I just thought I might add my two cents worth about using rental cars and auto insurance. Having used several rental car agencies for a good number of years, I was surprised to learn that some major rental car companies have some very nasty fine print on their contracts. For example, if you use your own automobile insurance (assuming you have transferable full coverage from another country) and you are involved in any type of accident that damages the rental vehicle, the rental agency will charge the ENTIRE price of a replacement vehicle to your credit card. This does not mean a few hundred dollars, but often $20,000.00 USD or more. In other words, they charge the cost of buying a new vehicle to your major credit card. When and if your insurance actually sends the check and it clears the bank of the rental car company (this can be months) your charges on your credit card are either refunded or the hold is released. Yes, this did happen to a friend of mine, and several rental agencies will tell you about this IF YOU ASK.
This means if you don't want to worry about your credit card being held hostage or outrageous charges on it, you need to obtain supplemental insurance. If you buy the rental agencies auto insurance, you are getting ripped off big time. I typically paid an extra $15-$20 per day for their insurance until I found out you can buy special travel insurance (available to anyone anywhere) that is designed to cover this insurance blackmail. You can do a web search under Google for "travel insurance" as the topic or here is one of many links: http://www.travelguard.com/agentlink.asp?ta_arc=62987&pcode=007370 Most of these companies will charge you only half of what you would pay for car rental company insurance, and there is a great deal of different offers to check into. I don't recommend one over the other, but I have saved a small fortune by using several of them. If there is an accident, these companies issue credit for up to $25,000 to the rental car company to cover all damages immediately. Thus, your credit card is not charged.
I hope this is of some value to you wild and loveable Brits.
Kind Regards,
Skipper