"Diminished Value"
 

Recently I rented a car from FLL, when I returned it they said there was a scratch. Annoying, not a big deal, but the experience made me take a second look at rental car insurance, especially since I'll be renting a car from Budget in August for a week-long road trip.

Is there any way that anyone knows of to guard against the "Diminished Value" fee? (Other than the agency LDW/CDW, which for my rental is an absurd $33/day). Credit cards won't cover it. I get the impression that personal auto insurance won't cover it, either.

Further confusing the issue is that different companies have different policies. Alamo (and all the Enterprise companies) just tack on a 10% surcharge and call it "diminished value." Budget may have something like this, I don't know. They also warn that they can choose to sell the car rather than repair it and bill you for the difference between the sale price and fair market value.

I'm not really sure if there's any hedge against this risk, but I wanted to ask if anyone had any ideas. Maybe travel insurance for car rentals? I know that the risk is pretty remote, at the same time the consequences could be serious, and if possible I'd rather avoid shelling out $250 for a week of CDW.

Thanks for any ideas.