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Getting around Bonaire: Car rental, Visa, and insurance
Bonaire Talk: Getting around Bonaire: Archives: Archives 1999 - 2006: Archives - 1999-06-07 to 2002-09-10: Car rental, Visa, and insurance
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ben Kershaw on Friday, January 25, 2002 - 1:47 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I'm sure this has been posted before, but just in case....

I just got off the phone with Visa Int'l, and found out the details of their car insurance offered when you rent a car using your Visa card. They will cover rentals outside of the US, except in Israel, Jamaica, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, so you will be covered in Bonaire (for the CDW portion, anyway).

Interestingly enough, they will cover an SUV (such as a RAV-4), but they don't cover pickups.

Since you are outside of the US, the Visa insurance will be your primary insurance, and any other insurance will be secondary.

All of this applies to a platinum Visa - I don't know if others are different. You can read over all the benefits at: http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/card_benefits.html

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Todd McBride on Friday, January 25, 2002 - 4:39 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I would still call your credit card company and have them send it to you in writing (they can always change a website). My credit card insurance would not cover SUVs, pickup trucks, or full size vans.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ben Kershaw on Friday, January 25, 2002 - 5:31 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

It depends. I called the bank that issued my card, and they sent me the terms of my credit card agreement. Those terms didn't say much about car rental insurance outside of the US, so I called them and asked them again. They then told me that the coverage was provided by Visa itself (not tied to any bank), so I called Visa. They told me the details about the coverage (and verified that the RAV-4 is covered), and then directed me to the Web page as well.

If your insurance is provided by Visa (and not by the issuing bank), then the benefits listed on Visa's Web page would apply. If not, then you would have to get it in writing from the individual bank.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brent Oglesby on Sunday, January 27, 2002 - 1:18 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I have a Visa Gold, which seems to have identical coverage. I just received a Visa Gold Benefits Package insert with my most recent invoice. The effective date for the ARI (Auto Rental Insurance) benefit is 03/01/02; hence, that means that my current coverage may differ slightly from what they plan to cover beginning 03/01/02. I have looked at both coverage documents and they appear to be the same, but I am not certain. Here is the current coverage for the ARI benefit(through 02/28/02):

http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/visa_gold_terms.html#a

Here are some highlights from the version effective 03/01/02 (from my paper copy I received):

1) Countries excluded: same as ones listed above by Ben

2) Disclaimer in bold font under the topic "When and where am I covered?":

"Because regulations vary outside the United States, we recommend you check with your car rental company and the Program Administrator before you travel to make sure your Visa Gold Auto Rental Insurance will apply."

3) Disclaimer under the topic "What types of rental vehicles are not covered?":

"Excluded worldwide are: expensive, exotic, and antique automobiles; certain vans; trucks; motorcycles, mopeds, and motorbikes; limousines; and recreational vehicles."

4) Disclaimer under the topic "What is covered?":

"Most private passenger automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles are covered, but some restrictions may apply. Please contact the Program Administrator to inquire about a specific vehicle."

My conclusion is that one would be wise to inquire about the specific rental vehicle, rental location, and rental company before making any assumptions. I hope this helps.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Anonymous on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 2:34 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I have a business Mastercard that I will be using to book the rental pickup in March. It is an international card and carries an extra policy as a perk that is separate from the normal Mastercard insurance. The regular Visa card insurance (whether it's platinum, gold or zirconium) does not cover pickups, vans or SUV's. As far as I know a Rav 4 is an SUV. I don't care what anyone told you on the phone. If you are covered, you are the only person on the planet that I know of. I travel the entire world daily.

My advise is to pay the 10 bucks for the coverage provided when you rent and forget about it. You've supported the local economy and don't have to worry about getting stuck. What I mean is, since you can't prove your coverage, you can't leave the Island until you pay for any losses or damages incurred. This has happened to some of my personnel. Then you end up overstaying your 14 days without an extension and end up arrested and fined to boot.

What is your time worth?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter - NetTech on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 3:45 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Anon,

I rent SUVs in the U.S. regularly (probably about a dozen times last year) with my AMEX and that's covered, but the U.S. isn't Bonaire, of course.

I do take issue with the "overstaying your 14 days" and "end up arrested". That may be the case on some other islands, but on Bonaire a tourist visa is 3 months, and even if you've overstayed that by a bit, I've not heard of anyone getting arrested as a result of being here more than 3 months without reentry or a residence permit (deported yes (in rare instances), arrested no).

As far as not leaving the island until you pay for losses & damages, such can be paid by credit card (at least with most car rental companies - definitely something to check out).

I don't disagree that when traveling in foreign lands it may make more sense to pay the premium for insurance than to save a few buck and get lots of hassles afterwards, but also make sure that you understand what's included when you do take the insurance the car rental company is offering (they may not cover things like broken glass, for example, even with the insurance).

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Josie on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 5:13 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I guess I wouldn't mind paying the insurance if I was only visiting for one or two weeks, but I'll be there for a month and that's about $330 extra. We'll need a pickup this trip, so that's the way we'll go. I've NEVER had a car accident or an insurance claim, or even a ticket for anything in 33 years of driving, but I do get nervous, so we'll pay the bucks. However, it does irk me. My car insurance at home is only $200 for six months, so $10-$11 a day is a LOT!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 6:37 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Check with your US car insurance company, Josie. Sometimes special, short term coverages can be arranged for specific periods and items. Probably less than the regular CDW on Bonaire. Worst they can say is 'no'.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Josie on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 7:00 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Worth a try, Glen. I'll call State Farm tomorrow.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brent Oglesby on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 10:40 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I believe one of my previous points above, #4, might have been overlooked (since I failed to bold font it).

