AmEx UK - car rental benefits in UK

Old Mar 10, 2015, 11:40 am
  #1  
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AmEx UK - car rental benefits in UK

Has anyone successfully made a claim using the car rental benefits of the AmEx Platinum card, for car rental damage in the UK? I have a claim pending and it appears that the cover is supposed to be for car rental abroad and not in the home country of the cardholder (though not explicitly stated in the terms, more implied) - just wondered if anyone had any experience of this?

From what I gather, the benefits listed (such as personal accident injury) in the event of a car accident during a rental is not a separate benefit to the protection already offered from the travel insurance. Same with the theft cover. So if you are not abroad at the time of the incident, and therefore aren't covered by the travel insurance policy in the first place, the rental benefits don't seem to apply to you.
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Old Mar 10, 2015, 11:54 am
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mia
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Originally Posted by HarryKUK
... it appears that the cover is supposed to be for car rental abroad and not in the home country of the cardholder (though not explicitly stated in the terms, more implied)
I find this explicit statement of a limited exception:

Trip means a journey outside Your Country of Residence which must commence and end in Your Country of Residence, or a journey within Your Country of Residence which must include a flight, or at least one night of pre-booked accommodation away from home. Trip is extended to include any journey within Your Country of Residence for Car Rental Benefits (Section 1.5) only
Page 11 of this document:

http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/co...ation_v1_0.pdf
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Old Mar 10, 2015, 12:03 pm
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Originally Posted by mia
I find this explicit statement of a limited exception:



Page 11 of this document:

http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/co...ation_v1_0.pdf

So in this case I am a UK resident working in Spain, who flew in on Friday (26th Feb), picked up a car at Heathrow, then returned it there and flew out on Monday 1st March. The incident took place between these two flights. The first was the return sector of my last flight and the second was the first sector of my next flight (all my flights are departing the UK on the outbound and then returning on the inbound).

Does this count as a trip??
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Old Mar 10, 2015, 12:36 pm
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Just spoken to Amex and referred to those terms, the agent appears to be interpreting that as meaning Sectoon 1.5 is covered in the UK, but as the personal injury cover directs you to another section (1.7) this is not part of the benefits under the car rental section (1.5). Not sure I believe that - is that your interpretation of the terms too?

Seems odd that section 1.5 explicitly mentions personal injury as a benefit but then because it refers you to another section it doesn't apply unless you also qualify for that section.
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Old Aug 17, 2015, 5:18 am
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Apologies for refloating an old thread but I figured I could continue this one, as my question is largely related.

Do I understand the above correctly in that Amex Plat UK car insurance cover would not provide with the additional coverage (protection against excess payable) in respect of using a UK car club such as City Car Club or Zipcar?

Thanks heaps
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Old Sep 3, 2015, 8:34 am
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That's a good question. I don't know is the short answer, but as my claim for the above Avis rental is still pending I am still in contact with them so will ask when I next speak to them.
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Old May 21, 2017, 4:50 am
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A related question. Hubby has rented a car in Australia ( we are here now ), prepaid with his UK Amex Platinum. As we understand Amex would cover the rental excess so we did not take out the additional insurance. Unfortunately he scrapped the bonnet of the car - accidentally closing the garage door by bumping the garage controller in his pocket.
When we return the car this week, we will have to tell the car rental company. How do we put in a claim with Amex? Do we wait until the rental car company charged hisAmex card first?
Thanks for any suggestion.
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Old May 21, 2017, 10:09 am
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Originally Posted by A1pax
How do we put in a claim with Amex? Do we wait until the rental car company charged hisAmex card first?
To make a claim online please visit americanexpress.co.uk/
claims to submit your claim details. Alternatively, to report a claim
or receive assistance please call 0800 917 8054 or in a medical
emergency call +44 (0) 20 3126 4109. Please be ready to provide
your Card number, which should be used as your reference
number. Please ensure copies are kept of all documentation
relating to a claim.
Read here, section 1.5 (page 14)

