Rental Car Coverage - Different Cards?
 

Is there any difference between rental car coverage offered by:?

American Express Gold Business Card
Starwood American Express
Visa Signature
World Master Card

good question

I'm sure there are subtle variations, but I'm not sure anybody here can give a comprehensive description of them.

One obscure difference I know: World MCs give your CDW coverage in Israel, while Visa and Amex exclude Israel from coverage altogether.

You might want to browse through their policies online. One major difference I see is that the Mastercard covers you prety much eveywhere.. while

Amex does not cover you in australia, newzealand etc.

I'd be curious to know who actually have had to use the insurance on their card, and how well did the CC actually do with living up to what they offer.

I know my parents were in Reno when someone did a hit and run in a parking lot and damaged their vehicle.

The MBNA card that they paid for the rental at first refused to pay the $250 deductable as my parents first went thru their car insurance company. MBNA said that it wasn't the card that was used to make the initial reservation, which we know is folly because most car rental companies don't require a CC with a reservation...

This was after they had used this card almost exclusively for the past 15 years had a 20K credit line and was a very good customer...

After a couple letters and several phone calls MBNA finally coughed up what was due.... but it so irritated my parents that they put that card away and will never use it again... they don't want to cancel because of the length of the credit history...

IMHO, Amex is likely to provide better service and coverage than either Visa or MC.

Many years ago I was involved in a situation where a rental car was totaled. It had been rented on Amex, but for reasons I will avoid, was arguably not covered by the Amex rental policy.

Nonetheless, Amex paid up without a whimper for well over ten grand.

Amex may not have good customer service, but, it beats the hell out of Visa and MC!

A friend's rental car was damaged while parked in California a couple years ago. He had rented it with his SPG Amex, and had no problem getting them to cover the damage. He said he was actually surprised how easy it was.

If you use AMX look into gettingtheir additional coverage. It automatcally charges you $15 or $25 dollars everytime you rent a car. BUT it means you can waive the rental car coverage and it becomes primary with additional coverage. A very good deal.

Is there a way to buy it on a one-time basis?

For example, I'd never pay $15-25 for a short rental in the United States - I'm already paying for coverage through my regular policy. But my regular policy gets sketchy in a lot of different countries - for example, I know I'm totally covered in Canada and the UK, but not in Belguim. If I need a Belgian rental, I'd either need to buy from the rental agency, buy a supplemental policy from my own insurance company, or maybe buy this Amex deal. The simplicity of the Amex deal might work in its favor - even if my insurance company would probably price it a few bucks lower.

Sure. Sign up for their product just before you need it and cancel it just after the rental you need it for. Otherwise, they charge you for every rental.

I have made two claims in about 15 years with AmEx. Both were "primary" since the rentals were overseas. AmEx is secondary in the US but primary overseas. Both times they were prompt and efficient in settling it.

A third time was harder. I used a "free day" coupon for part of the rental. Since I did not "pay for the entire rental" with the card (i.e. the free day was not charged on the card...of course!), they would not cover it. There was literally a 1/2" bubble/scratch on a front wheelwell when I returned the car (most likely was there when I rented and though I check a car pretty carefully when I pick it up, a 1/2" scratch is hard to notice). Avis wanted to charge me $450 to repair it. AmEx's CDW insurance would not cover it. But I filed a frivolous charge complaint with AmEx regarding the charge and that department reversed it. I think Avis never got paid for it. Fortunately I had a camera with me on that trip and took a picture of the damage they were claiming. You really could hardly see it. I was not impressed with AmEx on this one and have since switched to Diners Club for CDW coverage. I have never had to use them yet though.

I have this on ONE amex card only,
and just use a different card when I dont want this coverage

I've had the experience twice. Both times in Europe (I'm an American) so CC coverage was primary.

The first time, I used a VISA card and rented from Europcar in Austria or Germany. I filed the report and VISA took care of the entire thing. I didn't pay a penny and didn't have to follow anything up.

The second time, I used an Amex card and rented from Avis in Switzerland. On this one, the start of the process was similar, except there were a number of charges that Amex said they didn't cover, such as loss-of-use, and maybe a couple of other things. At Avis' rates, these items came to about $500. Avis sent me a couple of notices saying I owed the money, but I never got around to paying them and I haven't heard from them for some years now.

