If your personal auto insurance does not cover damage to rental cars, and assuming that you are not renting some exotic or very expensive (i.e. more than $50,000) car, then you are throwing out money by purchasing the Amex coverage. Just charge the rental to a credit card that offers LDW for free. While such coverage (other than that provided by Diner's Club) is "secondary," that only means that it is secondary to other available insurance. If you have no other available insurance that covers the damage to the rental car, then the credit card's LDW becomes primary.

I disagree completely that you are "throwing your money away" by purchasing Amex coverage. Every card has different restrictions on their "free" insurance. How many days you are covered for, deductible, limit of coverage, and gap insurance. That is coverage to recoup revenue lost when a damaged car is taken out of circulation to be repaired. You are responsible for the lost revenue while the car is being repaired. In my opinion, I would never rely only on the "free" coverage offered by a credit card company. Yes, it's probably valid in most cases. But I'm not going to count on it when such inexpensive reliable alternatives (Amex) exist. You rent a car for 5 days. Amex primary coverage is $19.95 for the total rental period.. Isn't it worth a paltry $4 bucks a day to be completely covered with a confirmed insurance policy?

one-way?
 

Just tried this code and am not seeing unlimited mileage, but the base rate really went down. Should it work for a one-way rental? If not do have another suggestion to try? I need one-way from DFW to OKC on 3/22 return on 3/23. Thanks......

It isn't worth anything if you are buying a policy that already duplicates what you would otherwise get for free. Even Amex's description of the premium coverage contains this language:

"Premium Car Rental Protection is appealing to Cardmembers who do not have Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance (CRLDI),§ which is a benefit included with many American Express Cards. And for those Cardmembers who do have CRLDI for no additional charge on their Card but are looking for more extensive protection, this plan will also offer more comprehensive coverage."

I have never had a credit card that imposed a deductible on its free LDW.

It's true that all credit cards have limits on the amount of LDW coverage they provide (these days, I think it's $50,000), but so does the Amex premium coverage. The Amex premium coverage just provides a higher limit. But if you're renting an Impala, or a G8, or a Prius, or some other fairly standard car that costs less than $50,000, I don't see the benefit of paying for $75,000 or $100,000 in coverage. And yes, it's true that the free LDW has a limit on the length of the rental it covers (it usually varies between 14 and 31 days, depending on the card issuer), but the Amex premium coverage has a limit too. It's just a question of whether the premium coverage gives you a benefit that you don't already have for free.

When I rent a car these days, I usually use a (no-annual-fee) World MasterCard, which covers rentals of 31 days or less. It covers vehicles with a retail price of $50,000 or less, and also covers the rental agency's reasonable (and documented) loss-of-use charges. And MasterCard even covers rentals for which a free-day or dollars-off coupon is used, as long as at least one full day's rental cost is charged to the card.

(It's also worth bearing in mind that certain car rental "association" discounts (like AARP) limit the renter's responsibility for loss or damage to the rental vehicle to a fixed amount, like $5,000, for rentals at participating locations.)

I can certainly see the value of the Amex premium coverage if one usually rents cars for more than 31 days at a time, or usually rents cars that cost more than $50,000, and does not have the benefit of an "association" limit on responsibility for damage to the rented vehicle. I can also see the value of it for one whose personal automobile policy would cover the rental car, but who wants to protect himself against having to make a claim on his own policy. But for a renter who either does not own a car, or whose personal policy does not cover damage to rented autos, and who rents cars costing under $50,000 for a month or less, it's hard to see any value to the Amex premium coverage.

Amex premium coverage is for rentals of 21 days or less.
I am really getting confused now. From what I know the automatic coverage you get from MC or Amex is coverage that is NOT paid by your primary insurance carrier. So the World MC would first require one to file with State Farm, Allstate, Lib Mutual, etc before the CC benefit kicks in. yes? no? The Amex premium protection does not require one go through their own insurer first. Which usually increases one's rates (not always but usually).

Amex premium coverage is for rentals of 42 consecutive days or less, unless the cardholder resides in Washington, in which case the coverage is for 30 consecutive days or less. Here's a link to the coverage description (see the paragraph headed, "Premium"):

https://www152.americanexpress.com/f...al/coverage.do

In your earlier post, you wrote, "But LM told me I am covered for other cars in an accident but no [sic] the rental car I am driving." If your insurer does not cover you for damage to rental cars, you would simply have to provide proof of that (i.e., a copy of your Liberty Mutual policy stating that you are not covered for damage to rental vehicles) to the credit card issuer, and the credit card's "secondary" LDW would become primary in your case, because you have no other collectible insurance coverage.

