Other Car Rental Programs/Partners (ie. Alamo, Enterprise, Sixt) - Enterprise and insurance pressure

I've read some old threads about pressure to get insurance from Enterprise. In my one rental in recent memory from them, they asked me what insurance I used and what my deductible for collision was. Now my car has gotten old enough that I've dropped the collision coverage; will it be trouble if on an Enterprise rental I say this but still have liability coverage and am planning to use my credit card's coverage? Not having made a claim, I don't understand a whole lot about the primary/secondary stuff.

The rental I've booked is in November; I'm asking this now because I'm planning to use a Discover Card coupon where a $20 rebate becomes $40 off with Enterprise. I haven't claimed the coupon yet but I worry the offer could be removed or devalued without notice, and I'm not sure if I can redeposit it and claim something else if I decide not to use Enterprise. So can I stand pat or will I be forced to spend more than $40 on insurance for a 2-day rental?

I believe ERAC requires you to have your own insurance if you decline their insurance. To what extent its official, I'm not sure, its probably just part of their upsell insurance tactic. I don't think they do any verification but I recall 10 years ago or more they did call our insurance co to verify coverage before accepting our desire to decline coverage.

You may want to get the covg if you don't have your own, your car may be worth 2-5K but their new ones they rent or worth more, hence greater risk!

Had the big upsell on a recent 1 day rental. They used the 1 day as the push. I declined, she huffed, but then accepted.

Never understood why they think I'm crazy to decline coverage:

1. I have my own insurance that covers rentals.
2. My credit card covers the ded. (interestingly enough they get your ded. amt from you verbally and then scare you with "ok, if you have an accident, we'll charge you the deductible) - well, great, and I'll submit a claim with my credit card to recover, whoopey do.
3. There's no more risk in driving a rental than when driving my own -except liability for their loss of use if you wreck it, often not covered by cc agreements, but to recover they have to prove there were no other cars avail to rent.
4. They advise me that if I have an accident they'll contact my insurance company. Well that's why I have insurance!

You have many variables in your scenario.

If you are using a Discover Card Coupon, then they may require you to use your Discover Card for the Rental, which if you read the coupon I believe it will tell you that as well. Most Coupons from CC companies state that. Call Discover and clarify what they will cover since you don't have your own collision coverage.
The deal is with Rental Car, if there is damage...the renter is liable first...Yes Most CC become Primary when the renter doesn't have their own Collision coverage but it depends on the CC. If I remember right there are things Discover doesn't cover...used to be Vandalism was one of them that comes to mind. Don't quote me. But CALL Discover!!!!!
Then, if ERAC can prove they Require you to Buy their CDW/LDW with a Manager's statement, then.....you can look at it this way...you can hand them the keys and walk away. No long term paperwork for you.

By the way...Loss of use has become easier for the Rental Car Companies to claim of late. New laws. That changed in the past 12 to 18 mos. Most CC don't cover.

If you do have your own insurance and you do have a claim in a Rental Car...or even your own car lately...watch what happens to your Premiums. On average...Premiums increase 40 to 60% if they don't cancel you. AND it a lot of times it has a negative affect on your credit rating.
Most people tell me they take the coverage to keep their own insurance clean and why risk their own insurance for a car they don't own while driving in an area that's "not their own backyard"...and it's cheaper in most cases than their deductible. Remember you don't have to just worry about your own driving...you have to worry about what some jerk might do to it while you have it parked somewhere. Of course the coverage is expensive but there are benefits to using it as in "fewer hassles if something happens."

Everyone has their own reasons for taking or declining the Coverage...but DO YOUR HOMEWORK...and be comfortable in your OWN decision.
There are some states where you are required to purchase the coverage and some where you can't buy it. Sounds funny on the latter.
But if there are no REQUIREMENTS...do what you feel you Need or Want to do and don't let anyone who Thinks they know, make the decision for you.:cool:

I would be VERY carefull before declining the rental cars insurance!

Make SURE you are covered somehow, otherwise it can become really nasty and expensive to rent. I ALWAYS take the insurance since my CC does not cover all sizes of cars (no Premium, 4x4, Vans, Luxury cars, Convertibles, etc) and there are circumstances when they simply decline the coverage (f.x. a blown tire is not covered...and no damages caused by the blown tire like loss of control and therefore hitting a tree!!!!!) Vandalism is not covered under my CC, nor is damage by uninsured driver or hit-and-run...!

But that depends on the CC, so PLEASE make sure what is and is not covered..!

