@DigitalArk wrote:
I don't know where to post this:
Is it worth it to enroll the Amex premium car rental protection?
IMO yes, I enrolled it, with the rate some of these car rental companies charge, as much as $11-15/per day, some even more, I like just $19 for whole the rental period. I'm not sure how the smoothly the claims process is, should one need to be filed since I've never been in an accident in cars I've rented (knock on wood), but from a cost stand point, I would say it's worth, and it includes any AMEX you use. I've used my Delta Skymiles card on a few occasions to rent a car when traveling and my rental protection was applied during that rental period. Hope this helps
@YanYan wrote:
I also use it and it seems pretty good. It kicks in automatically whenever you rent a car and at $20 it is a lot cheaper that getting CDW from the car rental agency -- assuming your rental period is greater than two days.
But I am starting to wonder what is so special about the "premium" protection versus the free protection that the vast majority of credit cards offer. Hopefully someone here can offer some explanation.
Also, what is the difference between primary and secondary? I'm confused because they both require you to say no to the insurance offered by the rental car company. If a frequent renter could shed some light on the subject that would be great.
Yes, you want it to be primary coverage so that you don't have to go through your auto insurance. If you only have liability coverage for your auto insurance and you do not have any collision coverage, then secondary coverage would be fine because your auto insurance wouldn't cover the damage anyway.
The standard Amex protection is secondary coverage. The premium plan is primary. There are also a few different cards that come with primary collision coverage at no additional cost, e.g., the United Mileage Plus Explorer card, and the Chase Ink Plus and Bold cards (though they only provide the coverage if the rental is for business purposes) (I think this still applies to these cards now that they are Visas, but you would have to check to be sure). A quick google search should be able to find others. I think the Chase Fairmont card and Ritz-Carlton cards also offer primary coverage.
Remember this is CDW. It doesn't typically cover anything other than collision damage to the rental vehicle. Damage to the other vehicle is not typically covered. Injuries to people are not typically covered. So, for example, if you caused an accident and injured the other driver, the damage to the other driver's car and their injuries wouldn't typically be covered by these policies. You may still want to get liability coveage when you are renting.
All that said, I believe the Amex premium policy does cover damage to other vehicles and injuries to persons. Not sure about the coverage offered through United Mileage Plus and other cards.
Also, I've dealt with Amex before for a claim when my rental car was hit by another driver and they were very easy to deal with.
Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)Walt, thanks for the great explanation. That last part is pretty scary, I'm surprised rental car accidents aren't the leading cause of bankruptcy haha.