Thanks for pointing that out. When I joined, 3-4 years ago, I swear it was only 21 days. Good news. I never bothered to check this out because I can't remember a rental I have had that lasted more than 11 days. I stand corrected.
Which means I would have to file a claim with my insurance carrier (LM). I am aware that a cc's "secondary" LDW kicks in where my primary leaves off. However, I would like to leave my insurance carrier out of the loop in the event of an accident (higher rates due to claim). The majority of rentals are for biz reasons (self-employed) which means the Amex coverage translates to tax deductible. So the "pain" of spending the extra with each rental is lessened a bit.

I realize that $100K coverage for a car is high but the $24.95-version of Amex' plan also includes $100K AD&D.

If your personal auto insurance policy states that no coverage is provided for damage to rented automobiles, I don't see why you would have to file a claim with your insurance carrier, Liberty Mutual. According to you, LM won't pay such a claim, and the credit card insurance people will just need to see proof that you have no insurance that covers you for damage to rented automobiles. Your LM insurance policy should be sufficient proof of that.

And yes, it's true that Amex premium car rental protection does provide $75,000 or $100,000 of accidental death and dismemberment coverage, but the coverage only applies to the renter and the renter's passengers. If you are in an accident and injure or kill someone who is not riding in the rental car, you are not covered by Amex for those damages.

Although I have never tested it, I would think that the CC would require that you file and then the denial of what is covered would be what the CC would base their liability on. I wish I could verify that a CC would take my policy at face value and not involve LM.
Yes. This is true. My personal policy covers me for those in the other car.

You might wish to call the the insurance services representative for whatever card you would consider using for the free LDW to inquire what the procedure would be if your personal auto insurance policy clearly disclaims liability for damage to rented autos. While nothing is impossible, I would be surprised if the credit card company would require you to file with your carrier first if your personal auto policy clearly and unambiguously disclaims liability for rental car damage.

All the talk about Mastercard or Visa or any credit card Free LDW coverage, is just pure theory.

You have to actually use it and then you will realize that you do jump thru hoops in order to get the benefits.

There are items they dont cover - the Admin Fee is not covered, the loss of revenues is covered only in theory - it is very difficult to get it paid because the insurance company asks exact documentation which the rental car companies are reluctant to provide.

I have invoked a Mastercard coverage for hail storm damage in Yellowstone. All told, after 4 months, Mastercard paid $2,280 repair, refused to pay for loss of revenues claiming the docs submitted by Thrifty was unacceptable, Admin fee was not covered. We paid Thrifty $350 or around that. Had we bought the insurance, it was a measly $16 a day for 5 days. I would gladly pay that if I rent in an area where weather is totally unpredictable.

The AMEX coverage while it is duplicate, but it is money well-spent to rid oneself from all the hassels that would entail when you need to use the other credit card free coverage.

And now, may we discuss the LDW pro/con in a separate new thread, and return this thread back to Avis discount codes, please?

Isn't this also true of the Amex Premium Car Rental coverage? Evan! said that Amex did not cover the administrative fee, and I would be surprised if any credit-card insurance, whether free or paid, would pay for loss-of-use charges unless adequate documentation were provided.

Yes, if you're willing to pay the rental car company's daily LDW fee, you can avoid these hassles. But be aware that in some parts of the country, the LDW fees are very high. At MSY, for example, Avis charges $25.99/day for LDW.

Is this thread about discount codes or insurance?

If you will take a look at Post # 1457, you will see that this particular discussion was started in connection with a discount code that also provided insurance coverage. Then a reply was posted mentioning the Amex Premium coverage, and we were off to the races. For some of us, especially those who do not own a car, the insurance coverage provided by an AWD can be far more valuable than the discount off of the rental rate. (I used to rent almost exclusively from Avis because the Avis/AARP AWD once provided 100/300/25 liability insurance coverage at no extra charge. But alas, that is no longer the case.)

But I agree with Happy that the discussion about taking or declining LDW, Amex Premium coverage, etc., would best be continued (if at all) in a separate thread, especially since this topic is not limited to Avis rentals. I think that there was at least one such thread a while ago. Anyone want to start another one in TravelBuzz!?

Amen!