I rather pay $25,- a day extra before being stuck with $ 5.000 or more in damages!! :rolleyes:

Does anyone know if enterprsie car rental uses a vehicle tracking device, how do they know if their vehicles are taken out of the region??

Thanks in advance! :cool:

Here's another way of thinking here. Even if they don't Track the vehicles...do you want to risk taking a vehicle out of a specific area then having an accident?
If you took it out of the area you said you would stay within, and you had an accident, you would be in violation of your rental contract. You could have a problem getting your insurance to pay. Or if you purchased their coverages...they could refuse to cover whatever damages there were.

This would be worse than having to pay any mileage penalty they would hit you with for leaving the area without stating you were going to do so.

Just food for thought.

I've read some old threads about pressure to get insurance from Enterprise. In my one rental in recent memory from them, they asked me what insurance I used and what my deductible for collision was. Now my car has gotten old enough that I've dropped the collision coverage; will it be trouble if on an Enterprise rental I say this but still have liability coverage and am planning to use my credit card's coverage? Not having made a claim, I don't understand a whole lot about the primary/secondary stuff.

The rental I've booked is in November; I'm asking this now because I'm planning to use a Discover Card coupon where a $20 rebate becomes $40 off with Enterprise. I haven't claimed the coupon yet but I worry the offer could be removed or devalued without notice, and I'm not sure if I can redeposit it and claim something else if I decide not to use Enterprise. So can I stand pat or will I be forced to spend more than $40 on insurance for a 2-day rental?


Enterprise does give a slightly harder sell to purchase insurance through them; it's probably a good money maker.

Considering their low rates and nice cars I don't mind a 30-second speech about how I should buy insurance through Enterprise. I find that stating politely-but-firmly that I'm already covered with good coverage gets them to stop the sales pitch.

Go ahead and rent from Enterprise and get a good value and professional staff, ignore the insurance sales pitch, and good luck!

I had the OP here. The rental was at FLL; when they asked about my coverage I fudged and reported my previous level of coverage and said I had the credit card coverage for secondary. This agent said that credit card coverage didn't apply in Florida. With the worry about claiming more personal coverage than I had and about the reputation of Florida driving, I felt the pressure and took Enterprise's coverage, canceling out the $40 discount.

So, any truth to that about no credit card coverage in Florida? I've looked over the terms of cards' coverage and have seen exceptions for certain countries, but not for FL. I'm signed up for fast track rentals with other companies, decline the coverage, and don't see any warnings about FL. I've had previous rentals in FL, last in 2005, and declined the coverage without any issue. When I returned the car (rental without incident, but actually with some near misses), the agent checking in my return asked how I liked the service at pickup, I said that I certainly questioned the story about no credit card coverage; this agent said something about, I think, "Personal Insurance Protection" being required in FL.

Also, given my points/miles obsession, in the first of the two steps with long lines I showed my Choice Privileges card which I knew to be partnered with Enterprise; this agent didn't recognize it, he asked another, who said it worked if I used the Choice Visa. I used that, not that big a deal whether the card benefits were 200 Choice points or 100 NW miles at this point. Looking at the Choice site, they say "Provide your Choice Privileges member number when you reserve your vehicle"; not sure whether I needed to do that at reservation and it was possible when calling the number required for using the Discover coupon (no requirement to pay with Discover, BTW), and whether using the Visa will actually get me the 1000 points promised.

So, I'm still uncertain how I should handle the insurance question in the future, whether I'm advised to take the companies' coverage even when there isn't such pressure, whether to take Amex's Premium Car Rental protection making it primary at $20-25 per rental, and whether Enterprise would have accepted this.

I've never had Enterprise pressure me per se. I do notice they ask about your coverage differently. I remember the counter girl asking me specifically "How will you be insuring the vehicle?"

On another rental I had coverage through my vehicle and they countered by offering a $7 waiver to pay my policy's deductible. I took it cause I figured why not, it was only one day.

As far as the Florida thing, I know my credit card doesn't have any restrictions like that, and mine's a basic card where I pay $29 a year for rental insurance. I'm thinking you were lied to unfortunately. I could be wrong, but the question to ask is with how many hundreds of credit cards in the world, how would the agent know what you're covered for? In fact, I'm pretty sure agents are specifically NOT supposed to comment on CC coverage. I'd give your CC company a call to check.

American Express offers free secondary coverage with most of their credit cards if you pay with your AMEX card.

They also have a 25 dollar plan that will cover you in FULL for 42 days for any rental cars that you rent.

I usually stick with the free one.