I think a couple of you may be confused. CDW, and also the collision coverage offered by your credit card, has nothing to do with LIABILITY coverage if you should injure someone or something with the car. CDW only covers damage to the actual rental car.

In California you need to have your own liability policy that covers you for rentals, or purchase liability from the car rental company. As far as I know, California is the only state that does not require the car companies to cover liability.