Renting a car in Italy?

Renting a car for six days, is it necessary to purchase insurance? Two of us, one doesn't own a car, otherdoes

• A friend is visiting. I don't own a car. We will rent one and drive to a national park. Most of the driving will be going and returning, with not too much driving in the park(though some). She is insured under her mother's policy, and the car is in her mom's name also. But do we need to purchase insurance for the rental car? We would both like to share the driving. It seems the cost of insurance and for additional driver is actually more than the cost to rent the car. We don't want to be left without insurance, if something should happen. But I know that sometimes a person is covered by their insurance company for their own car, even when renting a car. I also hear about credit cards(I have several) providing insurance when you rent a car, but I also hear it may not be reliable or substantial coverage; or that it is very hard to collect and it could involve years of litigation. I am not knowledgeable about it. What is the best way to be safely insured yet also save money?

• Answer:

  You will need to purchase all of the insurance the rental car company offers. First, you don't own a car and don't have insurance so you need it all and second, your friend's mother's insurance will not transfer to the rental car. ONLY the named insured on an auto policy has coverage on the rental car. You must buy the liability and the comprehensive and collision coverages. One of your credit cards MAY provide coverage but make sure you check & get a copy of the credit card agreement that shows this. Sometimes they only pay the deductible on any collectible insurance, if you don't have insurance, this would not apply. You are correct, it could be minimal. Also, to collect, you would have to present the claim to them and this would be AFTER the rental car company charged YOU for the damages. It could take months to collect from the credit card company. Another thing - you have to name BOTH of you on the rental contract. Only the owner of a car can give permission for someone else to drive it & the owner is the rental car company. So, if one of you was not listed on the contract & had an accident, there would be NO coverage anywhere, not even if you purchase there insurance. I don't see a way to save money here, unfortunately. Renting a car and buying all the insurance and naming all the drivers is expensive but going without the proper coverage will be more expensive in the end.