wentwest

AutoEurope is quoting a price of $324 for an economy car, manual transmission for one week in April of 09, with a $955 deductible. Pick up in Siena.

Does anyone know what the cost of the add on super cdw insurance would be to reduce the deductible to zero? I like the idea of being able to hand the car in regardless of any issues instead of relying on the credit card coverage.

Also, what is the going cost of gas and are their any other typical costs I need to anticipate? Thank you very much.

BettyB

You are much better taking out insurance to cover the excess with a company like this http://www.dailyexcess.com/
This will cover all excess charges together with windscreen and tyre cover, which the cover offered by rental companies often doesn't cover.

BarbaraJ

Also, check the fine print on your credit card. AmEx does not cover damages in Italy because there is mandatory colision insurance with the rental.

caroline_edinburgh

Different companies, but last year we paid €20pd and this year €18pd, so c.€20pd seems about standard. We were very glad of it this year as we pranged the car twice in those narrow streets !

Jenaa

This depends on which supplier AutoEurope is quoting you with... The Super CDW rates with Avis, Europcar or Hertz are all going to be different.

illnative

We just rented using AutoEurope in France and bought the Super CDW directly from National when we got to the counter. It was about 50Euro for a 4.5 day rental.

BettyB

Well, you'd be 5.39 euros per day with Daily Excess - it really is a no-brainer - try it and see!

Henry

wentwest,
Use http://www.autoeurope.ca/car.cfm and avoid the problem.

Henry

ira

Hi WW,

>Does anyone know what the cost of the add on super cdw insurance would be to reduce the deductible to zero?...are their any other typical costs I need to anticipate? <

Have you considered calling AE and asking them?

wentwest

Thanks everyone for the help. Sounds like I am looking at another 20E or so for the add on insurance.

And yes Ira, I will also ask AE when I call. Just wanted to get an idea what others may have payed. But thanks for the illuminating idea.

BettyB

Nobody's listening! Oh well, it worked for me... Pay more if you want to...

caroline_edinburgh

And to reiterate, that's c.€20 *per day* IME.

Betty, I'd heard of these standalone excess waiver policies and wondered whether to do it before our last hol. But wouldn't it make things complicated if there is a problem ? What happens - do you wait to see how much the rental company charge you, then claim it back from the other insurance company - all after the event ? I wouldn't fancy trying to sort it all out when dropping the car off (when there's sometimes nobody there anyway and maybe a language problem even if there is). I decided it was easier just to apy more but then know we just just drop off the car with no further worries.

BettyB

Hi there - well when we did it, we didn't have to claim, but from what I remember, the process for claiming seemed very uncomplicated. The company advised us that we did not even have to tell the rental company that we had this insurance. I will certainly do it again, and if more people did so it might stop these car rental firms from charging such ridiculously high premiums and pretending their rental costs are much cheaper than they actually are! Rant over...

caroline_edinburgh

Thanks for the further info, Betty - I'll certainly think about it again next time.

We never used to bother with the extra insurance as DH is a very careful driver. We thought about it for the first time last year as we were going to stay somewhere I'd been years before and which I knew involved a very difficult drive up steep, narrow roads. I get the impression that the excesses have gone up a lot recently, so when we were told it would be €1000 for damage and €2000 for loss, we decided we wanted in ! We didn't in the event need it last year, but we did this year