I was just messing around looking at rental caes and I noticed that Auto Europe USA still has a deductible while Canada dosn't.

I have not rented through the Canadian site although I know several here have. I am wondering has anyone asked specifically if it's allowed under the contract to rent this way?. Mulling it over it may be like omiting something on a health ins or life ins application making the insurance may be void. I also do not see on the US website the option to buy full coverage. RR

Check out Kemwell, they have no deductibles for collision damage and theft. However, they do have a penalty for cancellation within 48 hours of scheduled pickup and Auto Europe does not.

For my purposes it is far more likely that I would cancel than get hit or have the car stolen so I go with Auto Europe.

We just booked through Auto Europe last week for our France trip. I used the Canadian site. When I put in our dates for the estimate, I had about 20 options pop up, I'd say 6 of those options gave me the choice of No Deductible, which we took.

I'm pretty sure it's been said that it's fine. I've used the Canadian site and give my U.S. address, not hiding anything; just be aware that it's a foreign currency charge.

RR,
I called and asked this question and was told there was no problem.

Henry

I think that the last time I booked with AE (last summer) there were two prices offered--one included no deductible and the didn't. Is this choice no longer available? If it is, comparing the no deductible cost with the Canadian cost would be worthwhile.

Absurdly the Canadian site is cheaper for the same Itinerary. I would just be a little paranoid about a case where you get in an accident then they claim something like-although it is allowed to rent through the Canadian site, it voids all insurance purchased though the site as the purchaser "lied". Rr

quote:

Originally posted by jhdflyer / tallahassee:
Check out Kemwell, they have no deductibles for collision damage and theft. However, they do have a penalty for cancellation within 48 hours of scheduled pickup and Auto Europe does not.

While this was true in the past (and one of the reasons I always used Kemwel rather than AE on our last few trips to Italy), it no longer appears to be the case with Kemwel.

I've been checking out rental rates for our trip to France in July and Kemwel now appears to have the exact same setup as AE. They list basic and "inclusive" rates (w/a deductible) for the lowest prices while the "no insurance excess" rates are now much higher.

Kemwel also used to almost always have cheaper overall rates than AE but not this year (or at least not for our projected rental dates for France in July). For several cars, AE's rate is cheaper by up to $30.

Since there's basically little difference now between AutoEurope and Kemwel's rates and deductible policies, I will likely just go with AutoEurope this time around because their cancellation policy is better. Plus, AE will beat any cheaper rate you find on the same rental via another company - Kemwel will only do that if the cheaper rate is from a major US car rental company.

Tery

I've been comparing AE with Kemwell for my trip in France in June, and Kemwell seems to be cheaper for my itinerary. However, I'm a little confused about auto insurance and the collision damage waiver. If I charge car rental on my credit card that offers CDW, I can rent with the basic rate, without having to buy the CDW from the rental company, right? Does "inclusive" mean that CDW is included in the rental rate? Is there an advantage in buying that from the rental company instead of using CDW offered by the credit card company for free? Does my US auto insurance (Mercury) pay for any damages in case of an accident in France?

quote:

Originally posted by flennie:
I've been comparing AE with Kemwell for my trip in France in June, and Kemwell seems to be cheaper for my itinerary. However, I'm a little confused about auto insurance and the collision damage waiver. If I charge car rental on my credit card that offers CDW, I can rent with the basic rate, without having to buy the CDW from the rental company, right? Does "inclusive" mean that CDW is included in the rental rate? Is there an advantage in buying that from the rental company instead of using CDW offered by the credit card company for free? Does my US auto insurance (Mercury) pay for any damages in case of an accident in France?

While you may have coverage through your credit card here is the problem. If you have an accident they will charge the amount of damages to your card immediately then you have to prove it wasn't your fault other ins covers it etc.

I'm not going there RR

We rented through AE for a trip in France 2 years ago. I did not take collision as I put the charge on my gold card which had coverage.

I will not do that again this year when we rent in France. The first issue is that AE puts a hold of 1,000 Euros on your card if you don't take the collision coverage. This was a little unsettling. And then about 3 hours after renting the car we put a couple of (very minor) scrapes on the car. I spent the rest of the rental time worrying that our deposit was going to be enacted when we returned the car - even though I knew the damage was minor. But we were in a foreign country with minimal French skills.

As it happened, there were no charges. However, for the additional premium, this time I am going to take the coverage even if it is a duplication. Piece of mind - Priceless!

