AMEX Rental Car Insurance help!

[Anonymous]

Why would I want to pay $25 a day for Amex or $48 a day that Enterprise wanted to charge me? I normally pay my insurance company $25/month. If I have to call my primary insurane company, that's what they are for.... Plus, I have minor accident forgiveness anyways.

So when I rent, I just pay with my CC and sign the waiver. That's it

[UncleB]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
Why would I want to pay $25 a day for Amex or $48 a day that Enterprise wanted to charge me? I normally pay my insurance company $25/month. If I have to call my primary insurane company, that's what they are for.... Plus, I have minor accident forgiveness anyways.

So when I rent, I just pay with my CC and sign the waiver. That's it

---

With Amex, it's not $25 per day, it's $25 per rental... up to 42 days.  For a one day rental, yeah, it's a little high, but historically my rentals are longer (usually a week). 

Again, to each his/her own.  If my car is vandalized (as happened before) or I have a single-car 'fender bender' I prefer not to involve my own company.  My deductibles aren't the lowest (by design) and for my own low-frequency car rentals it's cheaper to pay $25 each time I rent and be worry-free than to pay monthly for a lower deductible.

"Accident Forgiveness" is nice, but I would prefer to use that 'forgiveness' on something a bit more significant than minor damage to a rental car.  This might be universal (I'm not an expert) but my own insurance company treats any chargeable accident over $750 the same for rating purposes (i.e. $800 damage is the same as $8000).  I don't want my 'freebie' used for a rental car that gets keyed because I'm not aware I'm parking in a questionable area.

We all have different levels of acceptable risk, and at one time I traveled all over depending on nothing more than my own auto policy (not even using a credit card's coverage at all).  At this point, I prefer the peace of mind, and $25 per trip is a low-cost way to get that.

[Anonymous]

My bad. I thought it was $25/day. I learn something new everyday.

If you rent often though, might as well just get the CSP for $95/year

[UncleB]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
My bad. I thought it was $25/day. I learn something new everyday.

If you rent often though, might as well just get the CSP for $95/year

---

True, but with Chase's 5/24 rule, I won't be eligible for a CSP for a while... if ever... LOL. 

Luckily in my own case, my rentals aren't often enough to justify the AF on the CSP anyway; the once-in-a-blue-moon 'per trip' fee works well for me.

(Also, note on the other thread there's a caveat with the CSP and primary coverage; the rental must be paid for in full with the CSP to be covered... Amex is a bit more relaxed with this.  With Amex, any purchase with the MCC of a rental company will cause the coverage to be billed to the card... even if it's for a road atlas.)

[takeshi74]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

How does it differ from the insurance offered by the rental car company?

---

Rental car companies (and their insurance) aren't all lexactly the same.  You need to carefully compare.  Which AmEx rental car coverage are you referring to?

---

@bz386 wrote:
Why would you pay for "premium" car rental protection, when there are plenty of cards that offer it for free.

---

Again, carefully compare.  Don't just assume that all coverages are the same.  I use AmEx's premium not only because it's primay (not all rental car coverage from cards is primary) and it covers cars that I sometimes rent that would be excluded with over insurnace offerings.  YMMV.

Go beyond the price, read the details for each option and determine what works best for you.  These are not one-size-fits-all matters so don't assume that what works best for yuo works best for everyone.

---

@Anonymous wrote:
Why would I want to pay $25 a day for Amex or $48 a day that Enterprise wanted to charge me? I normally pay my insurance company $25/month. If I have to call my primary insurane company, that's what they are for.... Plus, I have minor accident forgiveness anyways.

---

As stated above, it's not $25 a day.  Why you would or wouldn't is for you to determine.  I have accident forgiveness with my insurance company as well but I'd still prefer being able to not use my insurnace and use AmEx's.  Again, read up and decide for yourself.  These are not one-size-fits-all matters.

---

@bz386 wrote:
For example the CSP and the United Explorer both have primary protection. Plus the insurance is actually valid worldwide, unlike Amex who excludes certain countries like Ireland and Israel.

---

Last I checked coverage with Chase cards had exclusions as well.  How often do you travel to Ireland and Israel?  If it becomes an issue for me (has not been so far) then I'll find another solution for those specific trips.  I"m not going to worry about Ireland and Israel if I don't go there.  Again, YMMV.  If you go to one or more of them often then it could certainly be a dealbreaker for you.

---

@Anonymous wrote:
If you rent often though, might as well just get the CSP for $95/year

---

Again, people vary in their situations and needs/wants/preferences/priorities/etc.  I have the CSP and the UMPE and I still use AmEx's premium.

[youdontkillmoney]

In California the per per rental fee is $17.95.

I believe the insurance covers the rental car only, so liability is not covered, for example, if you hit rear end someone else's car, you are still responsible for that other person's car if at fault. So you have to use your own personal insurance for liability still.