Not sure what Enterprise rental had to do with the brake incident of your own car but that is OK.

My gripe with Enterprise (though they are not the only ones) is their often severe pressure tactics to accept their CDW. If you have MN personal liability insurance (yes, liability), that insurance company is legally responsible to also cover CDW for rentals. Such is the law here, which I didn't know until 2 years ago when I rented at a local Enterprise office. They asked me if I wanted CDW for the weekend (cost was more per day than the base rental price). I said no. They asked if I knew that the previous 5 customers who said AmEx covered them resulted in AmEx not paying. I said that didn't matter. They said I would need to deal with AmEx and all the paperwork if I had a claim. I said I know, I have done that before. Then they finally showed me the rental contract and asked me to initial the bottom, where in bold letters it stated that if you have MN personal auto liability insurance you are covered for CDW and might not need it from Enterprise.

If that is not almost fraud, I dont' know what is. Well, of course AmEx didn't pay the last five claims - the renters' personal auto insurance companies did.

I am adament about people READING the rental contracts before they start initialing and signing all over the place. I know SO many people who initial "accept" for CDW and other stuff even though they tell the rental agent they want to decline it. But if they don't read what they sign, it is as much their own fault as the unscrupulous rental agent's fault.

PS my comments were made before Marathon Man edited his post to add more details.

IMHO, many rental contracts and other consumer contracts (credit card 'agreements') are very carefully laid out and printed to make it almost impossible to figure out what is going on. Where do they get that filmy tissue paper these things are printed on? :td:

As your post notes (before the quoted sction just above) many of these guys a fraud artists. As the old saying goes: you will never beat a man at his own game. That's why we have laws and Courts.

my experience is that one must scan the contract for anything that pops out but basically, Visa and or my own insurance would cover everything. I just wondered if anyone had any probs.
My good thoughts on ENT were that in the wake of my problem, the service was outstanding.

I edited some of what took place... I had stopped at a different location of their car rentals in my area on the highway... that office had nothing avaiable but the manager eagerly helped me out by (A) taking the time to hear my plight, (B) showing me exactly how to get to the other office (about 1 mile or so away but on some backroads and off the path in the city (Enterprise has a local and highway location here) and (C) she called ahead to the person who helped me out, who was then standing by with a smile to give me quick access to the vehicle. It was this that makes me happy--and they totally understood but did not take negative advantage of my situation!

AAA will help by towing my defunct car later but now I can go skiing knowing I am taken care of. I think my own insurance should be ok on this car, as well as my use of the NW VISA.

:)MM
have a great weekend!

http://www.stowe.com
they got like 4 feet in one storm!!! in the EAST! WOO HOO!
(that's where I'm going, and why all the excitement!)

Thanks for the further explanation.

I wish we had some of your snow. Just freezing cold weather here the past couple of weeks (-30F some nights) but so little snow we can see the ground. Very unusual for central MN this time of year.

Would these cards cover CDW if you use priceline or hotwire and paid all the charges with these cards?:confused:

When your car broke down, why didn't you just let Enterprise pick you up? :)

Diner's Club is the BEST!
 

I've had a few instances where someone else has damaged my rental car and by using my Diner's Club Card (I don't have my own auto insurance policy because I'm on my work's auto insurance with my company car), they took care of everything and made it very easy. That's the main reason I keep my Diner's Club card is for car rental, primary insurance in the US.

There were two occasions where I had rental car damage and AmEx, which was primary (I don't own a car and hence have no insurance) refused to cover loss of use, administrative fees, and, in one case, a towing fee (although they said they would pay the towing fee if Avis submitted proof, which it did not). IIRC, in the second case, the uncovered charges amounted to over $500. I lawyered this myself, and never paid it, but, following some advice on another Internet board, switched to using MC for car rentals; I had called my card issuer and confirmed with them that loss of use WAS covered. This thread is leading me to conclude I had better have another call.

AMEX is primary on our Corporate cards. They have paid many times.

Once when they didn't was because they did not cover the monthly rental from Enterprise. They only cover rentals of a week or less.

You might want to double check this. I am pretty sure AmEx covers rentals up to 15 days (or at least 2 weeks). But I use DC now for my rentals so I don't keep up with the rules for CDW with AmEx.

To be 100% sure I would call your credit card company, but I would think so. But confirm it to be sure. I seem to find deals apart from PL and Hotwire that are the same price or less so I have never used them for cars. Hotels...that is a different story. I used them a lot for hotels.

What do you mean "I lawyered this myself"...

MC officially covers the Loss of Usage - but when it comes to getting it approved - it is near impossible to get it approved. First, it requires the rental car company submit a "Fleet Log" to show the utilization of the fleet. Second, it has to be satisfied by the data on the Fleet Log for approving the claim. In our case the MC adjuster said the data was not sufficient, but did nto explain "why". The adjuster from the insurance agency used by this Thrifty franchisee claimed the usage at the location (JAC) was 93% and usually 85% was sufficient in most cases. She claimed the MC adjuster either did not understand how to read the Fleet Log, or simply unwilling to approve payment. She said she hadn't seen MC approving one single Loss of Usage payment, but Visa did approve some. Though according to her, all her dealings with CCs are all being the secondary coverage. Ours was the first case she handled that CC coverage was primary.

BTW, when you have a claim, it is much better that you being proactive, and call the rental car company to inform them the MC claim number so they would be able to contact MC and start the ball rolling. We sent in the paperworks first week of November though the claim was filed immediately after incident in early Sept. The delay was due to 2 things - MC requires you to send in CC statement showing the charge, AND the credit line of your card (dont know why that is relevant), shortly after the statement arrived, our town was hit by Hurricane Wilma and the tri-county area of South Florida lost power supply for a few weeks. Anyway, MC did not ever contact Thrifty. I received a phone call from the Thrifty incurance agent around 7pm our time on a Friday evening right before the New Year Eve! Can you imagine my shock when the woman said she couldn't reach us for a week,(we just returned from a 10day X'mas cruise) and was about ready to turn our case to collection agency, because MC also never returned her call?!

My understanding is that CDW is mandatory in New Zealand under their no-fault system, which is why there's no CDW credit card coverage.

Your understanding is mistaken. CDW is not mandatory in NZ.

You can waive the car rental company's coverage, at least for domestic rentals, without paying American Express if you have personal auto insurance. I do not understand the obsession with avoiding use of the coverage for which you have already paid.