Insurance for car rental abroad

Last month, BakingWithElectricity and I packed up the little Gases and went to France for a couple of weeks. I rented a car for about 10 days to tour around from Paris to the Loire Valley, then to Bretagne, and to the area near Chantilly. I rented the car from Hertz. I called my car insurance agent (State Farm) before we left, and she said that my insurance would not cover me outside of the U.S., as it would if I had rented a car stateside. So when I rented the car, I signed up for the damage insurance (but not the full waiver; there was a deductible; I wisely chose to accept the deductible, the waiver of which was several hundred dollars). The insurance cost more than the rental, I think.

I was horrified when I returned home to find that my Visa card would have covered it, so I wasted a lot of money. (It’s a new card and I’m not familiar with all the benefits yet).

But here’s the scary part: The Hertz coverage and the Visa coverage are just for the rented car. It appears that I drove 2000 km in France with no liability coverage. I dread to think what might have happened had I had an at-fault accident with serious injury to someone.

What options are there to get liability for a short-term rental?

I eagerly await some replies on this, since we also rented a car from Hertz in Paris and drove around in France. Our experience was the same: The insurance did cost more than the rental. On the bright side, I did clarify that I would be held blameless if I drove the car into the Seine. :slight_smile:

I was definitely under the impression that we were covered if we ran over someone, but now I’m not so sure…

I asked, Hertz told me it only covers their car.

Woah. That’s a little scary in retrospect. I just spent the past two weeks driving around Germany, France, and Switzerland with the optional insurance on the rental car (which did cost more than the rental itself) and had no idea that it might not cover liability! Mine was through Avis.

Woah. That’s a little scary in retrospect. I just spent the past two weeks driving around Germany, France, and Switzerland with the optional insurance on the rental car (which did cost more than the rental itself) and had no idea that it might not cover liability! Mine was through Avis.

Stupid double post. :smack: