i have been reading about all these cheap car rentals you have all gotten.
but... were you covered by insurance totally or did you still have a large deductible to face if you had a problem?

we ended up paying 360 euros at malpensa airport for THREE DAYS ford focus size, 4 door.
but zero responsibility in case of damage, theft, or collision.
this rental started out at around 120 euros, but once you start adding everything.. this is what we got.

i am assuming these other 7-9 day rentals for 150-200 euros have little ins. coverage.
or please let me know of these bargains!!!

thanks!

lincasanova - Check with the insurance carrier for your own vehicle before you leave and make sure that they cover you for a rental car in Europe. Ours does and we have the same deductable that we would have on our own vehicles. The deductable is then covered by putting the charges for the rental car on a credit card that pays the deductable on the rental car. By doing this we find that we are fully insurred on all rental vehicles and don't have any deductable. We did get in a small accident in a rental vehcile in Europe and had to fill out some paperwork but did not have to pay out any funds as our insurance company and the credit card company paid all. This saved us a lot of money on those hidden fees.

What is the deal with the credit card? I have read other posts on this. Do you have to pay with a certain typoe of card (i.e. gold or platinum) to get the extended insurance? We will be renting cars in England and Ireland next summer, and we are trying to sort things out.

at many of the rental companies they warn you that the USA credit cards DO NOT cover you for the deductible in europe.
so this is quite an issue.
we live in europe and our company here does NOT cover us there.(in spain the CAR is insured, not the driver.)

so, just trying to discover for future european trips how to reduce this horrible insurance bill. i really don't like the idea that with most companies in italy they don't even cover the windshield, windows, roof and still leave you with huge deductible even paying all the supplements.

there are a few companies that cover everything.. but as you can see, it is very expensive.
perhaps a lot of people just risk it, or, are fortunate and do have cards, etc. like you, that cover them overseas.

will keep looking into it. thanks.

ilovelabs - Different credit card companies offer different benefits. We have several credit cards that would not cover rentals overseas but one or two that will cover the deductable if the charges for the car rental are placed on their card. If in doubt call the company and ask them in advance so that you don't accidentally put the charges on a card that does not cover these costs. It has saved us a lot of money over the years simply because we don't have to purchase any extra insurance when we rent a vehcile whether it is in the United States or elsewhere.

jdraper -- Would you please let us know, specifically, in your experience which credit cards do cover the deductible and (if not too much trouble) which do not. Thanks!

May I, not so humbly, suggest you look at the back of your credit card and call the 800 number for specific information for your card. I also suggest requesting a copy of the cardholder agreement when you call.

This suggestion applies to all including Boylston residents.

I don't know about Italy, but we rented a car for 3 days in France using Avis, and I added all the insurance + extra driver. It was <b>cheaper</b> to book using Avis.fr than Avis.com, and I was able to print the contract and agreement in English. (total rental excl. gas was under 200E; the US site wanted over $360 for same). Also, there was a significant difference for my rental if I chose 10am vs 11am for my pickup, over 50E. So after we arrived at the train station, we went to a cafe for coffee for 45 min.

Hi lin,
&gt;i am assuming these other 7-9 day rentals for 150-200 euros have little ins. coverage.&lt;

Not necessarily. A weekly rate is often no more than a 3 day rate.

&gt;...zero responsibility in case of damage, theft, or collision.&lt;

You have bought the full insurance pkg.

As noted above many CCs will cover you if you decline the CDW. You have to call the CC company for full details.

now THAT is interesting. i never thought of putting in a different hour to see about rate for the day we needed! anything can help!

We're still waiting for final reimbursement of about $6000. for the Avis/AutoEurope car we totalled in Wales in May. But assuming we get the full reimbursement from the coverage included on the Visa card, which I think we will, it will have ended up saving us about $100 from the basic insurance on the rental with Avis/AutoEurope and an additional $500 deductable. Was the $600 savings worth it considering the paperwork and headaches we've been going through for the past five months to claim the insurance? That would be up to each person.

Don't know when you're traveling, but novarentacar.com has a manual transmission Ford Focus from Malpensa for three days at 143 euros with no insurance deductables. I used late November.

270 euros for a mid-sized sedan.

just punched in late november and got all added up to about 300 euros, plus turns out the famous &quot;NOT COVERED for any damage to windshields, tyres or roof of car&quot;.

i am pretty convinced now after so many days of searching, that there are very few companies with ZERO liability.. which in their jargon is not the same as FULL COVERAGE.
the exclusions in italy under &quot;FULL COVERAGE&quot; (elsewhere also??) seem risky to me, so i will opt for zero responsibilty with the few companies i have found to have it.
thanks everyone for the help.

we rented for France through AUtoEUrope.
I used my AX gold corporate card for the rental and was able to purchase more than enough insurance for $24.95 using that card. I did have to call and purchase the rental car insurance policy which went into effect as soon as I picked up the car and ran for 40 days How they come up with that number God knows.