Thanks, everybody, for the clarifications on my question about car rental insurance in Italy. VISA it is for me on my trip and I'll be sure to look closely at the rental car companies' specifics as well. You've all made my trip a little bit less worrisome.

Wow, HAPPY, at first I thought your last post regarding USAFAN's questions was tongue in cheek but it appears you meant it to be more foot in butt. Were you just having a bad day? If not, your FT handle is ironic. We're all just trying to get along, you know? :)

It would be better to have a foot in butt now before he found out later that his CC works the OPPOSITE way than he thought, when he has an accident on his rental car and need to use it.

I dont have a bad day, but USAFAN would sure have a bad day if he intends to use his CC coverage the way he interprets - a total opposite as what is described in the docs, and then later found out after an accident, that it aint that way. Beside, how could he miss the AMEX SPG exclusion of countries? It is in the very FIRST section to explain the coverage.

Having had a couple occasions we had to use the CC coverage, I think I can speak from experience, not just in theory, that navigating the claim process can become complex and frustrating - it largely depends on whether the rental car office is a corporate owned location or a franchisee.

BTW, all the claims we involved, did not involved any accident, all were caused by natural acts - hailstorm, treebranch falling, that kind of things. So there is not even any other car involved.

I personally would want someone give me a shock wakening call BEFORE and let me examine the information more carefully than having someone gives me vague information and I take it for granted not to do more research, only to find out the hard, cold truth afterward.

Better beware and check back with the CC companies
 

I am not going to comment on HAPPY's postings. I feel he is a little desperate for admiration, almost arrogant.
Unfortunately, not all of his indoctrinations are correct. We better beware and check back with the CC companies, which I did. I called AMEXCO at 1-800-338-1670, car rental loss and damage insurance department. Turns out, that both of my AMEXCO credit cards have no coverage at all OUTSIDE the US bla - bla - bla ... and you can get an insurance (premium car rental policy), which cost $24.95 (for each rental).
BTW, I am not going to disclose what I am going to do ... in order to avoid another unpleasant lecture:D

My comments were sort of lightly intended (thus the :) , clever fellow that I am) towards HAPPY and it was not with the substance of his response to USAFAN that I was referring, but rather the tone. I am sure the info passed on is informative but I believe we tend often to consider things said with at least some regard to HOW they are said.

USAFAN, are you sure that even the premium AMEX coverage would be in effect in Italy? My understanding is that ANY AMEX card auto rental protection does not apply in Italy and the aforementioned other countries. You might want to check that again if in your secret decisions (Again, this is said with a very large :) just so no one misunderstands :rolleyes: ) you are considering going with AMEX coverage. Otherwise, I personally would be very interested in your choice and you should feel free to PM me if you would be so kind and with the assurance that I shall not in any way criticize, belittle, disparage, or otherwise doubt your thoughts. I can use any help I can find in making a better decision. With my luck, on my first rental day I am likely to run into a tractor trailer filled with toxic materials that would pollute the entire country and for which I would be sued for all my limited resources and those of my children, grandchildren, etc.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry7130e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

Can you let üs know which two AMEX cards you were told carry no loss damage waiver outside the USA? I was shocked when I read your post.

upgrader:
The premium coverage ($24.95) does not cover Italy, Israel, others! I didn't post this ....?!?
You should really call AMEXCO at 1-800-338-1670!

American Express Business Gold Card and American Express Starwood Business Card ... I got both cards recently. Never used them for car rentals.

I took a look at this site. My Starwood Amex is able to add this product on. Just so I understand, this will suffice as liability coverage, correct? (Rentals will be in England and Spain, so not covered under individual car insurance)

Also, if you log on to AMEX, you can look under benefits for each specific card. Under travel benefits are listed what your card covers for insurance. Much better than calling as you can make a hardcopy and you're not relying on a rep to "interpret".

Also, is it safe to assume that the $24.95 per rental will be less expensive than taking the liability insurance offered from the rental company overseas
(7-8 day rental periods)?

