Whenever you take out your car, make sure you have your legal documents with you, like the car registration and driver’s license, as well as your car insurance policy. The same is true when you get a rental car.
Renting a car is quite simple. But what makes it complicated and confusing is the car insurance policy for car rentals. Great thing that there are companies like Overstappen.nl to make it easy for the average Joe to have car insurance in the Netherlands and other places.
In-house car insurances & LDW’s
When renting a car, these rental companies usually have and offer their in-house car insurance. These companies usually strongly encourage you to get CDW (also known as collision damage waiver) or LDW (or loss damage waiver) from them but at such a high rate. They are supposed to give you a headache-free hand-off of the rental car at the end of the contract. Simply put, if you damage the car in any way, paying for a CDW or an LDW is your get-out-of-jail card. However, these waivers may start at USD 30 per day, wherein the actual actuarial cost is USD 3-4 per day, and are a lot higher than the actual car rental cost.
Alternative choices
Alternative choices are getting one from your insurance company or getting one as part of your travel package. Some car insurance companies can pay for any damage you might incur on short-term car rentals. Make sure it can cover rentals abroad. Also, credit card companies offer car rental accident insurance, especially when you use your credit card to pay for the car rental, as well.
Travel Insurance
Another option is to check if your travel package has an option to include car rental insurance coverage. They cost a lot less than the ones provided by car rental companies but these are usually the reimbursement type, i.e. you pay for it first then reimburse later; usually at USD 9-10 per day.