I don't know if those comparative examples really say whether VISA or Amex is better, though. The difference could be entirely between Europcar and Avis, or simply between the two situations.

I have not tried to rent a car from Avis in Switzerland since the event listed above, but I wonder if I could expect an unpleasant reception if I did. I have been back to Switzerland recently, though, so I assume they at least did not put me on some kind of eternal Interpol list or something.

AMEX MC have same exclusions in countries not covered
 

MC definitely NOT cover Australia and New Zealand, even in the platinum version. I haven't checked the details of the World version yet.

I know because we are going there in March and I have checked all 3 cards coverages in some details.

Visa - mine are United Signature, and Schwab Visa (not a signature) - covers Australia and New Zealand, as SECONDARY. That is, Visa would cover the "excess" - equivalent to the deductible we are familiar here in U.S. You also need to jump thru some hoops to invoke this coverage.

The rental car insurance in Australia and NZ is an entirely different subj and a very complicated one that I dont feel it is adequate to discuss on this thread.

Otherwise, outside US the coverage is primary. Domestically if you dont have car insurance or your car insurance is liability only (no comprehensive coverage), the coverage also becomes primary.

Visa has a slightly better coverage in terms of what are being covered, and in the procedures required to file claims. For example, Visa covers Admin fee, if approved. MC excludes Admin fee altogether. The Loss of Usage charge while it said is covered on MC, it is near impossible to get it approved, eventhough the rental car is willing to provide the "fleet log" to sustain it.

We used MC coverage in Sept 2005 for a hailstorm damage to our Thrifty rental car at Yellowstone National Park. MC paid the Repair estimates, but shot down the Loss of Usage, claiming the proof provided by Thrifty was not sufficient. The Admin fee was not covered. (The Thrifty location at Jacksonville is a franchisee, and its insurance matters are handled by a 3rd party company located in Las Vegas!) We ended up paying the Loss of Usage and the Admin fee, totalling $320 after bargaining it down from $450. MC paid $2282 for the repair estimate. We chose to pay the insurance agent of Thrifty because they said they can file a claim against us, and potentially turn this to collection. For $320, it is not worth the hassle of fighting this and risk having a blackmark on the credit report. Besides, from what we saw at JAC, the rental car companies enjoyed very brisk business - if you dont have reservation, you basically out of luck trying to rent as a walk-in. Therefore we felt the Loss of Usage was a legit claim.

Here's one for the local papers fer ya! AND I totally love Enterprise Rentals now!! (I used my NWA Visa to pay for the car rental and they swipe it for a $300 deposit. I declined the insurance thinking this Visa will cover anything the $21/day would waive. I sure hope I'm right, but when you read below, I think nothing could be as bad as what I just went thru:


This AM, my brakes TOTALLY DIED on the commute into Boston on Rte 1. (I sometimes drive in and park near work)

We were all only going about 40mph at the time, but as I uncontrolably sped closer toward the rear of the new BMW sedan in front of me, barreling forward in my 210,000+ mile old, waning Subaru outback tank of a wagon, I suddenly downshifted with vigor and thrust, that caused a ruckus and made a god aweful smell of strained clutch lines and the like. Some quick thinking and maybe a wink from on high above is probably what saved us all from a peril sure to totally stink.

BUt as it all unfolded, I had to YANK back on my parking break, whilst pumping the useless brake pedal with both feet, and I sharply pointed the vehicle toward the center median, ready to be the 5 O'clock new's latest Rte 1rush hour statistic and reason #109089078 for yet another Friday night traffic jam. (A holiday weekend, nonetheless!)

Luckily, though, the Bmer moved a bit forward (he must know what my horn was for) and I was able to get the car to stop before even looking like anything out of the ordinary other than the tooting that people could have thought was just me being some rude MASS driver :D. The next 25 mins of driving were probably the most technical and hair raising of my entire life, and I thought of the idea of bringing my car to an Enterprise dealer in Boston--which happens to be kinda on the way. In doing this remaining driving, I gave a TON of room to the car in front of me! I had been already halfway into the city when this took place to my surprise, and I had many important things to make it into the new job for, and also knew there were no real options for the car at this point other than to continue forward on the slow moving crowded road. In a way, I probably ended up being like the most careful driver out there today, but wow, what a cost to nearly pay!

