Originally Posted by
peteropny
Ok - a couple thoughts came to mind.
I take it that you still "own" one car - presumably located in NJ? If so you probably don't really need the $24.95 insurance since you are usually covered by your primary car insurance (check your policy / agent). Also, most credit cards provide "secondary" insurance (after the primary - your regular car insurance pays) - some even provide "primary".
Status benefits cannot be shared (eg if you have status - your wife cannot pick up a car and use your status). However, National allows people who live together (determined by the address on the driver's license) to drive the car without any additional rental fee - so the only problem you'll face is who picks up the rental.
EE benefits that are over Executive are that you earn a free day with one less rental credit than Executive - other benefit of car delivery to a FBO (private aircraft) presumably doesn't apply.
I guess that my suggestion is that you both go for Executive level - perhaps with you renting in MSY and her in EWR.
Thanks for your thoughts peteropny,
Using the AMEX insurance came about as the result of having a parked rental hit and runned in MSY (surprisingly not an uncommon occurrence). AMEX covered the deductable to $500 but we carry a very high deductable, which has always worked for us in the past, and ended up with a substantial payment. The extra AMEX is about a break even if we have no claims and a benefit if we do have one. I will relook at the premium differences of lowering the deductable vs the AMEX costs though.
I was aware of the free 2nd driver that applied to us since we already use it in MSY.
The FBO would be a benefit since both TEB and NEW are convenient. We just got a mailing today about using our AMEX for a deposit on a Bombardier fractional ownership but we could fly paid F and spend a lot less. If we had those bucks we'd just have a car and driver in each location.
I'm also starting to figure out that the free days don't do much for us either. Our rentals average 6-7-days which is 1 point per rental and looking at the rest of the year, we'd actually get 3 days. That's factoring in her status and rental credit for each rental. We save more by using Alamo in MSY - same car, same express check out. I'll think I"ll look into their program as well. Too bad they don't rent at EWR.
Too bad that there are so few easy decisions in this world.