One of the tricks that seasoned travelers know is to always deny the insurance when renting a car. Why? Because the credit card that they are using already comes with insurance that they are familiar with, and because you are required to deny coverage from the rental car company in order to take advantage of your credit card’s insurance. But how do you pick a credit card that has good rental insurance?
We found this handy chart on CreditCards.com (a credit card comparison site):
|
Payment network
|
Do all cards offer basic coverage?
|
Amount of coverage
|
Vehicle exclusions
|
Limit on rental length
|
Country exclusions
|
|
American Express |
Yes, but you can upgrade to to premium protection for a fee |
Up to $50,000 for Green, Blue, Gold, Optima, Small Biz, & Small Biz |
Any type of pick-up truck, full-sized SUV, luxury van, any exotic sports car and any type of cargo van |
Up to 30 days |
Australia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica New Zealand |
|
Discover |
No: Available to holders of only Platinum, Miles by Discover, Discover |
Up to $50,000 |
Off-road, antique or limited edition motor vehicles; trucks, |
Will not exceed 31 |
Coverage applies to vehicles rented in the U.S. and Canada only |
|
MasterCard |
No: Available only to Gold, Platinum, World & World Elite cardholders |
The lesser of the actual repair amount, current market value (minus salvage), or $50,000 per incident |
All trucks, pickups, full-size vans mounted on truck chassis, campers, |
Up to 31 consecutive days |
Australia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica and New Zealand |
|
Visa |
Yes |
Up to actual cash value of the vehicle as it was originally manufactured |
Expensive, exotic, and antique automobiles; certain vans; vehicles that |
Up to 15 consecutive days in your country of residence or up to 31 consecutive days outside your country of residence |
Australia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica and New Zealand |
As you can see, you’re not automatically covered just because you have a credit card, so make sure you read and understand your credit card’s rental car insurance policy. That way you can avoid wasting money on an unfamiliar policy offered by a rental car company.
If you’re currently researching credit cards, try CreditCards.com or Bankrate.com to compare offers easily.
Compare credit cards’ rental insurance policies [CreditCards.com]
(Photo: Marike79 )
More From Consumerist
-
US Bank Scores Twice In Roundup Of Worst Credit Cards
-
Having Separate Credit Card Accounts From Your Spouse Can Keep You From Being Stranded Abroad
-
If You’re Going To Give Gift Cards, Consider Store-Branded Cards First
-
Credit Card Debt Is Up & We’re Not Being So Good About Paying It Off
-
How Do Different Credit & Debit Cards Stack Up In Terms Of Consumer Protection?
@Braff: You only pay when you rent a vehicle. $19 total for up to 28 days. There’s no annual fee. There is some coverage with the AMEX Gold card and Business card, but the premium eliminates all the deductibles et al. I can essentially put the car in a crusher, have a wrecker drop the compressed block of steel at the rental office, hand them my keys, and walk away.
@theodicey: “Ireland: two lane country roads are 12 feet wide with immobile stone walls on both sides”
It’s funny because it’s true!
Except for the 5 1/2-foot-wide two-way country roads with 8-foot brambly hedges on both sides, with periodic cuts in the hedges where one of you us meant to back up and pull off to let the other by ….
I loved driving in Ireland. There’s no road rage there! People are really nice about your inability to back down a bramble path in a Nissan Micra!
In my experience, the country exclusions vary by bank and change from year to year. MBNA Mastercard covered (and was the only one of my cards that didn’t exclude) Ireland when I went in ’99, but wouldn’t cover New Zealand in 2006. My Citibank Visa covered NZ that trip.
I would certainly call the card issuer to confirm before relying on the coverage for any foreign trip, and probably ask for a copy of the info in writing.
@theodicey: I was in NZ two months after this article was published, and I was not required to take out any extra insurance, nor was any such requirement mentioned. YMMV.
@EarlNowak: I agree, I use DC coverage all the time – I easily save the annual card fee in coverage a couple of times over. (And I can’t speak for the American version but the Canuck versions “points” deal is awesome as well.)
@mannyv: Actually, with Italy you’re are also required to take the local insurance.
Finally, my regular car insurance does not cover me if I rent a car overseas. Therefore, and this is verified by a Visa specialist, my Visa card will be my Primary car insurance when I rent a car in France in a few weeks.