I did luck out though, because ENTERPRISE rocks, and I will now be heading up to go skiing in the 4 feet of fresh, unprecidented POWDER that northern Vermont just got in a "PT Cruiser" (a pretty cool mobster car, btw!) with great snowtires, and it only costs me $25 a nite unlimited miles!!

Now, as I type this, I am still at work in the city, ready to go north, as my car sits in the rental car lot in Chelsey, MA where AAA can come get it from there to my mechanic over the weekend. Enterprise said they have no problem with this at all and hey, the blonde girl who checked me in was kinda cute even! :D:D:D

Feewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

This is all because I REALLY REALLY REALLY NEED ALL THAT FRESH SNOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

Enterprise saved me.
:)MM

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.

Check into other sources being your primary coverage. For as often as I rent a car, AmEx's additional coverage at this price is too steep for me, thank you. Diners Club costs under $100/year and they are primary coverage.

I guess I have a different viewpoint. My personal auto insurance will have a cliam against it if I use it for a rental car and have to put in a claim. No thanks. I really don't want a claim or premium increase. By using the AMX additional coverage, I do not have to have any hassles with claims against my personal policy. It is a full coverage, primary insurance that does not affect my personal auto policy. You need to check your personal auto insurance policy for coverage. It is often subject to the same deductables as your own car and you will still be resonsible for costs.

Because:

1) there usually is a deductible on your own auto policy even if it is comprehensive.

2) your own auto policy premium will go UP and stay at a high level for the next 3 to 5 years.

I honestly think No.2 is the main reason why many who have small rental car claims that are, say, just above the deductible of their auto policy, end up not file for anything. Remember, the CC would require you to send in the DECLARATION PAGE of your auto insurance before they process your claim - whether the CC is secondary or primary (when you dont have auto poliicy or only the liability policy).

As I said in my post, DC is also primary coverage so no hassles or dings that affect my personal auto policy. So I don't see the diference between your AmEx "pay per rental" coverage and my DC coverage included in my annual fee. Please enlighten me.

None provide liability insurance, AFAIK, so beware.

My American Express has no annual fee. I can get extended coverage and pay for it only as needed and at a higher coverage for more types of vehicles. I can enlighten you but you seem happy paying for your Diners Club.

Everyone has personal preferences.

My AMX gives me :
Coverage is activated when you use your enrolled Card to reserve and pay for the Rental Auto.
• Coverage is for you and your Passengers.
• Up to $100,000 for theft of or damage to the rental car.
• Up to $100,000 for Accidental Death or Dismemberment (up to $10,000 for a Passenger). For California Residents, up to $250,000 for Accidental Death or Dismemberment for the Cardmember and each Passenger.
• Up to $15,000 per person for medical expenses.
• Up to $5,000 per person for theft of personal property.

It covers SUV's, pickups, exoctic cars etc

If you file the claim with your personal insurance company the deductible would still be covered by the secondary insurance that is automatically included with the credit card. You do not need to pay extra to receive this benefit.

If the incident involves damage to other property or people your own insurance will still be involved because there is no liability coverage provided by the credit card plans. In my experience a claim does not result in higher premiums, but of course this will depend on responsibility for the damage, your driving record, claims history, and time with the insurer.

I must confess that I have never understood this argument. If your personal auto is stolen or damaged, you will have to submit a claim to your insurer, and your premium may go up. Do you really think that you are more likely to have a rental car stolen or damaged than your personal auto? And even if the answer is yes, is the likelihood so much greater as to make it worth paying the relatively high cost for primary car-rental coverage? Remember that the credit-card insurance will not cover you for damage you cause to other cars or property, and even the supplemental credit-card insurance provides only limited coverage for physical injury you cause to others. You would still have to rely on your personal auto insurance coverage in those situations.

Think of it this way: You only have one policy for your personal auto. If you have to make a claim for something involving your personal auto, your premium may go up. But you haven't purchased a second policy for your personal auto, so that you can avoid making a claim on your first policy. But that is exactly what you are doing when you purchase supplemental car-rental insurance.

What does this Enterprise story have to do with credit card insurance?

well, for one, I felt totally confident I would have no problems with the insurance issue when renting from these guys. I was also really excited, sorry. Turns out I was right though! I returned the car, they waived all kinds of normally charged fees and the Enterprise lady told me not to ever get the insurance anyway and always just rely on your own CC.

how's that?
And aintcha glad SOMEONE didnt get screwed when renting a car?
Cool!
:)MM