I think I've got it after reading through this thread and appreciate everyone's efforts.

You may want to email your rental car company to ask for clarification regarding liability insurance. Usually the rate includes basic coverage of liability.

Do not know about Spain. However last Sept we rented from Hertz in Scotland (UK - I assume it should be under the same law whether it is in Scotland or England but you should check).

I emailed both Hertz and Avis after I made reservations, to ask them about the liability insurance questions. Both came back to inform me the rental rate already included the minimum liability insurance but did not give the amount. We did not take out any insurance, just used a regular Visa card for the rental and declined the CDW which was the only insurance item the Hertz office mentioned - it was a corporate location in Edinburgh (City).

Hertz was pretty good in answering my questions, took about 3 to 5 days turnaround to get email replies from its office in Tulsa. We went with Hertz as its rate was quoted in GBP (though at the end, the returning site - a franchisee, billed us USD without informing us such practice). Hertz also did not charge a separate one-way fee. The total cost was cheaper than Avis which had a hefty one-way fee. Hertz reservation had a full details of breakdown of all the charges, versus Avis had items lumped together and not a single CSR can tell us what made up the total and the equivalent of GBP. After 4 rounds of emails I gave up with Avis.

I also notice my SPG AMEX personal card can purchase the extra insurance coverage from AMEX online.

However, the details of the coverage is not online - just a brief summary - at least I cannot find the details online. AMEX online suggests you either look thru your docs or call to make sure. The docs I received does say it provides coverage outside US (country of residence) and excludes those countries everyone knows basically. The card is opened in Jan, so the docs that comes with it should be current. It bears 2006 date at the back page of the doc.

Bear in mind, personal cards and business cards do have differences in benefits.

EDIT: I did find the definitition of coverage details of the AMEX SPG personal card benefits, including the rental car coverage, online.

Click the tiny annotation number 9, under Travel/Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance, and you get a full page fine print showed up at the bottom of the page. It is item No.9 - a summary of Discription of Coverage.

9. Coverage is for theft of or damage to most rental vehicles. The collision damage waiver (CDW) or similar option offered by the Commercial Car Rental Company must be declined. This coverage is excess to your other sources of insurance and applies for the first 30 days of an auto rental if rented from a Car Rental Company. No coverage is provided for vehicles rented in Australia, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Jamaica, and New Zealand. Certain vehicles are not covered and other significant exclusions apply. Coverage is only available to permanent residents of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Coverage is underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company, Administrative Office, Green Bay, WI, and is subject to the terms, conditions, and exclusions of Master Policy AX0925. See Description of Coverage for full details.



Thanks msrohud for posting that!

I picked up a car from a Hertz licensee in Sorrento Italy last month. My company rate for the 4 day rental was very cheap. The taxes and mandatory insurance were 75% of the total. Out of 111.50 EUR, 37.20 was Personal Accident Insurance/Personal Effect Coverage and 24.80 for Theft Protection.

I used a VISA Signature and the agent asked me more than once if I was sure I had collision coverage with the card. She obviously knew that many cards do not cover Italy, but she did not try to push me into CDW. The rental agreement had no box to accept any other liability insurance.

There was also a small box in the lower right that needed an x if I didn't agree to letting them convert the rental charges to the 'currency of my card'.

Follow up to my post about MCard declining my claim on rental car damage
 

I posted on this thread a while back about the trouble I was having getting MCard to pay for damage to rental car because it was part of a hotel package.

UPDATE:
It has taken over 5 months to deal with Mastercard on this matter. So much back and forth; they kept wanting more documentation and information.

Well the wait has paid off!! Or should I say Mastercard has paid off. They paid my $500 deductible [from our USAA car insurance policy] to Hertz!

I never thought they would give in, but I bombarded them with papers work supporting my claim.

Now I am going to try and negotiate with Hertz on the remainder since I don't want to have USAA pay it and take a chance on them raising our rates.

I will try to have them knock down their administrative and "out of service" fee.

That should only take another 5 months!