jackal

I always tell people not to rely on their credit cards to cover them for rentals. I have seen too many people get hosed by their card company, which denied the claim over some extremely minor infraction or something (submitting the claim 48.5 hours after the damage happened instead of 48, not driving under the speed limit, driving too big of a car, etc.). Plus, they always take absolutely forever to pay.

I also have the American Express Premium Car Rental Protection plan, and I've had to use it twice (I only rely on it on longer rentals, when the cost of purchasing LDW becomes excessive, and I always treat it as a fallback to my own insurance, which does provide coverage for rental cars--I'd never carry only the card's coverage). The first time, they did not cover loss of use or administrative fees. I complained about that so furiously (and told them that I thought their product was crappy, because Visa and MasterCard both [at least claimed to] cover those items) that I like to think I was responsible for their policy change (they claim to cover both now, and in fact, they did the second time I used it for a windshield chip, though it was like pulling teeth).

Still, I think that Thrifty's response was a bit strict, even considering that they really do have to be strict because there are so many delinquent !d!0t5 who rent cars and don't pay for their damages. Also, it wasn't right of them to demand payment within 5 days when you weren't even home, although the way the computer systems are set up, it wouldn't really be easy for the claims department to realize you were on a second rental and still in DEN (the least they could have done is called you on your cell to notify you that they were mailing a demand letter). Too, since loss-of-use and administrative fees are standard across the board, I think American Express should simply cover them and not require you or the rental company to jump through a dozen hoops to provide documentation (trust me, the claims process is expensive on the company's end, and the amount they lose every year due to non-payment, time spent dealing with non-cooperative insurance companies, and paperwork requirements would boggle your mind--that's the reason there are administrative fees in the first place--and so adding even more requirements would jack up the cost of the administrative fees even more, which would make credit card companies even more reluctant to pay for it). Refusing to pay for loss-of-use even though the fleet wasn't at 100% utilization is silly to me--rental companies don't waive your rental fee just because they had 10 extra cars sitting on the lot, and in effect, you've (I'm speaking generally, not the OP specifically) caused that car to still be on rent and unavailable for other renters for however long it takes to get it fixed.

In the future, what I would do is go ahead and pay what is demanded yourself, unless you can get a statement from Thrifty's claims department that they will wait for payment from American Express, and then proceed with American Express's claims process. If American Express does pay, you will get your money back in some form--either from Thrifty issuing you a reimbursement check or American Express paying you directly (or removing the charge from your credit card). NEVER simply not pay, as contractually, you are bound to pay for whatever your insurance company/companies don't cover. The charges don't get waived simply because your insurance won't pay them--that's how you end up with collections agencies after you. American Express just wants to do anything they can to get out of paying for things (hardly sounds like a premium. You'll still be left with the bill.