twohorse

I recently reserved a rental car out of FRA for 122 Euro. A nice 4 door compact car with decent gas mileage. The company also would like me to purchase their insurance for 168 Euro. Wow! more than the cost of the rental??? Digging around on this board I learned that it is somewhat important to purchase Travelers Insurance and low and behold, $50,000 dollars on rental car insurance is included, so I bought it for my wife and I for $138.00.

The question is... If I show proof that I have their rental car covered with insurance through my travel insurance and I refuse their overpriced rental insurance, will they still insist on holding $750.00 of my money for security??

Thanks

Underhill

Which insurance company did you use?

edgecorp

Here's another angle - are you charging your rental car to a credit card? Many credit cards have car rental insurance built into them. We rented a car in Paris a few years ago and sideswiped a post in Ghent. Visa took care of it all for us (after a few phone calls). I'm not sure, but I don't know that you have to give a deposit with a charge card - at any rate, if we did, it was refunded.

P_M

A former poster to this board rented a car in the UK and used the credit card for insurance coverage. On that trip his companion totaled the car in Wales but they were eventually reimbursed 100% from the credit card with no deductible. He said that if he had bought coverage through the rental agency, then not only would the rental have cost a lot more, but he would have paid a deductible of about $1,000 for the accident. So he saved a considerable amount of money by NOT taking the insurance, even though he was in an accident.

Of course be sure to check with your credit card to make sure you have coverage, but if you do, you should decline coverage from the rental car comapany. Make sure you decline ALL coverage offered or the credit card will cover nothing.

Pegontheroad

I did not have rental insurance when I hit a truck (!!!) in England, and I had no problem with paying for it, as my Visa gold card reimbursed me for all costs. I had to do a little paperwork when I got home, but it really went very well.

I would suggest that you have an extra card with you, just in case. I have heard somewhere (whether it's true or not) that when you put the cost on your credit card, you may reach your maximum and not be able to charge more on that card until the charge is cleared. I may be wrong on this, though.

twohorse

The Travel Insurance company I bought from is CSA Travel Protection. I checked with my bank and they will not cover insurance for my car internationally. either will my full coverage insurance from Alstate. so, i'm left with CSA or buying their insurance... which I really don't want to do.

Thanks All

KathrynT

Have you considered applying for a new credit card that will cover you?

Just a thought...

Barbara

Yur credit card is issued by your band, but it's probably Visa of Mastercard and the insurance is through them, not your bank. So, contact whichever it is and ask them. I think you need to have a platinum card, though.

Barbara

Oh my, it must be late.

Of course I meant to type "your credit card is issued by your bank". Perhaps your band has a better one!LOL!

foloyrspirit

The one that said their visa gold covered everything with no hassel, may I ask what visa gold you have? I am thinking of changing mine to get best coverage for my trip in May [email protected]

Thanks

ira

Hi F,

The Visa people handle the car insurance, so it doesn't matter which bank issues the card.

Ask them to send you the contract, so you will know what is and isn't covered.

bailey6325

I'm still not clear - if I use a credit card to rent the car and use my credit card's insurance (refusing the rental agency's insurance), will the rental agency still hold an insurance excess deposit on my credit card??

Ottawa_Gal

Do you already have car insurance where you live? It's worth a call to your broker to find out if your personal car insurance covers CDW insurance on rentals. Mine does, but only in North America. My boyfriend's car insurance on the other hand, is more comprehensive, and will allow us to refuse extra coverage from the rental agency in France. We're saving more than $200 because of his current plan, which covers a second driver, too. Worth a call to your vehicle insurance provider? I think so.