What are the major 'types' of insurance offered with car rental and what does each one mean in practice?

Question

I'm travelling to Italy (Naples) with my boyfriend in a couple of months and we need to organize car rental for the trip. My parents told me to 'get comprehensive insurance' / make sure we're covered for everything, but that didn't appear to be an option with any of the major car rental places. Each one seemed to have at least 4-5 types and what they covered you for was unclear.

So, what types of insurance are there for car rentals (as a general rule), and what does each one do?

What kind of level should we go for if we want to be really cautious (i.e. be covered for pretty much everything)?

Answer 1

In Italy every car must have a third-party liability coverage. It is named "RCA" (Responsabilità Civile Auto) and should be included in every rental without extra charge, but maybe with minimal coverage cap required by law. RCA doesn't cover injuries of driver.

In addition, when you hire a car, as a general rule, there is an insurance that limit the responsibility for car theft o for car damage without extra charge, too: if an accident occurs you must not totally refund rental car, but only a cap amount.

Furthermore you can buy insurance that cover totally car damage (only external, only internal damage, windows, tires, roof), and/or theft, and/or driver injuries coverage, and/or higher coverage cap of RCA.

Insurances often consider Campania and other zones of south Italy at risk, so they apply special conditions if an accident happens there.

However you should read any contract carefully before signing: there are all the info.

If you want to be really cautious you should choose a rental car that permits you to buy a full insurance, same have almost full coverage, but not really full, and buy it.