If you’re going to rent a car while traveling across Europe, you need to learn about local car rental insurance options. Check out the types of coverage for a European car rental to know how to protect yourself from accidents and unforeseen expenses.
Can I Drive a Rental Without Insurance?
It is not forbidden to rent a car without insurance. However, if you don’t have car insurance and your credit card doesn’t provide any coverage, you’ll need to rely only on the rental car company in case of a car accident.
You can purchase liability coverage or a collision damage waiver to protect against physical damage to your car. Still, it is a bad idea to drive a rental vehicle in Europe without any automobile coverage.
4 Essential Rental Car Insurance Types
Regardless of the existing right to rent a car without insurance, Europe mandates drivers to have at least a minimum amount of coverage. Even if a driver doesn’t want to have insurance, a person must have third-party coverage to protect other drivers on the road in case you cause an accident.
Therefore, it is important to learn different rental car insurance types to select a flexible yet affordable option for your rented car. Check out four types of automobile coverage valid in Europe and choose the best insurance for the upcoming trip.
Liability Coverage
If you caused the accident, liability insurance can cover the other involved drivers’ damages and passengers’ injuries. But don’t rush to get new liability coverage when renting a vehicle.
If you have your own auto insurance, you may not need to buy extra rental car liability coverage from the agency.
Collision/Loss Damage Waiver
If you damage the rental car while driving, a collision/loss damage waiver (CDW and LDW) may help cover the cost of repairing it. However, keep in mind that the waiver typically does not cover damage caused by your speeding or driving on unpaved roads.
Having a CDW may save you from unforeseen expenses, as a collision damage waiver can duplicate your existing insurance. Yet, if you’ve dropped collision or comprehensive coverage from your policy, you would probably have to pay out from your wallet for damage you caused.
Personal Accident Coverage
If you were injured in an accident while driving a rental car, your personal accident insurance may help you to pay your and your passengers’ medical bills. With comprehensive and collision coverage, you will be able to pay for repairs of the covered vehicle when you experience a covered loss.
Comprehensive coverage may also pay for losses that do not involve a collision, such as:
- fire;
- vandalism;
- explosion;
- glass breakage, etc.
However, consider that having no auto coverage means you would need to pay out damage to your rental on your own. Your rental car accident damage will be covered only if you buy a supplemental plan.
Personal Effects Coverage
This type of insurance may cover your personal belongings if they are stolen from the rental car. You would need renters or homeowners insurance to cover your personal property on that policy.
Thus, your off-premise items can be covered up from theft, but only to a certain percentage of your personal property coverage.
Personal Automobile Coverage for a European Car Rental
If you decide on using your personal automobile coverage for a European car rental, you should understand the extent of what is covered by your policy and what is not. Therefore, in most cases, it is better to have car rental insurance.
Check out the following cons of personal automobile coverage for covering the damages of your rental car and other parties’ injuries involved in the accident:
- coverage may be limited to the value of the car you own;
- some policies will not cover a rental car;
- your insurance policy could be canceled;
- most policies do not cover damage or theft of personal possessions, third-party liability, or medical costs.
Thus, it is vital to do car rental insurance in Europe while renting a vehicle. However, be aware it is not a necessity to buy car rental insurance from the company you’re renting a vehicle from.
You can look through several options to pick the most appropriate one. Pay attention to the CarInsuRent.com policy, which can cover your car against tires, windscreens, theft, and other common damages. In addition, it will cost you less than the rental desk usually offers.
