Car rental insurance

Annie H.

Egalatarian
Current on Saverocity Blog by Matt there's an post -"
Will the Chase Sapphire Preferred really cover your car rental?"
https://saverocity.com/travel/will-the-chase-sapphire-preferred-really-cover-your-car-rental/

I don't have a CSP but I'm trying to figure out what to do for an upcoming rental in Hawaii. We're kind of always cheaped out before and relied on our own auto insurance as primary and the best CC we have for secondary, do lots of searchs and usually use Enterprise or the cheapest I can get via USAA, AAA or AARP. We've had bad experience w/Hertz. Now, we're getting older and just want piece of mind. Not sure yet what agency we'll use but here are the facts:

1. Our USAA policy transfers directly to our auto rental and will cover everything EXCEPT deductible and "loss of use" --that's where they can really ding you if the car is totalled or they claim it took 3 weeks to repair, etc. plus paperwork costs and of course an accident claim would affect our insurance rates

2)If we use USAA CC for rental it will cover loss of use, deductible and towing--

3)Only CC I have that has is primary coverage is UA Mileage Plus but it's a business card and I haven't called or read T&C to see if it covers a business trip-- anyone know? AFAIK In Bold only covers business.

4) Am I correct that the purchased American Express protection covers EVERYTHING - CDW, etc. except liability?-- only $17.95 in CA.

I never worried about this stuff when I was younger and couldn't afford more, I just declined everything on the rental car contract and depended on personal policy which I've never used.

What's the best combination?
 

InstinctX

Level 2 Member
IIRC, UA Mileage Plus is better because it offers primary coverage.

For AmEx: you don't have to pay extra for the coverage AS LONG AS you have them switch out the CC when you return the rental. They will just place a pending auth at time of pickup. When you return the rental, pay with another CC to avoid being billed their flat fee for "Premium Car Rental Protection (it's $24.95 for my cards)

I primarily use AmEx for my rentals... then pay for the final charges with BA+ or another CC.
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
I started calling around this morning, spoke with Amex about the coverage on the Biz Gold. It is attached. Note that there are quite a few things that aren't covered, ranging from a flat tire (that I got) to... the OTHER CAR.

The secret to all this is to figure out how to gel together the insurance that is provided with a card to your primary insurance and find the best solutions, frankly, based on 3 different answers from Chase today, I do not feel confident in the answer.

Attached is the bennies for Biz Gold. This is different from the coverage you get from paying Amex.
 

Attachments

Annie H.

Egalatarian
IIRC, UA Mileage Plus is better because it offers primary coverage.

For AmEx: you don't have to pay extra for the coverage AS LONG AS you have them switch out the CC when you return the rental. They will just place a pending auth at time of pickup. When you return the rental, pay with another CC to avoid being billed.

I primarily use AmEx for my rentals... then pay for the final charges with BA+ or another CC.
Thanks-- yes UA is better because it offers primary but I'm not sure if my Business Card covers a personal trip.
I do know about the trick it for AmEx-- I feel the same way about this trick as I did the first time I heard about applying for multiple 100K AA Exec cards-- not for me! It took me about 3 weeks to change my mind and apply for my second card and cancel it to avoid the fee;)

So-- when you do AmEx you rely on personal policy for liability?
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
IIRC, UA Mileage Plus is better because it offers primary coverage.

For AmEx: you don't have to pay extra for the coverage AS LONG AS you have them switch out the CC when you return the rental. They will just place a pending auth at time of pickup. When you return the rental, pay with another CC to avoid being billed their flat fee for "Premium Car Rental Protection (it's $24.95 for my cards)

I primarily use AmEx for my rentals... then pay for the final charges with BA+ or another CC.
As I am in the middle of a claim right now I'd like to point out that all 'common thinking' is out of the window. CSP is also Primary, but 1 CSR said I get no coverage in NY, another says I get coverage but if I had a secondary card (like Freedom) it would have no secondary, and a third said its all good...
 

Annie H.

Egalatarian
The secret to all this is to figure out how to gel together the insurance that is provided with a card to your primary insurance and find the best solutions, frankly, based on 3 different answers from Chase today, I do not feel confident in the answer.
Thanks, yes, I figured he secret question is-- figuring how to cobble it together- I want to see how others have figured it out or if they have. Maybe there's nothing out there because no one has figured it out precisely enough except the card pimps say CSP.
The one thing that jumped out at me on the Biz Gold T&C is no coverage for uninsured motorists! I guess it's good to offload as much as possible from one's personal policy (slightly OT but one of the worst ins. experiences I ever was when I had AAA auto coverage, was hit by an uninsured motorist and had to negotiate with them-- they didn't treat me as a customer but the same way they treat any victim-- badly!)
 

Annie H.

Egalatarian
As I am in the middle of a claim right now
I was just about to do this post when I saw your blog post with all the variables. I thought I was the only one that got a different answer from each CSR I speak with with regard to everything.

Can you answer this question-- I know you mentioned something about coverage specific to NY. Do you think I have to dig deep on every strategy I have and see if there's anything that is state specific? I'm really curious why AmEx charges $7.00 less for CA residents, must be some weird ins. law and we do tend to have tougher regs.
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
I was just about to do this post when I saw your blog post with all the variables. I thought I was the only one that got a different answer from each CSR I speak with with regard to everything.

Can you answer this question-- I know you mentioned something about coverage specific to NY. Do you think I have to dig deep on every strategy I have and see if there's anything that is state specific? I'm really curious why AmEx charges $7.00 less for CA residents, must be some weird ins. law and we do tend to have tougher regs.
While I don't feel too confident, they never mentioned CA or Hawaii with regard to potentially affected states. As such, I would feel more confident in your situation to go with a card, ideally a primary like the CSP.
 
Top