In a couple of months I will be traveling to Portugal, and I need to rent a car. Since I have a MasterCard Platinum, I can get coverage and save some money by declining CDW and LDW.
From MasterCard's Guide to Benefits:
To Get Coverage:
- Initiate the transaction under your name and pay for the entire Rental Company’s security deposit using your card and sign the Rental Agreement;
- Authorized Drivers whose name(s) appear as a driver on the Rental Agreement will also be covered;
- Pay for the entire rental transaction (tax, gasoline, and airport fees are not considered rental charges) with your card and/or points earned by a Rewards Program associated with your card prior to picking up or immediately upon the return of the Rental Car; and
- You must Decline any/all partial or full collision damage insurance or similar collision damage and loss damage waiver (CDW/LDW) offered by the Rental Company.
So I went to search the companies I could book a car from, and, so far, Europcar is the cheapest one I found. However I couldn't find a way to decline those insurance fees.
For instance, these are the options on Europcar:
As you can see, the first "tier", Basic (that looks pretty much CDW+LDW, although not named that way), is already included and cannot be declined. I would like to know if I there is way I can decline while booking online, or whether it would be better if I rent the car in the airport/company's counter instead of pre-booking it online.