Does anyone have any experience with insurance4carhire.com? They're basically a company that offers insurance to cover the "excess" amount, or any amount charged due to a car rental accident below what the standard rental insurance covers. Basically, if the rental agreement has damage liability of say, $3,000 built in, and you have an accident, you're liable for $3000.
In the US, for the majority of us, our credit cards take care of this, so it's not relevant.
However, I'm living in Australia at the moment, and my MBNA quantum card won't cover rental car damange in Australia (or Isreal, South Africa, or several other middle eastern countries), and I'm tired of paying Hertz/Avis/etc $20 a day to reduce the excess down to $250 or even $0.
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posted: Oct. 30, 2005 @ 1:52a
plloopp
Senior Member
posted: Oct. 30, 2005 @ 2:08a
It sounds like you're implying you rent quite often in Australia.
Seriously, how many accidents have you had in Australia? Wouldn't you be better off putting that insurance money into a savings account in case you ever have one? It seems silly to insure against a $3000 loss unless you are very accident prone. (Or is the insurance mandatory in Australia?)
aglazer
Addicted Member
posted: Oct. 30, 2005 @ 2:11a
Australian roads are notoriously high accident zones. People hit Kangaroos all the time, especially at night -- seriously, some of the rental companies won't let you drive after dark in certain areas because of the risk of accident. It's one of the reasons MBNA & other CC companies won't provide coverage over here.
didYOUsearch
Cranky Member
posted: Oct. 30, 2005 @ 6:31a
have you looked into the coverage of other credit cards? First call each one of the issuers you currently have.
Note that coverage doesnt usually differ by bank (MBNA, Chase, etc) but DOES differ (significantly) by card type (AMEX personal, AMEX biz, Visa personal, Visa Biz, MC personal, MC bix, Discover, Diners Club)
Im sure ONE of those will cover you in Australia at no cost.
didYOUsearch
Cranky Member
posted: Oct. 30, 2005 @ 9:13p
Bump....Since I recently did an AppORama and have many of the major CCs terms handy. I just looked at them, and it looks like a VISA card might work for you.
Briefly here's what I saw:
VISA - no coverage in Israel, Jamaica or Ireland (taken from T&Cs of Disney Visa from Chase)
MASTERCARD - No coverage in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, and Italy (taken from RBS Mastercard T&Cs)
AMEX - coverage is only valid in US and its territories. (note AMEX does have a plan you can purchase separately that costs about $20 per RENTAL instead of per day - still not as good as if you can find free coverage).
I did look at MANY different T&Cs from other issuers' Visa , MC and AMEX cards - they did seem to be consistent (no Aussie coverage for any of the Mastercards, but Aussie NOT listed as specifically excluded in any of the Visa terms)...but of course you should specifically check the particular card you will use.
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