NYTA

I recently rented a car for a week and happily discovered that my BA Visa card from Chase covers the CDW and theft insurance in Israel (and they even gave me a letter saying so in case I ran into a stubborn agent at the counter). However the mandated third party insurance cost me 60 shekels a day (this was more than the actual rental price per day). So the question is - do any of the Israeli or foreign CCs (the new LY card, for example?) provide the third party (צד ג) insurance for Israeli car rentals? If not is there some kind of policy available from an insurance company that is cheaper?

If I can figure out a way to make this work, I'll rent cars a lot more frequently at TLV.

joshwex90

As far as I'm aware, Israeli CCs don't provide insurance coverage for rental cars at all.
AFAIK, when you rent a car, the compulsory insurance (ביטוח חובה) is mandatory for everyone, no matter what policy they may have from their own insurance companies and/or credit cards.

gordo6

In Israel there are two kinds of insurance - compulsory and third party. The compulsory, as implied by its name, is mandatory and every car in Israel must have it, however the Israeli law does not require you to have a third party insurance, and its up to, for example, the car rental company.

As for NYTA's question, I'm afraid I can't help you. However, usually, when I book rental cars outside of Israel I always do that via Israeli firms (usually Avis Israel) as they usually give me a complete insurance everywhere in the world. Maybe you should make the rental car booking via an Israeli company directly?

joshwex90

I understand - although generally, I've been offered מקיף - (meikif) "comprehensive." I've only had Third Party (tzad gimmel) offered with car ownership, not rental.

NYTA said the "mandatory" which implied he was referring to the compulsory - chova insurance.

NYTA

The way Avis explained it is that there is the CDW and LDW which are covered by my Chase credit card, but the mandatory insurance is third party insurance - which makes sense - if a tourist runs you over the government wants to make sure you are covered before that person goes home to some other country. My point is that given how expensive it is - I was thinking that some enterprising credit card company would have coverage that covers this - or even some Israeli auto insurance company that I could buy a policy from for my occasional renting. At 60 shekels a day if I rent for a week a month we're talking 420 a month - I don't have a car in Israel but that seems up there with what liability insurance would cost for a full month of driving, so why wouldn't some company sell me a policy for 200 a week? I guess it's worth my calling an Israeli insurance company to ask the question.

joshwex90

You are correct in what the chova covers and in why the law is in place and in that it is expensive.
Unfortunately, no Israeli credit card covers it.

As for foreign credit cards covering it, that may be why many cards used to not cover Israel. Legally, I'm not sure they'd be allowed to cover it. On the flip side, the car companies are required to quote prices with the chova included, so you can always just look at it as the cost of the car before insurance

I know that virtually all Israeli auto insurance companies/agencies do NOT cover rental insurance at all

gordo6

I don't think that is related to the government. The 3rd party insurance is not required by law in Israel both to residents and visitors. In fact, the compulsory insurance is what covers body injuries to both the driver and the ones he hit. The 3rd party insurance is meant to cover property of others you destroy - e.g. if you made an accident with another car, and it's your fault, the 3rd party insurance covers the damage to the other car, or if you crash into someone's house - the 3rd party insurance covers it (when the accident is your responsibility, the Israeli law requires you to pay for any damage to property you make and that's what the 3rd party insurance is for). Therefore the Israeli law does not require 3rd party insurance. However, the rental company may require that to rent you a car, and thats completely legal...

joshwex90

Israeli law requires chova which covers injury to other people

NYTA

Maybe, but 420 shekels a month is more than I paid for insurance on my car when I lived in NY state, including 3rd party, collision, and theft.

joshwex90

Everything is more expensive in Israel!

gordo6

I think that some of the rental car companies in Israel also operate leasing service. Maybe you can lease a car from them for the entire year (including full insurance and everything) and while you are abroad to park it in their parking/garage in TLV airport?

NYTA

Did that already with Eldan - but they wouldn't let me park in their lot. The reality is that I only really need a car one or two weeks a month, not all the time, and certain months not at all.