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/c...ation_v1_0.pdf

...and also page 19 "How to claim".
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Old May 21, 2017, 1:52 pm
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Originally Posted by mia
Read here, section 1.5 (page 14)

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/c...ation_v1_0.pdf

...and also page 19 "How to claim".
Thank you, Mia. That was helpful. It is appreciated.
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Old May 21, 2017, 2:05 pm
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I have claimed twice on this, both in the UK. No bother at all. Paid the rental company, claimed it all back from Amex, Amex paid promptly.
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Old May 21, 2017, 3:08 pm
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Originally Posted by Raffles
I have claimed twice on this, both in the UK. No bother at all. Paid the rental company, claimed it all back from Amex, Amex paid promptly.
Thanks, Raffles. Good to know that claims processed without any hassles. (PS - a follower of your great blog!)
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Old Jun 20, 2017, 5:37 am
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Just want to update on how to claim the rental car damage. This was with Hertz in Australia. When we returned the car hubby told the service agent about the damage he caused to the bonnet of the car. Hertz charged our UK Amex Plat card nearly 445 (include credit card fee, conversion rate, gst (equiv to vat in UK), admin fees etc!) Based on the info provided by mia and Raffles, we have filed a claim with Amex - the insurance company processing the claim was AXA. The claim has now been processed and AXA said we would get a refund between 5 to 10 working days (not up yet, so no money has been refunded to our Amex card but we will monitor).

That was the good part, the bad part was that Hertz decided to tag onto the charges an additional hour of rental - claimed that hubby did not return the car before the expired time (which was not true). We told Amex / AXA about this, so they would not refund us for that. While the amount for one additional hour was not significant, we have been annoyed that Hertz would do this (probably hoping we would not notice). We have sent emails to Hertz about this, but no joy so far. Does anyone have a suggestion on how best to handle this? It is not the money, but it is a matter of principle.

I know the problem of over-charging customers by car rental companies has been fairly common, whether an hour or a day extra, higher amounts charged to booked rates, fuel scams, damages not caused, etc. Why is the culture in the car rental companies so bad? Low pay?
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Old Jun 25, 2017, 10:32 am
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Complain to both Amex and the rentacar company. I had something similar-ish though much smaller issue (cleaning charge for vacuuming the interior, after a 2 week rental) and sent the complaint letter to both: ie, addressed to both and made clear that they were getting carbon copy letter since it was the same complaint.

Car company dithered, but Amex reversed the charges and said "rentacar can come back if they can justify it". That looks to have gotten it to a different level in the rentacar customer service centre, and an apologetic letter arrived some time long after. Belated happy ending
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Old Jun 26, 2017, 1:20 am
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Originally Posted by sky-rat
Complain to both Amex and the rentacar company. I had something similar-ish though much smaller issue (cleaning charge for vacuuming the interior, after a 2 week rental) and sent the complaint letter to both: ie, addressed to both and made clear that they were getting carbon copy letter since it was the same complaint.

Car company dithered, but Amex reversed the charges and said "rentacar can come back if they can justify it". That looks to have gotten it to a different level in the rentacar customer service centre, and an apologetic letter arrived some time long after. Belated happy ending
Thanks, sky-rat. I have phoned Hertz customer relations in Australia and got a lady who was helpful and she promised to sort it out for us. I have found Hertz customer relations in the UK are useless. If it is not sorted out by next week, I will start calling Amex and Hertz customer relations in the UK (as we have UK Amex Plat charge card. We are Australians but living in the UK for now, and hubby goes back to Australia twice a year to visit his mother in a nursing home - hence car rental)
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Old Jun 26, 2017, 2:12 am
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Just want to update again. Good news! After I emailed the helpful lady at Hertz customer service in Melbourne, Australia. She promptly replied within an hour to say a refund has been processed! I could not believe it ... sort of expecting to continue the fight.
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