Just to let people know, World MasterCards cover car rentals in Israel.
Having worked the rental counter @ Enterprise, I certainly felt for people playing the “where can I get the best coverage, cheapest?” game with their personal insurance, AMEX/MC/VISA/DISC/DC card, etc. The companies don’t make it easy, and some people got so scared when I talked about insurance that they spent an hour on the phone trying to wrestle info out of CSRs. Of course, they were still too cheap to buy our coverage.
I was also frequently miffed by idiots who would go without any coverage b/c they were overconfident, invincible, etc. only to come back crying (or, more often, screaming) when crap went down. You CAN and WILL eat it for thousands of dollars, even IF everyone at the office is 100% honest and not vindictive (not always true). The crap that renters tried to pull on us to conceal or purposefully damage cars was the saddest part, though.
How many of you want a quality rental experience and then always “drive it like a rental”? The next person is just as deserving of a good experience as you, and it is not I who has to drive it once you’ve destroyed the thing.
I have a discover card and I thought I was covered, until I saw this. Discover even sent me information about how they cover trip insurance and rental insurance. Too bad they didn’t mention it wasn’t available on the card I had. Luckily nothing happened to the car that I denied coverage on since I thought discover had my back.
Any more “real life” experiences with rental car damage?
I’d love to understand how things were actually handled by the CC’s companies, personal insurance companies or the rental car insurance companies. How was the cost of the damage assessed? How long did it take? Did you have to get a police report? etc.
Ireland is not a complete wasteland. Last time I checked, Diner’s Club covers rentals in Ireland, the only card that consistently does so. Also, with their new marketing agreement in place with Mastercard, you can use it practically everywhere unlike in the olden days.
Plus, they have primo customer service.
@theodicey: Mexico is the same way – and if you have an accident in Mexico, and you’re found to not have the local insurance … well, hope you enjoy prison!
I had someone hit-run my parked Hertz rental last year. I have the premium car rental insurance. I did the following:
1) Called police
2) While waiting for police to arrive, I called Amex, they took my info, and gave me a claim number to give Hertz
3) I called Hertz after about 30 minutes of hunting for the damn correct number. Turns out you have to call the roadside assistance number.
The car was still drivable so I took it back to the airport to swap for another car.
WARNING — the checkin agent closed out my rental and the agent at the counter had a helluva time reopening it. At first they tried to tell me I would have to rerent at walk-up rates for the rest of the rental period and lose whatever I had left on the turned-in rental. Be sure to tell the check-in agent NOT to close out your rental.
WARNING – I had to fill out a huge amount of paperwork. Took about two hours before I got a new car. If you’re turning in a damaged car before a flight, allow a lot of time for the paperwork. And this was at 5am when there were no customers at the counter.
After that it was pretty easy. Hertz and Amex dealt directly with each other. I didn’t have to get my own insurance company involved. I got occasional status updates in the mail. Finally about three months later I got a letter from Amex saying they sent Hertz a check for ~$800 for damages but would not cover $161 in administrative fees plus $53 for loss of us unless I could get Hertz to confirm the administrative fees were above and beyond their normal cost of doing business and they had more than 80% cars rented at the time the vehicle was out. I just paid it.
@god_forbids: Anyone who uses quality as an adjective (i.e. “a quality rental experience”) has worked in sales for too long, seems to me.
@lihtox: Right you are, sir! That place (and the customers) drove me completely batty.
On a business trip, I used my Amex to rent at Hertz. I received a complimentary upgrade because I was using the Amex. (Actually, I just learned “complimentary upgrade” really means “we ran out of compact cars” majority of the time it’s offered–they usually try to charge a nominal fee). Apparently, there was a dent on the passenger side of the car. When I tried filing a claim with Amex, they informed me they only cover compact cars (how ironic). The cost to repair the car was only a couple of hundred dollars, so I paid out of pocket. Oh well, one less pair of shoes this year…
Now I know I only have to pay $19 when I rent next time. Thank you!
Out of curiosity, I searched for other cards that offer discounts, upgrades, insurance, etc. and found this site called CardOffers.com. They actually have every card listed by reward programs, benefits; however, it doesn’t list the extra details/features/exclusions, but it was totally convenient.