Auto insurance in Europe?

[Dave Kost]

I am visiting Croatia for a month and will have access to a car for transportation. The car is not thru a car rental company. How can I buy auto insurance? Planning to visit surrounding countries by car.

My US Auto insurance company (Erie) will not insure.

Thanks,

[LakeCleElum]

Last year, a friend in Belgium loaned me his MR2 for a month. I was in six countries. His insurance covered me.....Usually, the insurance goes with the vehicle, not the driver?

[motion]

I have an AMEX program that insures me at $0 deductible whenever I rent. It costs $24.95 each rental. Be careful in Croatia and the surrounding countries: At each border, they check the green card in your glove box, and the country must be listed. Otherwise, you'll have to buy insurance at the border (I had to do it several times). And, you'll need to buy a vignette for each country (available at the borders or at gas stations).

[David]

It may be cheaper to rent a car and let your Visa card be the primary insurance meaning you must refuse all other insurance for this to happen. I just returned from Spain where I did this. Rental from Enterprise was about $35 per day.

[pavulon]

When doing this, make sure you understand your deductible and if you could be on the hook for "loss of use" which is a fee often equal to the daily rate for as long as the car is out of commission.

Originally Posted by David

It may be cheaper to rent a car and let your Visa card be the primary insurance meaning you must refuse all other insurance for this to happen. I just returned from Spain where I did this. Rental from Enterprise was about $35 per day.

[Dave Kost]

Thanks for the responses.

[LakeCleElum]

If your Visa car offers coverage, read the fine print carefully. I used it once, even to buy a new tire after a flat. Planned to use it in 2009 and it wasnt worth the paper it was printed on.

[Dave Kost]

I got a new credit card that won't charge any added fees… so they say… we will see. The plan is to use cash for the small stuff and charge the bigger items.

My AMEX has some type of rental car insurance coverage.

It might be cheaper to just hire a driver. I wonder if uber is over there?

[Dave Kost]

FYI….I ended up getting a International Drivers License that AAA recommended.

[jhc]

I used: Milenium Car Rental Croatia | cheap car hire for your pleasant holidays | Dubrovnik Croatia when I was there in April and bought their insurance just to avoid any hassles. It was very reasonable and they are willing to negotiate if some portion of that involves cash.

I had the Amex premium car insurance but when I got into an accident they put me through the wringer, wouldn't pay up (due to non covered fine print and the rental co. charged my card for the days the vehicle was in the shop getting fixed) and in the end it was my personal car insurance that represented me in the lawsuit by the other car insurance.