Car rental insurance

Hello,

I%26#39;m plannng to rent a car in Munich shortly and am wondering what insurance coverage I need to get?

I checked with my US credit card and they cover Collision and Theft.. However liability to my body or the parties in the accident are not covered....

Do I need to buy this from the rental car agency?

Thanks for your help.

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%26gt; or the parties in the accident

automobile third party liability is compulsory and always included with the rental fee

%26gt; my body

your health insurance?

%26gt; your co-travelers

their health insurance?

Optional you can buy a passenger insurance (German: Insassenversicherung). Sometimes also offered as part of a fully comprehensive cover bundle.

Makes only sense if you see the risk that a co-traveler may sue in case of an accident. With just family members this one makes not really sense.

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Thanks..

So does this mean I can pretty much rent the car with no additional insurance policies?

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Since you are doing the homework about coverages, I am sure you are finding the process frustrating! But everything is fine until there is a claim.

We recently rented a car in Germany through Economy Car Rental (SIXT). They required taking their mandatory collision and theft. Even with the insurance included they were still cheaper than the other agencies without insurance. The caveot is I called my VISA provider, Fidelity Investments, and discovered to my astonishment that their collision and theft insurance with the card was void IF insurance was provided by the foreign rental agency!

So the bottom line is I would call your insurance carrier to determine if it covers rentals in foreign countries. Our carrier GEICO did not provide coverage. We have an umbrella policy that was in effect for any catastrophic costs which would be more personal liability than property.

Also, I learned the hard way that under insured motorist coverage is the most important part of any auto policy. Max out on this one. This is a domestic comment more than a foreign rental.

So with the compulsory 3rd party liability (I would confirm with your rental agency the limits) and the credit card coverage for collision and theft, it appears you have adequate coverage. I assume you have adequate health insurance coverage and emergency med-vac should also be a consideration. We use AAA-Plus for the med-vac coverage.

It is difficult to unearth what is real!

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If your credit card inlcudes the CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) you are fine with the compulsory insurance that is included in the retal contract. No need to buy any extra insurance. Renting a car in Italy is a different story.

I find that charging my rental cars in Germany to my AMEXCO card is the least hassle. Over the years, I have had a couple of external damage events (broken side-view mirrors in narrow European garages), and they reimbursded me promptly for any cash expenseses I paid, and paid the rental car company for any charges by them.

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PS: Probably the most useful item is a digital camera. If there is damage on the car when you pick it up, photograph it, with showing the date on the pix. If you incur any damage, photograph it, again with the date. It annoys me when the rental car company wants to charge me for damage that was on the car when I picked it up. It has happend to me several times in the past. Worst are the places (i.e. Munich airport) where you return the car to a central place, frequented by all rentalk companies, and you walk away, without the benefit of any one looking at the car when you return it.