AlexB

A caveat for those of you who trust in Diners to be your primary rental car insurance. Diners has quietly devalued this service in three ways:

1. They will no longer pay the Administrative Charge that a rental company or its designated third party claims service firm may charge. This just cost me $150.00.

2. If the rental company refuses to provide certain paperwork, such as a Fleet Utilization Log that supports a Loss of Use charge, Diners refuses to pay that portion of the claim. Worse, they may no effort to try to get the paperwork. This can translate into hundreds of dollars you must pay.

A claims service firm just told me that a Utilization Log is confidential information. When I called the rental company directly, I was told that it was not confidential, but rather, they did not know how to supply one. Diners' response: Tough luck, I have to pay, then. Multiple calls and letters produced virtually no cooperation between the two parties.

3. Diners normally pays a discounted amount of the Damage Charge. It is up to you to negotiate with the rental company or claims firm that the discounted amount actually is the full amount that will be paid, OR with Diners that they pay the full amount. In my case, I did get Diners to pay the full amount.

In the past, the Diners Rental Car Insurance program has served me well, with quick, 100% payment of claims submitted. But no more. I compared the fine print of the 2001 T&C against a 2007 version, and they have indeed made the program less beneficial.

I put this in the same category as the airlines that have imposed rapid redemption fees on award tickets. "Free" isn't free anymore.

mia

It would be useful to know the name of the rental company which "did not know how" to produce a utilization log.

AlexB

Its name begins with a letter after A and before C, and was located in the biggest city in our northernmost state.

mia

In principle the rental company would not care if the renter has insurance, and has no obligation to accept an insurance offer as full payment. However, I wonder if the rental companies are intentionally playing rough with the insurers who write credit card policies because it diminishes their ability to sell waivers?

What we're missing, for comparison purposes, is information about how our personal auto insurance companies would handle these claims. Do they cover administrative fees or lost revenue, do they require utilization logs and do the rental companies resist providing them? Do they negotiate the repair costs, and do the rental companies then come back to the renter?

IndyDavid

Is AmEx's version of the rental car insurance program better? It adds something like $20 per rental, as I recall, to cover everything. Certainly cheaper than the car companies' daily rates, and maybe less costly than DC if you only rent a car a few times a year.

David

NJUPINTHEAIR

HOW HELPFUL.

YOU MUST BE TALKING ABOUT ALASKA.

awake

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8830/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

My card is up for renewal this month. Based upon this info, I will definitely cancel it.

My belief was that DC provided no-hassle insurance. I rent approx 20 times per year, so it seemed to be a valuable benefit.

I will just use my Citi Professional card which provides primary coverage through MasterCard's program. I also get 3 pts per $ on car rentals with this card.

ohmark

Without re-opening an old thread, I went through the fleet utilization log fiasco with Diners and Hertz a few years ago. Diners insisted on the log. Hertz France said they have no log. Hertz USA interceded and requested the log. Hertz France still said they had no log, but provided some other paperwork, which Diners found inadequate. Diners initially refused to pay the loss of use charge. Eventually, after a year of hassles back and forth, Diners agreed to pay the fee, probably to get me out of their hair. Cleary, Diners will not pay this fee without the log. And clearly, based on my experience, they will do nothing or next to nothing to assist the Diners cardholder in obtaining the log from a recalcitrant car rental company.

Interestingly, when I first contacted Diners to ask why the loss of use fee was not paid, I was told that it was because Hertz France did not provide the log. I asked if Diners had requested the log, and the representative told me they had. I asked how Diners requested the log. Rep said in Diner's initial letter to Hertz. I asked that the letter be read to me. The rep read the letter to me, but increasingly haltingly as she began to realize there was absolutely nothing in the letter which requested the log. She said this must be some kind of mistake as they always request the log. Right.

cpx

I think this is the reason... they just want to make a few more bucks from
each incident.

Not sure how the personal (primary) car insurance company will handle this..
never had to use them for this.


MasterCard's insurance will give you the same grief... and its not a primary
insurance for the rental cars. It will kick in only if you do not have a valid
personal car insurance.

mia

I believe you are referring to the coverage provided with personal Mastercards which typically is secondary, while awake is referring to the coverage provided with business-purpose Mastercards which typically is primary.

cpx

Ah! thanks for the clarification. You are right, I was referring to the personal
Mastercard coverage.

awake

Correct. Citi Pro is a business card. I only had a Diners card because of the perceived lack of hassle. If I still have to go through the hassle, I may as well get rid of Diners and use Mastercard.

sllevin

I understand the desire by Diner's for the log; few locations are actually sold out all of the time, and the rental company asking for "loss of use" based on 100% rental rates of the vehicle is nothing more than grubbing for money. We don't like inflated "administrative fees" and the insurers don't like inflated "loss of use"

