Boy, this sure is enough to make one's head spin. And it only gets more complicated with all the players involved...

I've currently got a price quote for a rental that I requested through Autoslash. Their quote is provided by Priceline. It's for a Hertz rental.
Of course, the price quoted is ridiculously low - they're supposedly going to rent me a Prius for US$4.79 per day - oh, sure. Yeah, so that doesn't include the insurance I'm going to need. It may include some minimal liability insurance required by law, but I wouldn't rely on that even if they would let me, and I'm sure they won't. So I have no idea what they're going to charge for real liability insurance at a level I'm comfortable with (minimum US$300K, US$500K sounds better). Then there's the Collision insurance, which I will pay for. The quote I received from AutoSlash, which is really a PriceLine quote, for a Hertz rental, offers Collision coverage up to US$50,000. Cost for this CDW is listed as US$11 per day, with zero deductible, which seems inexpensive (too inexpensive, I was expecting $20-30/day) so I'm wary. It's stated as Primary coverage, including "comprehensive" items (theft, vandalism, etc., 24-hour hotline for assistance, and more). This coverage is provided through "Allianz" - so yet one more player in the mix. Oy.

The $11/day CDW sounds OK. The deceptively low-ball "base price" for the rental obviously sounds good (too good to be true). The missing piece is the liability insurance at a level that provides enough heft to actually be worthwhile (the get-outta-el-carcel card). Even having made some effort to inform myself (having studied all the posts here, crawled over Mexico Mike's website and even engaged his advice via email, browsed to his recommended insurance company sites, etc., etc.). After all that, I still have no idea how to determine what the cost is going to be.

Going straight to Hertz and attempting to setup the same rental, their fees for all the insurance offered via their website adds up to $60/day (and that doesn't even include zero-deductible CDW).

I could call Hertz, but I have a feeling they will shrug and say just to ask the agency on arrival, or quote the prices above (~$100/day). I can't imagine Autoslash or Priceline is going to have a clue, even if I could reach a human at any of them and that human wanted to help. It seems you can't know what you're going to get into until you're there, and the mystery is revealed, at which point you are not in a position to shop around.

Am I missing something here, or do you just have to cast your fate to the winds and hope for the best? Show up, roll the dice, and find out how much they will demand for the secret items?