American Express Rental Insurance Coverage.

[DawnCt1]

I always decline the insurance coverage offered by the car rental agencies. It typically runs $15 to $20 per day and provides coverage from your deductable on down to zero. It also covers "loss of use" which is when the vehicle is being repaired, you can be billed for the days that they can't rent it. A credit card, Visa, Amex, MC, etc with Gold benefits and up usually cover your deductable. It does not cover vehicles like a pick up truck or an SUV larger than a Ford Explorer however. Today Amex called and offered me rental car protection with my Delta Sky Miles Platinum Card. It covers the complete vehicle so that you never have to use your own insurance. It covers any type of vehicle except motorcycles, RV and limos. It also provides loss of use coverage. Now this coverage, many cards have dropped because the rental company has to prove that the loss of that particular vehicle was a hardship. They have to prove that 90% of their fleet of that car type was rented. However, if they do, you can be stuck for it. The cost of this additional coverage is $19.95 per rental agreement. That rental agreement can be up to 65 days long. The usual credit card coverage only goes to 30 days. You are only billed when you rent the car and charge it on the card with the coverage. You can drop it at any time. For $20 bucks, it sounds pretty worry free to me.

 

[DVC-Don]

I worked auto claims for State Farm for 7 years back in the late 80's & 90's. We used to get "loss of use" claims all the time from the rental companies. We'd send a letter requesting a log of all the vehicles assigned to that location listing the days they were rented out. The rental companies would ALWAYS drop the loss of use claim then.

 

[DawnCt1]

I worked auto claims for State Farm for 7 years back in the late 80's & 90's. We used to get "loss of use" claims all the time from the rental companies. We'd send a letter requesting a log of all the vehicles assigned to that location listing the days they were rented out. The rental companies would ALWAYS drop the loss of use claim then.

I agree that it would be a tough sell for a rental company to prove that 90% of their fleet is rented. For $19.95 however, this coverage doubles what you usually get for free from your credit card. It is useful especially for someone who takes a long term rental and exceeds the 30 days that you usually get from a credit card. It's also a plus that you don't have a claim with your own insurance company for property damage.

 

[seashoreCM]

It covers the complete vehicle so that you never have to use your own insurance.

Double check the fine print to see if "covers the complete vehicle" means "has an unlimited maximum dollar amount of coverage" versus "is primary".

If the fine print says that this coverage "is secondary" then if you have collision insurance on your own car, your own insurance pays first and the credit card coverage pays what is left which could still be just the loss of use charges and your deductible. If the credit card coverage "is secondary" and you do not carry collision and comp. on your own car, then the credit card coverage pays everything up to its $25,000. or so limit.

Car rental hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/carrent.htm

 

[DawnCt1]

Double check the fine print to see if "covers the complete vehicle" means "has an unlimited maximum dollar amount of coverage" versus "is primary".

If the fine print says that this coverage "is secondary" then if you have collision insurance on your own car, your own insurance pays first and the credit card coverage pays what is left which could still be just the loss of use charges and your deductible. If the credit card coverage "is secondary" and you do not carry collision and comp. on your own car, then the credit card coverage pays everything up to its $25,000. or so limit.

Car rental hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/carrent.htm

I don't have the printed material yet but the Amex Representative clearly stated that it would be a primary insurance. Even if it becomes secondary, and loss of use is hard for rental agencies to collect on, knowing that it is covered is probably still worth $20, as is theft of the vehicle or personal belongings.