After calling Avis, Hertz, and AutoEurope today to inquire about booking a rental car for our South of France trip in September, we found some interesting insurance-related information that everyone should ask upfront:

It appears that third party, personal injury, and property damage is included as part of your car rental rate (check to confirm.)

CDW is an extra fee that covers collision damage to your vehicle. Although CDW covers damage to your car, you may have a substantial deductible to pay if the car is damaged (we were told $600-800 and have seen postings of up to $1,500 in deductibles.)

Theft is not automatically covered with the CDW. It varies by company, and can be extra fee that carries an even higher deductible than collision.

Two more terms to ask about are "Super CDW" and "Super LDW". For Super CDW, you pay small extra per day fee to lower your collision deductible. For Super LDW (loss damage waiver), your extra daily fee will lower both the collision AND theft deductibles.

Many posters use their credit cards for the CDW and do not purchase with the car rental. The advantages are that there is a zero deductible and there is no cost. We do have 2 credit cards that offer this; however, it makes us feel uneasy knowing that if we had an accident or our car was stolen, we could have thousands of dollars charged to our credit card until the claim is settled (which could be up to six months.)

We decided to rent with AutoEurope. We have an economy car, manual, A/C, for 10 days, pick up/drop off at Nice airport, for $403 USD (+ airport fee and road tax=$44, payable at Nice airport.) This price includes CDW.

We then have the option to pay a reasonable additional fee at pickup if we choose to add Super CDW or Super LDW to lower our deductible.

In our case, the Super LDW would lower deductibles from $625 collision/$895 theft, to $150.

In closing, be aware of the above issues when calling regarding rental cars, and ask a lot of questions. Don't assume something is covered.

This is your first time, is it not? I rest comfortably with knowing I have a zero deductible and that the ultimate combatants in the the battle are a Visa sponsored insurance company and the rental company. In the end the cc even refunds the carrying charges for the claim. So what if a claim of 20G is assessed against my cc if it all goes away.

I use the credit card insurance because it costs nothing and I have a zero deductible. I've been lucky enough never to file a claim <knock wood> but our poster Patrick totalled a car in Wales and was eventually reimbursed for every penny. He has mentioned on many threads that he saved over $1000 by NOT paying extra for CDW. I agree that you must ask a lot of questions, regardless of what coverage you use.

To icithecat...

No, actually this is our 4th trip to Europe where we've rented a car.

If your comfortable trusting a credit card company for 20K, be my guest.

Certainly, many travelers have had no issues using the credit card CDW. Our point was to make sure that you understand what you are covered for and what your risk exposure is.

Yes. I am comfortable.

I was unlucky enough to knock the side view mirror off the rental car in Scotland. American Express took care of the whole thing. Even though it was only $50, my friend who rented the car said it was nice to deal with American Express when taking care of the issue. I work in insurance so if I have my druthers I'd prefer to deal with my credit card company than the insurance company for the rental car company. Plus, as already pointed out, there is no deductible. Just my two cents. But, as a precaution, always check to make sure the type of vehicle you are renting and the places you are going are covered under the coverage provided by your credit card company. I always take my little brochure with me from Mastercard that spells out the coverages and has the phone numbers, just in case.

Well, my Wales story has already been told. You are right than in our case it took 6 months to settle, but they didn't even charge the amount to the card until 5 months after the wreck. I then called Visa and contested the charge saying that since they were to pay it, it should be removed. Surprisingly they did that. Again, there was NO charge, and we saved not only the 500 pounds (not dollars) deductible but a couple of hundred dollars for the cost of the insurance as well.

Am I comfortable "trusting" the credit card company? Well, I'm more comfortable with that than I would be paying $1000 unnecessarily.

Ihopp: Thanks for posting this information as I am certain it will be helpful to those who perhaps don't have the sort of "comfort level" that others might.

As an added caution I would always make sure that the credit card company is acting as the <b>primary</b> insurer and not as a back-up for one's own automobile policy/insurer.

Just to add one more item ... My credit card company has a limit on the value of the car they will insure: the vehicle has to be worth less than $65,000 Canadian. While I would be unlikely to select a car that falls in that price range, it could conceivably happen if the rental company were to substitute a luxury car for the size you booked.

Anselm