I was surprised to see it state that the coverage covers most SUVs. Now, I did not inquire on any specific SUV models, unless one considers a regular, standard Jeep an SUV, so I don't know what particular make/model of SUV they do not cover. However, I was surprised to hear the Visa rep state that standard Jeeps are covered, with the condition that they are not driven off-road.

Note: Yes, I realize I was talking to a rep, and wouldn't take anything she said as the gospel. What really has me perplexed is that someone could actually think a pickup truck to be more of a liability than a standard Jeep. If anything, it seems logical that it would be the other way around.

:-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter - NetTech on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 6:13 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

The off-road thing could be an issue however, considering there is Washington Park to visit (and that might be considered "off-road". Also, I've heard mixed evaluations of whether shore dive sites are deemed "off-road".

As far as pick-up trucks go, I thought the exclusion was "Trucks", and not pick-up trucks?

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 10:30 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

As always, 'the devil is in the details'!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ken on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 11:30 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Josie... let me know what your state farm rep says... mine's hard to get ahold of.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ben Kershaw on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 1:47 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Jake,

When I talked to the Visa rep she said that pickup trucks were explicitly not covered - I don't know what they consider a truck.

Anon,

What exactly is an "international" Mastercard? What makes it international? I used my "United States" Visa in France/London/Belgium/Singapore/Germany and it worked just fine - maybe mine is international too!

Visa's (written) coverage states that "Most private passenger automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles are covered, but some restrictions may apply." This means that _some_ SUV's are covered, and the RAV-4 is one of them (I have received confirmation).

Regards,
Ben

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gordon Brown on Friday, February 15, 2002 - 5:38 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

OK "Anon" may have gone off half cocked, ;-)

I travel the globe on a pretty regular basis, as do people of my employ. I must agree with Glen's statement that the "Devil is in the details". I think a small detail may have been misread regarding the Rav 4. As indicated the RAV 4 is an SUV(Sport Utility Vehicle), what VISA and Mastercard insurance disclude are "Recreational Vehicles" RV-like quads, etc. They also universally exclude pickup trucks. Now anybody with a big Dodge Ram dually might argue that a Toyota Hilux is hardly in the same catagory, but the insurance companies for the credit card companies apparently do not distinguish the two.

Best advise, and piece of mind:

Buy the insurance and rest easy.

Footnote for Josie:

I know what you are saying, but consider how much tougher it is to get repair parts delivered and how much more competition there is among repair shops in the US. "Ya gotta pay the price for paradise". ;-)

Gordy

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Daniel Senie on Saturday, February 16, 2002 - 5:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Pickup trucks are often NOT covered as rentals by your own insurance or coverage on credit cards.

Oh, and DO set your parking brake, and park parallel to the ocean. Friends of ours had their truck go for a swim.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Leif S on Monday, July 8, 2002 - 6:12 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

June update for this topic...

As of June 2002, VISA still refuses to offer insurance benefits for anything that can be classified as a "truck" - including the Hilux oft requested as a dive vehicle - even if you have a Platinum level card.

However, the RAV4 is covered as a "CAR" regardless of its truck-like qualities.

Although it may cost a slight amount more, the RAV4 is quite versitile for use as a "diving support vehicle." If you fold up the back seats, the resulting floor area is EXACTLY the length of a standard tank and valve, and the bed fits exactly four tanks across, with a small gap in which one can lay a weight or other block-like item to prevent rolling or banging.

If you and your buddy are the only ones needing to get around, a little RAV4 is all you need. A Hilux or a Hiace van would still be the preferred choice for more than 2 people, although there may be a few 4-door RAV4's around, too.

Our little two-door box-turtle shaped SUV was a sivler one from AB Rental. We were able to fit 5 tanks and three people, plus all their gear, into the little beast. One passenger had to volunteer to sit on top of the tanks, though. Cutting the cargo load to just three tanks let us unfold one seat and add considerably to the comfort of our extra passenger.

We had to think carefully about whether to buy the CDW/insurance or refuse it. Our VISA terms and conditions made it expressly incumbent upon us to decline CDW/insurance if we wanted to be considered covered AT ALL by the VISA benefits. In return, VISA's benefits provide for a NO DEDUCTIBLE replacement cost coverage with only a few coverage limitations.

On the other hand, AB Rental tried to make it difficult to refuse their locally contracted CDW/insurance, by offering us a "discounted all-inclusive" rate. This made the total charges practically the same price, either with or without local insurance. In fact, reverting to "regular rates", the total charges ended up $1.20/week more than the "all-included" figure when we elected to decline the insurance instead of accepting it. However, reading carefully (like lawyers often do), I recognized that there is indeed a several hundred dollar deductible and several wholesale exclusions when you allow yourself to be covered by the local insurance.

Thus, the choice was our own VISA-provided insurance benefit, with no deductible, for just $1.20 more than the local insurance with a $350+ deductible.

I recommend that everyone be very deliberate in their choice in this area. It is easy to get bamboozled into a bad insurance deal. If you do have a collision, you want to know exactly what your coverage will do for you - and what it won't.

Fortunately, I have no claims experience to report.

-LS

 


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