Originally Posted by bbsearchlight

We have the american Express Premium Rental and it worked well in the past. When we used it 2 years ago, when we rented the car and the credit card company made the initial pending charge when we picked up the car, it charged us the $19.99.

However, this time it did not charge the $19.99 when the initial pending charge was made but only after the rental charges posted to the credit card which was 2 weeks after we returned the car. I honestly do not trust Amex when they say you are still covered if the charge posts afterwards since most rental car companies will allow you to switch the credit card that you are being billed to at the end so what is to stop anyone from using a different credit card and then if there is an accident switching the final billing onto the Amex?

To make matters worse, our rental was for 40 days and Avis splits any rental over 30 days into 2 contracts - one for the first 30 days and one for the additional days (I don't know if all rental companies do this). So when the charges posted we had 2 separate charges from Avis. Therefore, we ended up getting charged the $19.99 twice by Amex.

The only reason we took out the Premium coverage is because regular credit cards wouldn't cover more than 30 days but if the rental company is going to split up the charge anyways, then the Premium isn't doing anything for us because our regular credit card will cover the full 40 days since neither rental is more than 30 days if they are splitting it into 30 days and then the rest.

I will definitely be cancelling this before our next rental.