philemer

Other than corporate acct. cards and those issued by banks like CITI, is the Premium Car Rental Ins. available with ALL AMEX cards? I'm looking specifically at Hilton & SPG cards. I did a search & found quite a few posts about the Ins. but nothing that address which cards qualify you for it.

mia

I see nothing which would exclude affinity credit cards such as HHonors or SPG...

Enrollment is available to Consumer and Small Business Cardmembers residing in the 50 United States of America or the District of Columbia. Corporate Cardmembers are not eligible.

Coverage is automatically extended to other American Express Cards
If you are the Basic Cardmember, your other American Express Card accounts, and any Additional Cards issued on those accounts, are automatically enrolled in the Premium Car Rental Protection Plan. Any Card accounts issued to you in the future, and Additional Cards on those accounts, will also be enrolled. Cards that are not enrolled include Corporate Cards, Additional Cards enrolled independently, Additional Cards issued to you on someone else's account, and any Card issued by a third-party bank partner of American Express. If you are the Additional Cardmember, coverage does not extend to other accounts you may have. You are only covered on the account on which you have been issued the Additional Card.

https://www152.americanexpress.com/p...source=CCSG#03

troyb

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9530/4.7.0.113 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Yes it is, I have it on several random cards

philemer

Thanks mia and troyb. That's what I was hoping.

freeflyin

I have it on my HH Amex

Amex Customer Care

Hi FlyerTalkers, it’s Rachel with Amex Customer Care. Thanks to everyone for their feedback.

Yes, we do offer the Premium Car Rental Protection to our US based Amex cardholders, except Corporate Cardholders. I do want to advise you that there is a premium that is billed to the account when the rental car is charged. There is detailed information as to new enrollment, which can be obtained online:

americanexpress.com/carrentalprotection

I hope this information helps.

Rachel
Amex Customer Care

philemer

Thanks for the info. Why did Amex get rid of the $19.95 option for most states? Now most states only have the $24.95 plan available.

Amex Customer Care

Hi Phil, it’s Rachel again.

As far as I know we did not get rid of the $19.95 coverage level. I do want to advise you that the $19.95 coverage level is not available to Cardmembers in California and Florida. The difference in the price is due to the increase in coverage, for example- theft or damage up to $75,000 with the $19.95 coverage and up to $100,000 with the $24.95 coverage level.

Hope this helps.

Rachel
Amex Customer Care

philemer

Thanks, Rachel. I only saw the $24.95 option on the main page, where you select your state, but when I clicked the ENROLL button it showed both options & said I was already enrolled in the $19.95 plan. I did that last Dec. Since then I canceled my SPG AMEX card. I guess the site doesn't know that. So, I suppose I need to apply for another AMEX card so I can use this great benefit for my next trip in Jan.

xxrice

Why sign for Premium Car Rental Protection for a extra $24.95 when you get this same coverage for free? The only difference that I see in the fine print is Premium and $24.95

Can you explain the differences?

Thanks

scubadu

The main difference is that the premium insurance is primary insurance and the default coverage is secondary coverage.

So, for example, in the U.S. if you rent a car, go with the default coverage, are involved in a "loss" and you have a auto insurance policy that would cover you in that loss, then you would be required to collect from you personal auto policy first and then the "secondary" credit card coverage would cover any "overage" not handled by your policy. Of course this would likely mean your rates would rise on your personal policy as it's a claim.

The premium, being primary, means it would pay first and not require you to file a claim on your personal auto policy; generally a good thing.

Of course, if you are traveling internationally, say Mexico, it's unlikely your U.S. based, personal auto policy would cover a claim and in this case the secondary, default coverage essentially becomes primary because you aren't covered via your personal policy in Mexico.

I believe there are also some differences in coverage limits, etc. (i.e. higher on the premium) but the main motivator for most folks is the ability to not need to make a claim on one's personal policy.

I've been very interested is using this service, however, there continue to be reports on FT (to lazy to search right now) that utilizing "free day" or "dollars" off type coupons in conjunction with the rental negates the coverage and allows Amex to weasel out of a claim. I always use coupons for some type of discount and thus have not been comfortable going with this coverage.

Regards

divemistressofthedark

??!! This is the first I've heard that coupons negate AMX car coverage - glad I read it here, since I'd be pretty irked if I used one and got soaked on a claim.

Any further info on this appreciated!

(not that I've *ever* had to file a claim due to an incident with a rental car - knock on wood)

TAHKUCT

It has been reported on this forum and I also reconfirmed it 3 days ago with Amex. If you use a free day coupon, Amex will not cover. Dollar off and % off coupons are ok with Premium Car rental Protection from Amex.

jackal

Actually, this is a moot point, because both Visa and MasterCard specifically provide primary coverage outside the cardholder's country of residence.

And actually, one of the two (I can't remember which one) covers some countries that AmEx doesn't, including Australia, New Zealand, and Italy.

True. Some of the other benefits include extending the maximum length of a covered rental (from 14 to 28 days, IIRC), potentially covering loss of use and administrative fees, AD&D/medical/personal property coverage, additional vehicle sizes (full-sized SUVs, luxury and exotic cars, etc.), and worldwide coverage (the free AmEx coverage is not). See here for more details.

Double check this. (Perhaps Rachel or Beth can confirm.) I know it's an issue with other providers, but I believe it is not the case with AmEx PCRP.

FWIW, I also now have it in writing that AmEx does cover prepaid PL/HW rentals--you just need to call them and tell them the charge is for a car rental so they can manually add the premium.

mia

Discussions from 2009...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ed-return.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...d-rentals.html