scoobaboy

I always decline extra insurance at the counter when using certain cards for auto rental as the card provides what I need,but, if car is paid for with UR points what if any coverage is there?

philemer

None unless you pay for it. This is why I usually pay with a card that covers me.

jgxtrav1

+1

Sometimes I charge my car rental to my card and then, if nothing happens, use points for reimbursement. So, in essence, insurance costs me the 20% bonus I would get if I paid with points to start with.

But, usually, I save my points for paying for airfare and get the 20% bonus (when the cost of airfare make it better than an award ticket .... which, unfortunately, doesn't happen much anymore).

FYI - Edited to add:

With the Chase Sapphire Premier credit card when you use your Ultimate Rewards to book travel directly (air, hotel, car, etc) thru the Chase Ultimate Rewards site, you get a 20% bonus; for example, a $50 car rental requires just 4000 points. However, if I charge the rental to the card and then later reimburse myself using points (thru the "Pay Yourself Back" option), a $50 credit requires 5000 points.

But that's with the Chase Sapphire Premier credit card. If you have the "regular" Chase Sapphire credit card, you don't get that 20% bonus.

So, bottom line is, if you have the "regular" card, you should always charge the car rental to the credit card and then, if nothing happens, use points for reimbursement.

In hindsight, I guess I could/should have mentioned that ....

DENROC

I was informed by my insurance broker that when you rent a car using award miles you do not have insurance coverage from the underlying miles credit card. Completely changed my use of awards for car rentals.

Blueskyheaven

conflicting!

missamo80

From the program guide for CSR:

Nothing conflicting here. Pay with the card? You're covered. Pay with points? You aren't.

Neil

Blueskyheaven

I think you make sense and I see the same thing on the "benefit guide" booklet of CSR. But you have Chase's paid spokesperson like TPG saying points rental from CSP & CSR give you primary collision coverage when booking with points and MMS saying the same thing although they have no source!

Very confused!

mia

A blogger is not a paid spokesperson for a card issuer, no matter how much commission they earn from card applications. Chase's own marketing people are not an authoritative source of information about insurance benefits. The benefits are provided by an insurance company, not by Chase.

GUWonder

Another alternative is to buy an annual rental car insurance plan. That may cover rental cars paid with points.

Frequently I rent cars from portals outside of the US for even my US car rentals and then it's not uncommon for my rental car costs to drop and even include some types of insurance as part of the rate plan.

mia

Another possibility is that rentals paid with points through the Chase portal are actually paid with the Chase card, and the points are used to offset the card transaction. Does a charge/credit appear on the card?

philemer

Not as far as I remember. It's been awhile since I've booked a car with pts but I'll say "no" if you book 100% of the cost with pts.

I will not take a chance and only use a c.c. for my car rentals.

Activities are a good use of pts however. I'm going to book snorkel cruises & whale watching trips with mine. a 50% savings is pretty sweet. The balance will eventually be xferred to airlines & hotels.

Blueskyheaven

I asked chase twitter who asked me to call travel dept and was transferred to benefit dept. The benefit dept rep told me points rental from the CSR is also treated like paid with the card so therefore you are covered with primary collision! I suggested to the rep that the T&C or the benefit guide should include that specific language!

yugi

Not true. If you pay with points from CSR, you're covered.

pallhedge

IIRC, MMS's source was just a rep on the 800 line (disclosed in the comments of that blog post). TPG's source, I believe, was MMS. Though they may be right, I trust neither. Until I have more concrete proof, I pay for all my car rentals.

pallhedge

Last year, I booked a cheap flight using UR points through the portal. On the receipt, I could see that it was paid for using a Chase card, but not my Chase card.