Steve

houckeye52

Thanks AlexB for taking the time to alert us to Diners Club's new view of loss-of-use charges. I called American Express to inquire about their Premium Car Rental Protection which can be purchased for $24.95. This is a primary damage and theft coverage for up to $100,000. Good for 42 consecutive days. I asked if this rental protection covers loss-of-use and administration fees. She said no it does not because fleet utilization records are private and the car companies will not disclose the records. Same line Diners Club gave AlexB. I found this hard to believe and called my Visa Business Auto Rental Collision Claims Department. Citi Bank Visa Business automatically becomes Primary Coverage if vehicle is used for Business purposes and secondary coverage if used for pleasure. The rep validated what the disclosure statement stated for Rentals using the Visa Business Card:
WHAT IS COVERED ?
Subject to the terms and conditions in the Guide to Benefit, Visa Business Auto Rental CDW reimburses you for the repair or replacement of covered losses to a rental vehicle while it is your responsibility and while it is being used for business purposes. Only vehicle rental periods which neither exceed nor are intended to exceed thirty-one (31) consecutive days are covered. This benefit is primary and provides reimbursement up to the actual cash value of the vehicle as it was originally manufactured. However, if the rental is for personal reasons, this coverage supplements, and applies excess of, any valid and collectible insurance or reimbursement benefits from any source. Most private passenger automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles are eligible, but some restrictions may apply. Please contact the Benefit Administrator to inquire about a specific vehicle. Covered losses are:

Physical damage and/or theft of the covered rental vehicle.
Valid loss-of-use charges imposed and substantiated by the rental agency through a fleet utilization log.
Reasonable and customary towing charges, due to a covered loss, to the nearest qualified repair facility http://usa.visa.com/business/cards/b...to_rental.html

I asked him if they had trouble with rental car companies turning over loss-of-use fleet utilization records. He replied no we do not have that Problem at all.

Two years ago a deer augered in to the side of my Hertz Ford Focus I was using for Business. I filed the claim using my Citibank Visa Business Card and they covered everything. I do think Rental car companies might be a little more benevolent to Business customers since they utilize a lot more business for the Rental Companies. I noticed that Visa CDW for personal cards also states they will cover loss-of-use charges as a secondary coverage for exspenses not paid by your primary auto insurance.

BEWARE OF ORBITZ! Many people speak of getting CDW insurance through Orbitz as a package deal or pay the $72. If you look at the first paragraph you might think your getting Primary coverage because of how the paragraph is worded:
Orbitz has partnered with Access America to provide you with Rental Car Damage Protector. Collision/Loss Damage Insurance provides coverage for damage or loss of a rental car. This competitively priced coverage is provided on a PRIMARY basis. Coverage is only available to U.S. and Canadian residents. For program questions, please contact Access America at 877-593-4989. If you click on the terms and disclosure you find out it is only secondary coverage: Scroll to page 7 of 10 for the coverage details. I also called them to verify that they are only secondary coverage. Very deceptive in my eyes!

I also called my State Farm agent to ask how they handled loss-of-use charges filed by rental companies. The adjuster said that they will pay the rental company only if they can prove they did not have that car class available due to the fact the rental was out of commission. They demand fleet utilization logs if the rental company demands loss-of-use charges. If they close the case because State Farm feels it has satisfied their liability and the rental company still demands payment, the client has to litigate his own case and find his own legal counsel.

Amica Insurance is rated one of the best for customer service by Consumer Report and I can see why after speaking to a Claim Rep. I do not have any insurance with them but know people who do and love them. They don't advertise and yet turn away a lot of people.
The Claims rep told me that if a Rental Car Company files for loss-of-use charges or admin fees they demand the fleet utilization logs. She said a majority of the time they never hear back from the rental company and the charges are dropped. If the car company insists and can prove they lost business by not having that car available, they recompense the car company through the rental waiver fund that is a rider on all full coverage vehicles. But she reiterated that just by asking for documentation settles most extra charges because the rental companies won't forward the records.
My question is: Is AMEX and Diners Club cutting back on ADMIN costs by passing this on to the consumer since Visa and Insurance companies have no problem making this request. Diners Club and AMEX both stated that these records are private and rental car companies do not have to relinquish them. I do not think that would hold up to well in court. Charging somebody without having to document with an itemized staement. I bet a summons to Small Claims Court would quiet these renegade rental cars company. The cost to transport a lawyer for a $300 trumped up charge would not be worth it to them in my estimation.

Thanks to all for making this such a great Board houckeye52

mia

Thank youfor the research and informative post.

I do not see any important difference between the responses given by American Express, Diners Club, VISA, State Farm or Amica. They all require a utlization log to evaluate a loss-of-use claim, and report varying degrees of difficulty obtaining those records. This doesn't mean that American Express or Diners won't ask for the log, but they do not seem to expect the request to be honored.