geraldineb

My state does not allow travel insurance companies to offer any type car insurance to residents, I forgot to post that info.

Patrick

Regarding a hold on the credit card:
In our case it was nearly six months to get settled, partly because we were in Europe for another couple of months, and it took a long time for Avis (via AutoEurope) to get a "scrap" price for the totalled car and decide the final charges which ended up being about $6000. Meanwhile they did put $1000 on our card. But the rest didn't appear at all until near the end. When it did appear on the card, we refuted the charge saying since the Citibank was to reimburse us, we shouldn't have to pay, and sure enough they credited it while we waited for the final bill and then the check. But here's the best part of all. Citibank ended up sending us a check for the full amount and we did have to pay the card -- so we got a bonus 6000 FF miles with American for totaling a car!

jsmith

In March 2003 we had an accident in Glasgow with a Hertz rental insured with our Visa card. The claim for approximately $1000 was settled promptly and Hertz was very coooperative in providing the necessary paperwork for reimbursement. The charge was made to our CC and the claim was settled before the due date with a credit to the VISA account.

Get a copy of your CC Auto Rental Insurance Program so you know exactly what is covered and what documentation is needed.

starrsville

topping for Spain accident thread

Underhill

A few years back a nutty driver zooming down a mountain on a narrow road clipped the driver's-side outside mirror. When we returned the car to Hertz they slapped a $500 charge on our credit card and said we would be notified of the actual cost of the repair.

When we returned home we notified Diner's Club about the accident, and for 7 months they corresponded with Hertz and asked for a copy of the estimate and/or repair bill. Nothing every came, and finally Hertz refunded the entire amount to Diner's Club, which passed it on to us

Now we always buy travel insurance that includes about $30,000 in rental-car coverage.

letour

Hi, Jean.

Do you mind my asking from whom you buy your travel insurance and how much it costs? Sounds like a prudent idea.

letour

Underhill

We check out various coverages and costs at insuremytrip.com. This time around we're using Travelex. I've noticed that fewer companies are offering insurance that includes rental coverage; so read the policy summaries very carefully.

letour

Thanks, Jean.Travelex looks familiar to me. I'll check it out.

Cheers!

Grandma

Guess we were lucky our accident was in Italy. We rented a car in Sorrento and on the way up to Ravelllo a truck coming down swung wide and wiped out our left fender. We taped it up and could still drive. Called the rental office, and when we returned to Sorrento they came to inspect, took off the car, and that's the last we ever heard of it. -

sparks_fly

If you want to decline the CDW in Ireland you must use a Platinum Master Card ( this is the ONLY card that will cover you in Ireland) to charge your car rental. You can request a copy of the rental coverage from Master Card.

CRAZY4TRAVEL

We had a small accident in Italy on our recent trip...more of a parking mishap really. There was a dent on both the rental car and the car we hit. We paid a 35.00 Euro admin fee and walked away without any other charges. It is mandatory to take the insurance in Italy. I have to disagree about rentals being more expensive in Italy. I am shopping for a car in Dordogne for next May and the rates are really high compared to what we paid in Italy. Also, it seems that the zero deductible we had in Italy is not available in France through Autoeurope. It is showing a hefty deductible for both Collision as well as theft. I have quite a few months to shop around to get the best deal but my rental in Italy at 422.00 Canadian for 10 days including all insurance and tax for a compact car might be hard to beat.

Underhill

Have you tried Autoeurope.com for rentals rates? They're usually very good.

loisco

We had an accident last year in France but the car was leased so no insurance on our part as it was all part of the lease. We couldn't rent as we are over 70. This year we are taking trains and tours!!

catfish78

We plan to rent a car in Germany and decline the CDW as we have coverage under our CC. However, is anyone aware if we will be covered if we take the car into Italy? We planned on going to Venice for an overnight.

GBC

Stu Dudley...that is an interesting idea for a rental which would exceed the insured time. This has happended to us in Europe and in the USA. It seems as if the CC are reducing the number of days covered - one can't just go by what was allowed last year.

Let me see if I understand it. For a rental exceeding 31 days you end the first one (mid-trip) and begin a new one in your wife's name and with her credit card AND you've been able to keep the same car. With this arrangement you drive the first 31 days and then she must drive the remainder, or do you pay extra for a second driver on each lease ?

Have you ever considered a leased car which is said to be a possibility for a trip exceeding 17 days ?

Thanks for your advice. It will be very useful to us.

Pegontheroad

I had an accident in the Lake Country in England. I hadn't taken the CDW, but had used a Visa gold card to pay for it. Visa covered everything. I think I paid for repairs and then was reimbursed 100%.

It's always seemed to me a good idea to take two credit cards in case a hold was put on it, but it turned out that I didn't need a second card.

We were towed into the airport at Leeds, where Avis immediately gave us another car, which amazed us.

Maria_H

I'm not sure about insurance being compulsary in Italy - even with the CDW included, there can still be an excess to pay in the event of damage. The extra insurance to cover this excess is not compulsary, as we found for ourselves.

A couple of years ago we hired a car from Rome airport and refused the extra cover to reduce the 400 euro excess to zero - after all, we'd never had a bump in a hire car. My other half is a careful driver and as I closed my eyes and held on for dear life, he negotiated the winding roads of the Amalfi coast, the Naples ring road and the double parked cars in tiny villages, without incident. Then when we were leaving our apartment and the owner opened the gate for us to go, he reversed too quickly and all but tore off the front wing of the car on a gatepost!

To cut a long story short, when we took the car back, though they knew we hadn't taken out the excess waiver, they didn't seem to have a record of the amount of excess we needed to pay, so we got away with paying 100 euros for the damage. We now read the small print carefully, as regards excess and excess waivers.