Question about Car Rental Insurance
Mar 26th, 2003, 04:56 PM
#1
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Question about Car Rental Insurance
I was so proud of myself, getting a great price from Alamo on a two week car rental for Germany/Austria. Today, I called my insurance company just to confirm they would cover me over there and they won't! My Northwest FF credit card doesn't cover it either. Too late to get an upgrade to a more expensive card. Now it's going to cost me more for the insurance ($30/day) than for the rental. Any quick ideas for me? We leave Friday.
Mar 26th, 2003, 05:13 PM
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Try Nova Rentacar. For our trip to Germany last June, they were significantly less expensive than the rental car companies, and less than any of the other internet rental brokers we tried. We ended up with an Alamo car (with insurance) through them for much less than Alamo itself wanted.
http://rentacar-europe.com/
Another one that had good prices was www.ofran.com
http://rentacar-europe.com/
Another one that had good prices was www.ofran.com
Mar 27th, 2003, 03:36 AM
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Thanks Rufus for your suggestions. I did check the Nova prices and they were cheaper, because the quote included at least limited insurance (with a E600 deductible). My quote with Alamo was $350 total (not included the extra insurance). Nova's was $350 with the insurance. The happy end to this story, though, is that I was able to get coverage through our Discover Card by calling and instantly upgrading our card on the phone and we can still use our old card. We will be covered as long as we use the Discover card for the rental. Many companies in Europe don't accept Discover, but because Alamo is an American company they do. I am writing this so that someone else may benefit from my experience. If you are renting a car overseas give yourself time to get a credit card that covers car rental insurance. It will save you a lot of money.
Mar 27th, 2003, 05:35 AM
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I absolutely agree on autoeurope -- and buy all of their insurance because the credit cards first attempt to get your insurance company to cover and that takes time and hassle not to mention it can go on your record. Another great thing about autoeurope is their free cellphone -- just pay for delivery and usage, but no rental fee. They're easy to use too.
Mar 27th, 2003, 06:14 AM
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Sweet Emily, I just read on another thread that it's better to buy a cell phone; tell me some more, please, about the free rental from Autoeurope. Are the rates/minute pretty good, to and from US? thank you
Mar 27th, 2003, 06:32 AM
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I think the deal on insurance is standard. No US policy I know of covers you in Europe. Do you take the insurance? Well I suppose how confident you are that you will not need any. I would take the collision insurance; liability is built into the rental premium.
If you get smacked, I am not sure what would happen. I want to be able to leave the darn car and come home with no dangling entanglements.
So how much is protection worth? Nothing until you need it!!
If you get smacked, I am not sure what would happen. I want to be able to leave the darn car and come home with no dangling entanglements.
So how much is protection worth? Nothing until you need it!!
Mar 27th, 2003, 11:43 AM
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I'm not much of a phone user, so maybe I'm just out of touch, but I am constantly amused by these stories about how much cheaper it is to buy a cell phone for Europe (or even rent one). Phone cards are cheap. How much time do people really spend on their phones in Europe calling home? Hours and hours? It seems you'd have to in order to pay for the cell phone purchase.
Mar 27th, 2003, 12:05 PM
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Grandmere-
AutoEurope basically gives you the cell phone free and just charges FED EX to and from their phone supply office.
The minute charges vary from European Country to European Country and from European Country back to the US....
Normally if you rent a car in England and call Italy ( this is what we did ) , the charge was 99 cents a minute-- Calls WITHIN England were free-- Calls back to the US were also 99 cents a minute....
We ONLY used this cell phone for Emergency phone calls, like if we could not find our way on a country road to the BnB or manor house...
For all other phone calls, we used our home calling card or you can purchase a calling card in the country of choice at any newsstand or tobacco stand...
