jmorgans

Many people rave about DC because of the primary rental car coverage. But for those of us who already have personal auto insurance that covers rentals, what's the benefit?

fuzz

Perhaps it's because if you have a claim, you do not have to file it with oyur own insurance company, thereby affecting you own rates?

TRRed

I haven't had to use it yet (knocking on wood), but based on my understanding: (a) you likely have a deductable on your personal auto insurance; (b) (again, my understanding) any claim filed with your personal auto insurance can affect future rates or insurability, even if you are not at fault (though I expect incidents which are your fault will cost more in premiums in the future); and (c) with your personal insurance you might have to pay the claim and then get reimbursed.

jmorgans

All true, but I risk all of these things whenever I get behind the wheel of my own car. Why is the risk any greater with a rental? Is the idea that an accident is more likely to occur if you are driving an unfamiliar vehicle?

MIKESILV

Even more importantly than the above, if there is damage to the rental car car in two cases involving Visa which I am familiar with:
a) charge in the amount the repairs was put on the credit card and after some haggling it was revsered.
or b) the renter had the pay the rental company for the repairs out of pocket and waited 2/3 months for a check to cover the costs.

In the case of Diners all you have to do is report the accident/damage within 72 hours??? fill in a report form and include a copy of the police report if one exists and that generally is it.
Most rental car companies which even overseas are satisfied to have you leave after just filing a damage report to Diners

mike

Dovster

What if I have no other insurance? Wouldn't the insurance provided by my CC automatically become the primary one?

sllevin

I look at the Diner's two ways:

1) As compared to my personal insurance, I might scuff the bumper up on my car, but opt not to fix it. With a rental, it's a claim on my insurance. Two claims (at least in California) and you cease to be a "good driver" and might as well park your car unless you enjoy paying 5-6 thousand a year for coverage.

2) Diner's covers all countries. Amex does not --specifically Ireland which is useful to me. And my personal auto insurance is not valid outside the US.

Steve

Mary2e

In addition to everything mentioned above, for me, it's peace of mind.

I don't have to worry about checking the car when I get it, someone scratching it in a parking lot, etc. If there's something wrong, Diner's will take care of it. BTW - if there is something obviously wrong I will report to the car rental company.

I consider the $95 annual fee for the card well worth it for this primary insurance alone.

Mary

wahooflyer

That sounds more like a rogue rental agency than a problem with Visa per se. The rental company could just as easily charged the consumer's Diners Club card for such damages instead.

The only rental car claim I've ever had to deal with was back in February, before I had a Diners Club card. A tiny pebble hit the windshield of my Thrifty rental vehicle in Phoenix; I was charged around $300 plus one day's loss of use for a replacement windshield. Called 1-800-VISA-911 the next day and they took care of everything except the $25 administrative fee assessed by the Thrifty franchisee. Thrifty did offer me the option of a "quick settle" whereby the damages would be charged to my Visa card, but they did not do so automatically.

It ended up taking about five business days for Thrifty to receive their check from Mercury International, Visa's insurer.

Keep in mind that *all* Visa credit cards (though not debit cards) now include secondary car rental insurance. Used to be only the Platinum and Signature cards did.

And yes, credit card collision insurance is primary when you don't have your own car insurance.

jazzman

Revenue.

Car rental agencies make a bundle on primary rental insurance. Many rental agencies are "self insured" (unless their lease doesn't allow it), and at least have their own regular insurance (if required by their leases), which is an ordinary cost of doing business.

So having you pay them extra is just extra revenue for them ... and a lot of extra revenue.

In the extraordinary confluence of events that you are a licensed driver, don't have insurance, and are not using a credit card that has secondary insurance (even the cheapo Capital One cards do these days), you should buy the car rental's primary insurance.

Otherwise I don't see the point, other than lining the car rental agencies pockets.

craz

Dovster, I assume you have a US issued CC. If you dont own a car then YES your CC will be primary. For those who reside in NY(not sure which other states) even if they use DC its ONLY secondary as per NY law, and thusly you must report it.(Then again if the DC holder puts the car into someone elses name then he doesnt own a car and DC is primary.0
also DC pays for eveything not all CCs do, eg loss income for the time the car is being repaired and cant be rented out. I usually use DC and then if no claim needs to be filed will switch CCs when the car is returned. Dovster, funny I was ONLY unsuccessful 1 time where the Rental comp wouldnt let me switch, stupid reasoning was well if you had a claim they would have paid it so its not right to switch it. Guess who, ELDAN at BG. Never had a prob with any other company any where including in Israel. The episode with Eldan was a few weeks ago.
I prefer to put as much as I can on my SPG Amex. Why pay $95 for DC ? I dont I have a friend who uses the DC and he pays it.

Tino

Another example:

I had the unfortunate occasion to be at a Budget location (MCI) that was having a employee contest to see who could ring up the most incremental revenue. For a barely noticeable nick on the bumper of a 30,000 mile car which was less than the size of a fingernail, I was charged $500 for bumper replacement/repainting.

After letting the employee and manager have a lungful, I called Diners Club, filed the paperwork on the fraudulent "damage", and since it was only $500, they decided to pay it rather than contest it. My trouble was about 10 minutes to fill out the paperwork.

That just paid for 5 years of annual fees, because it would have fallen below my personal insurance deductible and Budget would have gone after me.

However, if you DO NOT have your own car/insurance, Diners provides primary comprehensive coverage, NOT liability. If you cause damage to someone else's property, that is your responsibility unless you purchase liability coverage from the rental car agency. I actually looked into getting a blanket policy from an insurance company when I did not own a car, and it was prohibitively expensive. Pay the $10/day - it's still cheaper than an annual policy.

I now carry a copy of the Diners insurance policy in my briefcase, and in the several times when I have been challenged after declining all coverage, I whip it out and tell them to have a look.

One other insurance note: I was denied a rental car from a smaller rental agency (Payless in Tampa, FL) that would accept Diners for payment, but steadfastly refused to accept DC for insurance (they wanted another $30/day from everyone). A DC rep argued with them on the phone, but they wouldn't budge. Avoid Payless.

Dovster

I have Amex (which is registered at my US address) and a German Visa (registered at my Israeli address).

The Visa offers personal liability insurance but no LDW. The AMEX offers LDW but no personal liablity insurance.

I have been using the Visa and paying for LDW because I am afraid that AMEX will reject my claims on the grounds that I have an Israeli driver's license, not an American one -- and thus am not covered by them. I may be worrying about nothing, but when I wrote to AMEX asking I received a reply which was so vague as to be meaningless.

I am not at all surprised by Eldan's refusal. Changing your credit card would have meant about 30 seconds extra work -- and Israeli corporate bureaucrats can be as studious in avoiding that as their governmental brothers.

Safetyguy

Correct me if I am wrong but if you read the really tiny print -- the primary rental coverage DOES NOT apply for residents of the State of New York.

NY residents who apply for DC do not find this tidbit out (it used to not be on the website) until they receive their card (with the paper withthe small print)

jmorgans

I thought it was for cars rented in New York, not necessarily residents of New York.