Rental Car Insurance through Credit Card

The reason I won't use Amex "Premium Rental Car Insurance" again is that they screwed me out of a claim the last time I used them. Thought I was covered, had damage to the car, filed a claim, gave everything they asked of me...and because the car company ignored them (a Croatian rental car company), "Amex Assurance" (the Amex insurance company) just sat on the claim. I had to pay about $630 USD out of pocket for the damages.

You could say it was the fault of both the car company and of Amex Assurance. But, clearly, Amex Assurance took the absolute minimum effort to contact them - snail mailed them a formal request it seems and that's it. No email or phone call (I eventually emailed the car company months later and was told they had already sold off the repaired car and no longer had records - but obviously the company responses to email). Amex Assurance sent them some paper form that no doubt was easy to ignore.

Other people report that Amex Assurance has handled the claims properly and paid them in due time. I got tired of calling them over and over and over again and being "handled" - it was extremely frustrating. I had assumed Amex would stand behind their customers and not make excuses. True, they are probably used to dealing with big international car companies like Hertz not a Croatian car company (not a tiny company though - they have branches all over Croatia).

My one piece of advice if you use Amex for the insurance: if you have damages, don't take responsibility for them when you return the car. Don't sign anything stating that you are responsible for the costs! That's what I did, and that was my big mistake. Deny responsibility (which seems kind of unethical, which is why I signed) and let the car company hold or charge the deposit on your Amex card instead. Then you can dispute that charge with Amex. They'll open an investigation and the car company will be required to produce invoices and evidence of the damages - ALL THE INFO I NEEDED FOR A CLAIM. But in my case, once I signed the statement of responsibility, the car company lost all incentive to cooperate. (Amex Assurance even charges them a small processing fee - why wouldn't they?) And Amex Assurance obviously makes more money if they don't have to pay a claim, so they have no incentive to work hard to get the car company to respond, either, right? I signed the statement of responsibility only because I called Amex Assurance before turning the car in, and that's what they told me to do. Big mistake!

Read the fine print. Make sure coverage includes Ireland. Last time I looked (last year) it did not.

Andrew just described the classic problem - third party insurance -- when dealing with an accident claim. You are primarily responsible and no one has any incentive to cooperate. It would not make any difference it is a routine credit card company or the special insurance from someone like Am Express. You are responsible because you agreed to that when you signed the paper work to rent the car in the first place. Whether you sign again accepting responsibility or not, it in unimportant. They got you with the first contract. The Am Express insurance is not free. And "free" insurance from other credit card companies is worth what you paid for it - nothing.

Use the search function here -- some real horrid stories posted in the past when the credit card insurance company would not step up for technical reasons. And couple of postings where cc worked.

Wow, sorry to hear about that. That sort of situation is such a nightmare! Thanks for all this great advice. I am renting from Hertz, so I am leaning toward using Amex “Assurance.” If I do, I certainly hope that I will be better prepared now to deal with the kind of hassle you got into. Thanks again.

Yikes! Now I think I’m sufficiently spooked out of using my credit card. Thanks.

Unless Andrew’s rental was short, he’s exaggerating the loss since super CDW costs $350/week and he didn’t pay that.

No, I am not "exaggerating" - you are jumping to conclusions or not interested in understanding what I said. I didn't have the option to add CDW at the end of the rental - I had to pay $630 for the DAMAGES TO THE CAR.

Yikes! Now I think I’m sufficiently spooked out of using my credit card. Thanks.

Even after my bad experience, I am still not saying, "Don't do it!" If you are renting with Hertz, you have a better chance of having your claim paid, as Amex Assurance most likely deals with them all the time. They know who to contact. Even then, you could follow my suggestion of not signing for responsibility and just let them hold your deposit, unless that would eat up your card's available credit and put you in a credit crunch or something. It wouldn't have been an issue for me - I had other credit cards.

I rented through EconomyCarRentals and could have gotten full CDW for cheaper than $350/week. Clearly you are missing the point: I thought I was covered through Amex so why spend anything else for CDW? That was the purpose of this whole thread - to ask whether these credit card insurance options are worth relying on. Mine cost me a lot of money - maybe not net $630 had I paid for CDW but being out a few hundred bucks because I trusted Amex is bad enough.

If you are renting from Conn's Ireland, which is a Hertz franchise, Super CDW is already included in the quoted price.

