Help Needed Looking for auto rental insurance

[Sandrac]

That age-old question: rental car insurance. I am looking for advice, please.
Since I no longer have any personal insurance (neither auto nor home insurance) AND since my Visa card doesn't cover auto rentals in my special residency circumstances, I'll have to get some car rental insurance for a week. Auto Europe offers insurance -- but is it any better/worse than what Avis/Hertz will try to throw at me? Anyone have experience in this area? All advice appreciated!!!

 

[Pauline]

I've never had a claim with AutoEurope (after many years of renting through them - knock wood!) but it is my understanding that the insurance they offer is exactly the same as from the rental car company but usually cheaper. I know that @artnbarb had a claim with them once. Maybe they can confirm this.

We live in the UK now and things are not the same as they were in the US with rental car insurance. Our car insurance does not cover us in rental cars and our credit cards do not offer rental car insurance. I book through AutoEurope.co.uk where all car rentals come with insurance (different from the US site). But there is a large excess - the deductible you must pay if you claim on the insurance - usually over 1000 Euro.

When you pickup your rental car the local company tries to sell you excess coverage. I have rental car excess insurance with Insurance4CarHire. For about £50/year they cover that excess. Unfortunately I've had to use it twice. The car rental company charges me for the damage, up to the excess limit. Then I email the paperwork and photos and Insurance4CarHire reimburses me. AutoEurope.co.uk offers this same type of excess insurance and it is handled the same way - you are charged and reimbursed after you send info to them.

When we pickup the car they first try to sell us excess coverage but we say we already have it. Next they try to sell us super-excess because they say that excess coverage does not cover the roof and the undercarriage. I don't know if this is true but we've never bought that extra coverage.

So, my advice would be to get the insurance from AutoEurope. It works the same as if you buy it from the rental car company and is cheaper. I have compared the prices before but you can compare by looking at the websites for the rental car companies. As for the excess insurance, which is a whole different thing, see what the deductible is with AutoEurope, see if they offer excess coverage - or maybe you can purchase that in Italy like I purchase mine in the UK.

 

[Sandrac]

Hi Pauline, this is really useful advice - thanks so much. I have rented through Auto Europe many many times and have always found it a good company to deal with. But since I haven't before had to worry abut rental car insurance, I have been feeling uncertain. (Insurance uncertainties being one of the downsides of living in a foreign country!)
Best,
Sandra

 

[Roz]

Sandra, we bought travel insurance for our next trip through insuremytrip.com. We needed medical insurance as well as regular trip insurance, and the policy we selected had the option for add-on auto insurance quite inexpensively. The company that is providing the insurance is called April. I don't know if you need the full trip insurance, but for us this was a good option.

 

[Sandrac]

Hello Roz, thanks very much for this information! Since I live in Italy now, and am only going to be traveling around Umbria, I won't have to worry about travel insurance (whew - one less thing to worry about!)

Best,
Sandra

 

[artnbarb]

We've had a few experiences where we turned the car in with some minor damages - usually dings from the parking lot - but never had to pay because of the zero deductible. the one major incident was had was when our car was totalled, and I have to say I wasn't 100% happy with their treatment. We were rear-ended, the car was totalled, of course it was replaced, but AE had the nerve to charge us for a full tank of gas from the totalled car!

 

[Tim W]

It may not be directly applicable, but recently I've been taking out "car hire excess insurance" - either just for the duration of a trip or as an annual policy.

In May I hired a vehicle for 5 days in Canada with basic insurance, but the excess in the event of a stolen vehicle would have been significant. I was offered full insurance from Hertz at something like $21 a day, Holiday Autos had quoted £6.50 a day - but I was able to buy a 5 day policy in the UK for just over £10.

I am just about to get a year long, world wide, multiple trip policy from the same company for around £50.
I wont post the company name as it is a UK customers only site.

 

[artnbarb]

It may not be directly applicable, but recently I've been taking out "car hire excess insurance" - either just for the duration of a trip or as an annual policy.

I wish there was something like this available in the U.S., but I've never heard of it.