A very long time ago in France my Father was accused of injuring someone with a car. He had only stopped to see if the guy was ok and some people pointed at him an obvious American as the Cause. Lucky he had primary insurance. He almost ended up in jail and was actually called in to the embassy in the US etc after he got back. If he did not have primary insurance and actually at the time speak French quite well he would have been thrown in Jail, not ideal on a Honeymoon.

As far as i know the laws havn't changed that much in the last few decades.

How would you like to argue dealing with the time difference, language etc. to get a refund from your credit card after they charge the amount of damages to your card?. As I understand when there is an accident that is the policy with secondary CC ins.Even if you get the refund it will be several months down the road, After every avenue is investigated. No way am I going that route. RR

We always book our rental cars with Auto Europe but never through the Canadian site so I decided to check it out. I was told I could change my reservation to a Canadian booking without even having to do it on-line. The rate is around $35 less than the US with the added benefit of zero deductible. This rate was available through Hertz and not Europecar which was much higher through the Canadian site. The only major difference was the GPS rental rate from Hertz which was significantly higher than Europecar so we'll have to rent one from Auto Europe and pay the $5 a day rate plus $40 shipping for our entire trip not just the days we use the GPS. Hopefully they will be running their GPS free rental promotion at some point before our end of May departure although the free days are only for the days of the actual rental booking and not the entire trip. I used our Capital One card so we won't have a currency exchange fee. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Carole

Last week I booked our reservation with AutoEurope for our October trip to Italy. I called the US office in Maine to book the reservation to be sure that I got the best possible rate. We were able to get an AAA discount as well as beating the quote I had directly from Avis. I remember the AutoEurope agent mentioning that we had $0 deductible for theft and collision damage. Just checked my voucher, and it states it there as well. This will be our third trip to Italy and our previous AutoEurope US-made reservations have had a $0 deductible.

quote:

Originally posted by LoveItaly:
We always book our rental cars with Auto Europe but never through the Canadian site so I decided to check it out. I was told I could change my reservation to a Canadian booking without even having to do it on-line. The rate is around $35 less than the US with the added benefit of zero deductible. This rate was available through Hertz and not Europecar which was much higher through the Canadian site. The only major difference was the GPS rental rate from Hertz which was significantly higher than Europecar so we'll have to rent one from Auto Europe and pay the $5 a day rate plus $40 shipping for our entire trip not just the days we use the GPS. Hopefully they will be running their GPS free rental promotion at some point before our end of May departure although the free days are only for the days of the actual rental booking and not the entire trip. I used our Capital One card so we won't have a currency exchange fee. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Carole

Did you look at my Gps thread?. Amazon has the same model gps advrtised on the autoeurope website with the correct maps for about $150 with accessories,includes shipping and no tax.It is a reconditioned by factory model but that means new software as well. Own it and you use it a few times at least. RR

Deb, if you were able to get zero deductible they must have booked your rental through their Canadian outlet even though you spoke with Auto Europe in the US. The zero deductible is only offered through their Canadian contract.

Robert, I found a new Garmin 275 on Amazon for $172. I would rather pay the difference for a new one.

Carole

I just checked the Auto Europe's site and their free GPS promotion started today for Italy. You have to book by March 31 for pick-ups through May 31.

Carole

Carole,

When the AutoEurope agent gave me the quote, it was about $100 more than the Avis one that I already had. When I mentioned it to her, she asked for my Avis confirmation number and said that AutoEurope has a matching program and that she would need to speak to her supervisor. She put me on hold for about 10 minutes and then came back with a price lower than Avis' and the $0 deductible information. After what you have told me, I'll bet that they did use the "Canada connection"! As long as I save money,,,I am happy!

Thanks!

If it was booked through Canada then you will be billed in CAD not USD. Check your voucher.

Carole

The voucher shows a cost of our 9-day rental as $355.97 USD for an economy-sized car. We are picking up and dropping off in Foligno. The voucher also says that "All car rates are guaranteed in US Dollars." I took a snapshot of the info from the voucher and am posting it as an attachment (I hope)!

Our rate for an 8 day rental w/zero deductible is 458.03 CAD which converts to $438.72. The same rental was going to be $496.28 if booked in US dollars. You got a great rate but ours is probably higher because we are picking up and dropping off at airports and we're getting a compact car. I wonder if you received the zero deductible because they were matching the Avis rate. Did the Avis quote include zero deductible?

Carole

quote:

Robert, I found a new Garmin 275 on Amazon for $172. I would rather pay the difference for a new one.
Carole

I would call amazon. Does it come wih a charger?. It says it comes with a battery but not charger on the same price point you mentioned. RR

I doesn't seem like it comes with a charger. We might be buying one with friends who also drive in Europe and we won't be traveling at the same times so that would cut our price in half.

Carole