Which Credit Cards Have The Best Rental Car Insurance?
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 )
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