Patrick- some people need a phone in their car for directional help or trying to call head and find a hotel room while not wanting to waste time stopping at a phone booth.....AUTOEUROPE gives you this phone to use- you just pay for minutes used...it is more a safety feature than a tiny little cell phone to carry in your pocket----
I am strapped to my Cell phone here in the states but only use it for important calls, not to la de da on it all day with friends...But on vacation , the last thing I want is to be caught on a back road , like in the Cotswolds, and have no idea how to get to my BnB-- Also the Cell phone came in very handy as we boarded a plane in England to go to ROME and it was held up for 5 hrs by an ITALIAN air strike (lol)...at least I was able to call my car service and let them know the predicament--and then upon arriving in ROME , the baggage handlers went on strike and it took 1 1/2 hrs to get our bags----this time the car people called me, as they were outside in the terminal and wondered what happened to us....so this is an extrememly helpful item when travelling....
AutoEurope basically gives you the cell phone free and just charges FED EX to and from their phone supply office.
The minute charges vary from European Country to European Country and from European Country back to the US....
Normally if you rent a car in England and call Italy ( this is what we did ) , the charge was 99 cents a minute-- Calls WITHIN England were free-- Calls back to the US were also 99 cents a minute....
We ONLY used this cell phone for Emergency phone calls, like if we could not find our way on a country road to the BnB or manor house...
For all other phone calls, we used our home calling card or you can purchase a calling card in the country of choice at any newsstand or tobacco stand...
Patrick- some people need a phone in their car for directional help or trying to call head and find a hotel room while not wanting to waste time stopping at a phone booth.....AUTOEUROPE gives you this phone to use- you just pay for minutes used...it is more a safety feature than a tiny little cell phone to carry in your pocket----
I am strapped to my Cell phone here in the states but only use it for important calls, not to la de da on it all day with friends...But on vacation , the last thing I want is to be caught on a back road , like in the Cotswolds, and have no idea how to get to my BnB-- Also the Cell phone came in very handy as we boarded a plane in England to go to ROME and it was held up for 5 hrs by an ITALIAN air strike (lol)...at least I was able to call my car service and let them know the predicament--and then upon arriving in ROME , the baggage handlers went on strike and it took 1 1/2 hrs to get our bags----this time the car people called me, as they were outside in the terminal and wondered what happened to us....so this is an extrememly helpful item when travelling....
Mar 27th, 2003, 12:19 PM
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Hi, Grandmere,
I'm getting to leave for France Saturday. I had rented my car via AutoEurope -- have always been pleased with them. They had the phone Fed-Exd here on Tuesday!! Cost per call to US from France is $2/min, same price checking voicemail. Charge for incoming calls from US to France or calls within France is $1/min. Phone is registered in England.
Actually I don't worry much about the costs per minute. We never quite know where we'll be when, so with aging parents and not-very-grown-up grown kids, it's peace of mind. To me it's worth $35 even if I don't make or receive any calls.
I'm getting to leave for France Saturday. I had rented my car via AutoEurope -- have always been pleased with them. They had the phone Fed-Exd here on Tuesday!! Cost per call to US from France is $2/min, same price checking voicemail. Charge for incoming calls from US to France or calls within France is $1/min. Phone is registered in England.
Actually I don't worry much about the costs per minute. We never quite know where we'll be when, so with aging parents and not-very-grown-up grown kids, it's peace of mind. To me it's worth $35 even if I don't make or receive any calls.
Mar 27th, 2003, 12:29 PM
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Thanks for the info, Andy and Sweet Emily; I always rent from Autoeurope, too, and think a cell phone might be a good idea these days especially since we will be driving some backroads in Normandy, assuming we still make this May trip.
Mar 27th, 2003, 03:39 PM
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Has anyone tried Paradise Promotions? The seem to have about the same price as Nova and also include insurance. They use Europcar in some countries.
http://rentacar-europe.com/
http://rentacar-europe.com/
Mar 28th, 2003, 03:31 AM
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By the way, no one car rental company or broker always has the best prices everywhere. You need to check at least 2 or 3 of the companies known for good deals (nova, autoeurope, ofran, etc.)when planning a trip.
