enviroian

Later this month my mom, sister, dad and myself have rented a home on the beach in clearwater beach for my 50th.

I put my National free days to use and rented a premium SUV for free. When I check in I'll have to remove my company's insurance/contract info as the car is obviously for personal use. Should I check with my Citi Executive card to see if one of the benefits is rental car coverage? If not will my regular policy back in TX cover this? I also want to add my sister and dad to eligible drivers.

thanks

Efrem

Should you check your credit card? Of course. You'll get one of two possible answers, and you already know what those are. What's the downside? You'll presumably have to use the CC to pay for the rental, though. The base rental is free but there might be add-ons you can charge to it and those might qualify the rental for coverage. See below.

Will your regular policy cover that? I don't think anyone here has enough mind-reading powers to answer that one. You'll have to read the policy or ask your agent, whichever you prefer.

You'll probably have to pay for the additional drivers. Some companies (Hertz comes to mind) allow spouses at no charge, but I don't know of one that goes further than that. The good news here is that you can use a credit card for those, turning what would otherwise be a free car (no CC coverage, since you won't use it) into something that your credit card might cover. Again, check with them. Cards vary.

SirFlysALot

I had experience with this a few months ago. AMEX is secondary. They will pay my deductible after my insurance pays. Now I know.

But my United Explorer can is primary. Check into it. I now use it exclusively for car rentals.

KE81

My understanding is as follows:

Most if not all credit cards only cover the car itself, so they don't provide third-party liability insurance. Rental car companies in most states are required to provide the bare minimum of third-party liability, but not in California.

Typically, your personal auto insurance (which of course includes third-party liability insurance) will extend to the rental car.

The credit card insurance is good for stacking on top of your personal auto insurance for the car itself -- but, as SirFlysALot noted, some credit cards only offer secondary insurance rather than primary insurance. I try to book my rental cars using my Chase Sapphire Reserve because that card offers primary insurance, so no need to go through my personal auto insurance if anything happens to the car.

NCLSEA123

Your use of National free days may be a problem. Most credit card coverage is void if you use a free days (including Saphire Reserve). If it's a trip of 2 days or less, buy the CDW, otherwise if you have an AMEX, the premium coverage for $24.95 will work with the free days.

cestmoi123

This is the exact opposite of what Chase Customer Service told me when I checked with them. They said that, so long as I'm using either Ultimate Rewards points or free days provided by the car rental company, then the Sapphire Reserve coverage is valid. It's not valid if I were to, for example, pay for a portion of the rental with Amex Membership Rewards points.

dwbf11

This was also my understanding - so long as some portion (even taxes) are paid with the CSR, coverage is in effect.

cestmoi123

My understanding sums up as "so long all forms of outside compensation the rental company is getting is coming from Chase (i.e. on the CSR or UR points)," the CSR protection is valid.

enviroian

I looked into the Citi Executive coverage and it is secondary coverage. I will apply my Geico policy when I rent it and will have this as back up.

Thanks for the info!

"Feel more relaxed behind the wheel. If you experience an accident or theft involving a rental car you paid for with your Citi card and/or AAdvantage® miles, we may cover you up to $75,000 toward the cost of repairs or the cash value of the car, whichever is less. Be sure to decline the rental company’s collision loss/damage insurance for this coverage to be in effect"

Some Important Details

• You must have paid for the rental car with your Citi card and/or AAdvantage® miles. If the rental car company applied a discount or promotion of any kind, any remaining portion of the rental cost must be paid for with your Citi card and/or AAdvantage® miles.
• In the United States, the coverage provided by this benefit is secondary, which means we’ll only cover the amount that’s not covered by any of your other insurance policies.
• Outside the United States, the coverage provided by this benefit is primary, even if you have another insurance policy.