Thanks, I just may do that now.

The main reason to pay for the rental car company insurance instead of relying on your credit card is that you return the car and just walk away without worries (if you have the full coverage option) no matter the condition of the car when returned (within reason of course since the days of totaling the vehicle with no responsibility on the renter are long gone).

Relying on your credit card means paperwork to fill out, long arguments with both the car rental place and your credit card, and endless hassle including possibly being reported to a collections agency if your insurance doesn't pay what the rental company wants when a claim is lodged against you.

I rent cars almost weekly. I depend on my credit card coverage for most of those. However, when I travel especially outside the US I always pay for the coverage offered by the rental car companies. Less worries.

We were in Ireland in 2009 and had two experiences related to this topic. Normally I never buy the insurance offered by the rental company and rely on my credit card providing any needed insurance. When we rented in Dublin (don't remember the company), I was told that Ireland was one of a few countries where buying the insurance from the rental company was mandatory. Basically she refused to let me rent a car without it. As it was rather late and we had to drive to Cashel for the night, i had to give in.

Then when we returned the car just before flying out, the agent pointed to a small 'bubble' on one of the tires and charged us for a new tire. This was really irritating, since as far as i knew, the bubble was probably there when we rented it. Literally, it was not visible until you got up close and rubbed the tire. And the insurance didn't cover the tire. Again, we had a flight to catch so I couldn't really contest it by talking to the agent's boss. This put a sour note on a perfectly wonderful trip to Ireland. However, I took that as a lesson: one should not let such incidents, which after all are only about money, spoil a great and moving vacation, which is about the memories. Life is too short to let rental car agencies spoil it!

DONT panic and give up on the credit card insurance. I have read Andrews previous posts about this incident and would say that A. He got off cheap. B. He made several mistakes when returning the car with damage. C. Amex may have covered what they promised....but I cannot say this with certainty as I am not privy to exactly which insurance he has. (Sorry Andrew I feel bad for your situation but I think a little balance is due here)

CDW is a profit center for rental car companies. The cars are fully insured as they must be under the laws of whatever country (EU) they are in. What you are essentially paying for is their deductible on that car. This true amount is unknown to you. You are not buying insurance on the car you are buying insurance to cover the car rental companies deductible. And they make HUGE profits from this.

Now NEVER admit fault to the car rental company or the insurance company. (I think Andrew did just that according to one of his posts previously) What happens when you do that is basically Abrogate the Credit card companies insurance company’s legal position and make their job much harder and that is what the Car company wants.

When you use the Amex insurance you pay extra for, this is supposed to cover you 100% IF you follow what you are supposed to do. If you dont...well then there may be a cost.

In any case Since I have had the Amex extra insurance at each car rental place (except one) on this trip I have told them when asked if I wanted the CDW and listened to all of the horror stories about how much I would have to pay...The full value of the car usually comes up... I just smile and say that’s fine. They usually tell me they will have to put a hold on my card for the full value too. Then I tell them about the Amex insurance...all pressure to buy the CDW stops immediately and the hold on my card has not been more than about $1200. Which by the way Never has shown up on any of my Amex Weekly account snapshots I get from them.

By the way Customers from the EU do not have these problems as they have reasonable laws limiting what the car rental companies can do. It makes a difference WHICH web site your rent out of.

Now Do check about Ireland that may well be one of the outliers in the rental car industry that Amex wont deal with. But good luck and have a nice vacation. And remember which side of the road you are supposed to be on... :)

I just went through this last week with Hertz at Cork. I should have had full coverage through AnEx, and I was prepaid for the week with the car. Then when I arrived they would not let us have the car without either having a 5000 euro hold (that’s five thousand) on my card or paying for insurance again. Basically I would be stranded with my children in Cork unless I paid the $675 in new fees for insurance, fuel and tax. I paid it, but have already begun the process of protesting these charges.

Lucy, Yes this is very irritating and the Rental Car companies are playing a cynical game here pretending ignorance of the local laws/regulations/insurance rents etc.

On the web sites they get to show a VERY low rate thus hooking you in to the rental meanwhile they know full well what will happen to you on arrival.

This practice should be stopped and full disclosure should be explicit which it is currently not and the full cost of the rental disclosed.

They know this is happening on a daily basis but choose to not do the right thing. The Avis HQ in the US knows full well what is happening and need to put an end to this charade.