Rental Car Insurance
 

We will be renting a car in Germany in May, driving in Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. My Credit Card has CDW for rental cars. Has anyone had experience with CDW insurance via their credit card, and had a Claim? I am trying to get comfortable with not taking the rental car company's insurance, but I have visions of a nightmare scenario trying to get out of the rental office after returning a damaged car. Or worse yet, having a rental car stolen!

First, check with the rental company to make sure the car you are renting is allowed in all those countries. We have rented in Germany many times, and have been told that some of the higher end rental cars would not be allowed into Italy.

Also check the insurance if it covers these countries.

We have always used the AmEx "Premium Car Rental Protection Plan" through our AmEx card. Never had a claim though.

Sorry I have no first hand info on filing a claim.

I got screwed by Amex "Premium Rental Car Protection" after a minor accident last year (no one else involved). The insurance company, Amex Assurance (not really owned by American Express - just another company they contract with) requested a certain amount of documentation from the rental car company. The car company simply ignored them. American Express gave me the run-round also. No one was willing to take responsibility - everyone read from a script to "handle" me - apologizing and offering me meaningless niceties just to get me off the phone.

My mistake was probably taking responsibility (signing a credit card slip with the car company) for the damage when I returned the car. I thought I was being honest, since I wasn't denying I had caused damage. I simply thought my insurance company would pay the claim, and that's what the car company told me when I returned it as well. I'd even called the insurance company from Croatia before returning the car to ask how to handle it, and they didn't give me contrary advice. Instead, I should have denied responsibility and just let the car company prove it with pictures, repair invoices, etc. They would have charged me the same fee anyway (some sort of large hold on my card), but then they would have automatically provided the documentation needed for the insurance claim.

I have a couple of Amex cards, but after Costco finally dumps Amex in April, I will be doing the same.

I second taht - renting in Germany I've been told I couldn't go to Poland or ?

Also, sometimes (like 3 weeks ago) since I take CDW through my CC, I refuse the CDW of the rental, who don't like it and ask for a preauthorization on my CC... 3 weeks ago they asked for 2500 USD... if you only have one cc with a limit, it can give a problem.

If your CDW has a deductible (most do) then the agency will put a hold on your credit card for the amount of the deductible. Check careful exactly what your card covers - it varies a lot between the various bank offerings - not all MC or Visa or even AmEx are the same.

I just got off the phone with my Mastercard company last week. Two years ago we rented a car in Berlin through Budget and I was told that I needed a letter of coverage from my CC to waive insurance. I didn't have it and we paid a lot more for coverage.

This year, I called in advance and was told, both by the rental car company and the CC that if I had a letter of coverage (assuming your credit card offers coverage), then I could waive the insurance. The letters need to be issued no more than 60 days out.

Rental car companies in Italy and Ireland do not accept these letters of coverage. We plan on going to multiple countries as well.

Finally, the research I have done advises that the coverage through your credit card company is adequate should there be an issue, but that you will make much more of an effort to deal with problems should one arise. In my opinion that is worth the few hundred dollars we will save....

Last month, I had to sign severla papers saying that I was negligent in not taking the additional insurance from the rental place.
Loved it...

We rented a car in Portugal through Autoeurope, which meant that the "basic" rate was established before we signed the rental agreement with the agency that provided the car--no letter of the credit card company was necessary.

I damaged the car by scraping one side against a stone wall. I was charged for the estimated cost of the repairs on my credit card, and was eventually reimbursed. The scraping was not reported to the authorities, and that did not seem to be a problem. But if the accident is more serious, a police report may be in order.