We are renting a Toyota Lite Ace for two weeks from Highway Transport for $32 per day. We have been driving in Bonaire for many years and have never had trouble, except when one of us drove over a rock near the Plaza. We want to know if the $10 per day CDW insurance is necessary. Thanks!

Daren, if you were to hit a donkey (which is not uncommon here) and wreck the car completely, without CDW, you will have to pay for the whole car. It's up to you whether you want to take that risk. With CDW, the most you'd pay is the unisurable own risk. Personally, I would not want that kind of worry nagging in the back of my head when on holiday.

Marc you hit the nail (donkey) on the head. A friend totalled his rental mini-van, the rental company collected his deductible and was ready to issue him a replacement vehicle the next day.

The CDW charge is well worth the cost in peace of mind alone. AND, if you (the new renter) think your credit card will cover your CDW, you had best check your coverage VERY close.

Yes, because often credit card companies will cover cars, but not trucks for example.

Unless there is some compelling reason to have a pickup truck, I urge declining CDW and insisting on your own VISA or MC-provided rental car coverage - no deductible and no extra cost to you. The Lite-Ace MIGHT be a covered vehicle, it just takes a phone call to determine. The SUV's are usually covered, but for some unknown reason pickups like the HiLux are excluded.

Leif, there might be cases of damages where the rental company will demand direct payment if there is no CDW. For small damages this is no problem, but when it runs in the 1000's of dollars... And then of course there's always the question of just how much the card insurance will cover. My experience is, it's never as much as you expected...

We checked with our citi bank and they provide up to $25000 in insurance. For our protection I have them send me a letter in advance saying they do insure us on our island of choice. They put the name of the island within the body of the letter, gives me a piece of mind. I take the letter with us to the island just in case we need proof.

Ang

The insurance offered by credit card companies only covers the rental car. It doesn't cover you for liability and your US insurance policy won't cover you out of the country (with the exception of Canada).
This means damage you inflict on a car you hit is not covered unless you get the rental car insurance.

It all depends on the cc company and the vehicle rented.

Diners Club card includes primary Collision Damage Waiver coverage. It doesn't have a credit limit. http://www.dinersclubnorthamerica.com/US/en/diners_club.jhtml?pageId=us_02_04_03_05

Most Mastercards and Visas provide excess collision damage waiver coverage ... which can force you to file a claim with your auto insurance carrier first. This isn't really necessary when you are out of country since your U.S. policy doesn't cover you in Bonaire ... but it tie up your credit limit while the claim get settled. For example, if you have a $10,000 credit limit on your credit card and you have a $10,000 claim. Guess what ... anything you want to charge after that will be over your credit limit which might cause a problem. You might need to carry another credit card as a backup.

Another thing to watch in some rental car agreements is that they won't cover you if you use the vehicle off-road or roads not regularly maintained. Check on that when you rent a car to see if it'll be a problem if you park the car on the shoreline off-road.

Martin, the only time a car rental would make a problem of that is when the car used is not suitable for off road to begin with, or if the car is handled irresponsibly, like rally driving for instance or taking it off the dirt road. All the dive sites that are listed as shore diving spots are reachable by (4x4) car or truck.

I wouldn't have expected it to be a problem in Bonaire since that some offroad use is expected. But if you go by a strict reading of most of these rental agreements, *any* off-road use is excluded. Whether they choose to enforce it is a different story.

I did a little hunting around some of the Bonaire rental car sites looking for one that spells out their terms.

I found National Car Rental's site and they have their terms and conditions on-line. I assume their's is typical of most the rental agencies in Bonaire: http://www.nationalcuracao.com/index.asp?page=http://www.nationalcuracao.com/terms_and_conditions.htm

If you jump down to 5. Prohibited Uses Of The Vehicle, read through the list .... look at how "i" reads:

"on unpaved roads;"

Then that section concludes:

I UNDERSTAND THAT IF THE VEHICLE IS OBTAINED OR USED FOR ANY PROHIBITED USE OR IN VIOLATION OF THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE VOID AND I SHALL BE FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL LOSS AND RESULTING DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF USE, CLAIMS PROCESSING FEES, ADMINISTRATIVE CHARGES, COSTS AND ATTORNEY'S FEES ALSO, WHERE PERMITTED BY LAW, THE CDW OPTION SHALL BE VOID AND THE LIABILITY, PAI, PEC, AND SLI INSURANCE SHALL BE VOID.

Being in the insurance business .... I'm somewhat familiar with insurance problems that pop up with rental cars. It's just something of which people need to be aware.

Martin, Thank you for the info on Diners Club but what about the "liability" side of a wreck, if for some reason 2 cars are involved and it's your fault?

Again thank you for Diners Club information.

Ang

Actually, what is the prevailing law of collision liability in Bonaire? Is it like a traditional U.S. fault-based system, does it contemplate contributory negligence, and/or does it use a more progressive "no-fault" model?

Your primary auto carrier won't cover you out of the country. Most, if not all, U.S. auto policies limit coverage to the US, it's territories and possessions (like the U.S. Virgin Islands), Puerto Rico, and Canada.

So you basically have three options:

1. Take your chances that nothing will happen and go without liability coverage.

2. Buy the liability coverage offered by the rental car company.

3. Buy a personal umbrella policy that includes worldwide coverage. With a personal umbrella policy, if you have an accident out of the country, you'll be out a small "retention" ... typically $250 - 1000, and then the insurance picks up the rest of the claim up to your policy limit. Most of the personal umbrellla forms I've read provide this coverage .... but these type of policies are not standardized (every company's forms are different), so you should ask your agent/carrier if it does pick up worldwide auto coverage. You don't want one that "follows form" .. meaning it provides for the same "coverage territory" as your primary auto insurance policy. You want a worldwide coverage territory on your personal umbrella policy if you do much (or any) traveling out of the country and rent cars.

Personally, I do option 3.