Visa said it covers NZ rental car
I wonder why VISA does not exclude NZ, nor Australia, like AMEX does? MC also does not cover NZ nor Australia.
Also read in TripAdvisor posts that more than one posters have rented in NZ and use CC coverage without issue.
In the past when we rented from Maui, there was a compulsory insurance one must buy no matter what. However I notice the insurance is no longer compulsory, instead, if you dont buy one of the 2 options (to reduce the excess), Maui would charge you a refundable bond of NZD1,800, immediately upon rental. You can avoid this refundable bond by purchasing an optional insurance which reduces the excess to a few hundreds, or you can buy the other option which reduces the excess to 0.
On my Hertz reservation, all insurance items are listed as OPTIONs. Using a discount code, it comes out 15% cheaper than Maui's rate. I really dont want to rent from some used car rental companies mainly because there is no guarantee to get late model car (2002 and up) and no way to know about their reputation. Though Apex seems to be the biggest one out there.
I know the rental rate includes the liability (injury to others), just like in Canada, and in most states in U.S.
The CC coverage only requires one to decline CDW/LDW, but nothing to do with liability as CC coverage has nothing to do with liability anyway.
Can Kiwi Flyer or anyone chime in if you have a better understanding of how New Zealand car rental insurance works?