issued you the card, it's a function of Visa or M/C.)<BR> I also paid for CDW for my first time ever in Italy this year. Fortunately didn't have any damage to the car, but after passing trucks going 150 km/hour (or so it seemed) on narrow roads , boy was i glad I had paid it anyway...<BR><BR><BR><BR> Another thing that can add to the price of rentals is whether you rent at an airport or not. For example, I knew I wanted to rent a car one way only between Rome and Florence, but wasn't sure which direction. When I checked rates at a few companies it turned out that there's a 20% surcharge added to the entire rental if you pick up the car at Fiumicino/Da Vinci airport in Rome. Obviously I opted to pick it up in Florence and then return it at the airport, not vice versa