check your current cards and see they have car rental insurance included and save yourself some money that way. and PREPAY for gas.....don't let them charge you for that
@Anonymous wrote:I need advice on which of my credit cards may be the best to use for a car rental. Also, if anyone has any suggestions for a card that I may actually qualify that has a decent car rental rewards system set up...I'd be happy to hear it! If it makes any difference, this is for a one day rental that will be happening in exactly 10 days; so I may not even have time to get a new credit card.
These are the cards I currently have (that aren't retail):
PNC Cashbuilder; Sallie Mae; Capital One QuickSilver; Discover IT Chrome for Students
Also, my credit scores can be seen in my signature below. They are from about a month ago...
I have been denied by both US Bank Cash+ as well as Chase Sapphire. Both for the same reasons. Not having enough credit history. Accounts being too young. etc
I have 2 options when it comes to car rentals. The first option is Enterprise; it will cost me at $70 for a day - just for the car rental & extra charge since I am not 25. In addition to the $70 there would be another $20 or so charge for insurance as well as any gas that I would need to purchase. Total would come to at least $120 once it is all said and done. I am a member of their rewards program, so this rental would put me one step closer to a FREE rental in the coming months when I need to use it again for job interviews and such. My other option (which I'm leaning towards) would be to use Zipcar. It's a program on my campus where you can rent cars by the day/hour. It would cost me $72 for the day (gas & insurance included).
Which credit card would be the best for me to use on this upcoming car rental? Is there a credit card that I may benefit by applying for to use just in cases of needing to do a car rental? Last semester, I spent $600 on car rentals alone just for interviews and job fairs. I expect it to be similar this upcoming year as well. Thanks in advance!
Sounds like you need to do the math. Based on what your saying it seems zipcar is much cheaper assuming the insurance covers collision and personal liability. If your always going to be able to use zipcar then I don't know why you would even consider paying soo much more money for enterprise. The free rentals you earn probably will not outweigh all the extra money you pay per rental. Gas and insurance combined adds up.
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@Anonymous wrote:For longer car rentals 1-4 weeks, i like to use Amex and purchase the added protection.
I normally use visa signarture or mastercard for rentals, although I rarely have rentals of more than two weeks. Since those policies are capped at like 15 days the premium amex insurance seems like a good move for rentals of more than two weeks, but I would not use amex premium for a one day rental. Since I don't have regular driver's insurance I don't really care if my insurance is primary or secondary, although my CSP and Citi AA exec card give me primary coverage. Since OP mentioned earning a reward via the rental car company how does that play in with the credit card insurance if you use the card to pay the taxes? My understanding is if you pay for the rental with points from your credit card then you don't get the insurance from the credit card, but what if I use the points from my rental car account? I have read that I can get the card protection on rentals that I have a free coupon for if I pay the taxes with the card.