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Europcar charges for insurance if booked via Kayak.com

Today I collected a car from Europcar in central Brussels. I was surprised when I was told "as you booked the car via kayak.com you'll have to pay 15 euros insurance per day unless you have a USA credit card".

The man told me that this is a regular problem "we've told Kayak about this many times, it causes us a lot of problems". He told me that I had no option but to take out the insurance unless I had a USA credit card, "that's why the car rentals seem cheaper on kayak.com, they assume you have insurance".

He suggested that I complain to Kayak or return the car a day early to save one day's insurance charge.

Has anyone else had this problem with Europcar, Kayak or another car rental company? Is it true or possibly a scam? I've looked at my rental agreement but it's hard to decipher...

Comments

  • pompeyrich
    pompeyrich Posts: 3,135 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    If you look at all the major car hire firms the prices from their .com sites appears cheaper than from a .co.uk version of their site, although it's not comparing like for like.

    In the US insurance cover on your private car extends to rental cars so US residents need less insurance when renting a car and therefore the prices are cheaper. I'm guessing a US based credit card would be enough to convince the rental agent that you had this cover, although might need to be backed up with a US driving licence.

    So not a scam but just ensuring that you had adequate cover, although could have been made clearer by Kayak.
  • benjus
    benjus Posts: 5,433 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    pompeyrich wrote: »
    In the US insurance cover on your private car extends to rental cars so US residents need less insurance when renting a car and therefore the prices are cheaper. I'm guessing a US based credit card would be enough to convince the rental agent that you had this cover, although might need to be backed up with a US driving licence.

    It's a bit more complicated than that - many US credit cards offer rental car insurance as a perk (often as a top-up to whatever cover is provided by private car insurance, although some cards offer full cover).
    Let's settle this like gentlemen: armed with heavy sticks
    On a rotating plate, with spikes like Flash Gordon
    And you're Peter Duncan; I gave you fair warning
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