[Removed user]

21 September 2018 at 4:03:36 #818464

Does anyone have advice on car rental insurance? At car counter rates seem high. Any thoughts – greatly appreciated.

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[Arno]

21 September 2018 at 4:39:39 #896646

Welcome to MySwissAlps Kbittrich!

Can you elaborate a bit? When and how long will you be staying? What does your itinerary look like? Where in Germany are you going and what are your plans in Zurich and Lucerne? Is this only about the insurance being expensive or the rental fee itself?

[Removed user]

21 September 2018 at 13:03:40 #896647

Thanks for the reply Arno – We are going from Zurich to Rothenburg – down the Romantic Road to Augsburg and returning car in Lucerne. We are picking up car on a Saturday morning and returning car on a Monday. I am wondering if we should take the insurance from the car rental company or if there are more affordable and comprehensive options –

[Arno]

21 September 2018 at 13:14:10 #896648

Thanks, that makes sense. This is not my area of expertise I’m afraid. You do need insurance of course, but perhaps an insurance policy you already have could cover a rental car as well. You’re travel insurance in particular.

I would be inclined to look for the best deal overall, including insurance, to simplify things. Did you check the links on http://www.myswissalps.com/ca r/carrental to see if anything cheaper is available?

Another option is to travel in Switzerland by train and rent the car in Germany. That might be cheaper. A car is not needed within Switzerland, and certainly not in Zurich or Lucerne.

• http://www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/germany
• http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain

[Removed user]

21 September 2018 at 13:15:51 #896649

Hi Kbittrich,

When renting a car directly, my credit card has rental car insurance included so check to see if yours has any coverage as well.

[macca]

22 September 2018 at 9:57:22 #896650

Hi Kbittrich

I agree with Arno and Lucas that you need to see if you need the hire car once you’re actually in Switzerland – especially if you are only using it to get to Zurich and Lucerne. You don’t say what you are doing after returning the car in Lucerne. Picking a hire car up in one location and then returning it to another is always the more expensive option. Non airport drop offs can be pricier too. But I think you may be referring to the excess insurance that rental companies try and sell you at the desk? This is usually charged on a daily basis and is a hefty extra sometimes doubling the car hire price. When you hire a car in Europe, cover called Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) or Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) insurance is usually included. But if you had to make a claim due to an accident or damage to your vehicle, you would still be liable to pay the first part of the amount you are claiming for, known as the “excess”. It’s unlikely your car would be a write off – much more common is low level damage if someone backs into you or the windscreen or wing mirror is damaged. Then you are at the mercy of what the company reckons it costs to fix it. The excess insurance protects you against that. The cheapest option is to buy excess insurance before your trip. There is lots of info online. We buy an annual policy for under £40 here in the UK and that’s covered us for several trips. Some car hire companies still try and sell you their policy but you don’t need it if you have your own. In the unlikely event of damage you would have to pay and then claim back on your policy. This means that you’ll still need to provide your rental company with a credit card with sufficient funds as a deposit when you pick your hire car up. We have never needed to claim and it is not compulsory but it is still worth having for peace of mind.