topic Re: CSP and car rental in Credit Cards

CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Thu, 28 May 2015 22:08:10 GMT

I've had the CSP for 3 months now, but I've never used it with a car rental.

Is the insurance covered when I book with CSP? What is the proof of this insurance? Has anyone does this before, is this recommended?

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Thu, 28 May 2015 22:11:38 GMT

just pay with it. and i would give a call to let them know. but as long as you pay with it you are good to go.

i once rented a car but didnt call

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Thu, 28 May 2015 22:33:06 GMT

Actually, can someone elaborate on the whole car renting thing? It's been years since I've had cards and even longer that I actually rented a car.

I have the CSP and a Venture; I think as Visa Sig cards they cover the primary insurance...or something like that? I have no idea what any of that means because I don't have auto insurance at all. (I don't own a car. I have motorcycle insurance but I know that's not applicable to anything but my bikes.)

So if you were in my situation and walked into a car rental joint and wanted to rent a car, which card would you use, what coverage do you get, what coverage do you refuse from the rental agency? Collision, loss, liaibility, etc. Assume that I am okay with paying more upfront for piece of mind, whether it's a ding to the windscreen or something worse.

Thanks.

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Thu, 28 May 2015 22:36:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Actually, can someone elaborate on the whole car renting thing? It's been years since I've had cards and even longer that I actually rented a car.

I have the CSP and a Venture; I think as Visa Sig cards they cover the primary insurance...or something like that? I have no idea what any of that means because I don't have auto insurance at all. (I don't own a car. I have motorcycle insurance but I know that's not applicable to anything but my bikes.)

So if you were in my situation and walked into a car rental joint and wanted to rent a car, which card would you use, what coverage do you get, what coverage do you refuse from the rental agency? Collision, loss, liaibility, etc. Assume that I am okay with paying more upfront for piece of mind, whether it's a ding to the windscreen or something worse.

Thanks.

Would be nice to have this information.

Re: CSP and car rental

Ghoshida — Thu, 28 May 2015 22:39:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I've had the CSP for 3 months now, but I've never used it with a car rental.
Is the insurance covered when I book with CSP? What is the proof of this insurance? Has anyone does this before, is this recommended?

Liability and personal accident insurance is not covered. Collision damage is, in case you were wondering.

I believe with CSP, it's primary but you need to check your credit card agreement to be sure.

They'll need you to file a claim within 30 days (I believe) of any accident; if they're not primary then you need to file the claim with your own insurance first. You need to file all documentation, photos etc within another 30 days. You don't need to call them every time you rent.

I rent out every week(end) and the only time I was in a crash was when somebody had hit my parked car from behind. That time it was on Discover which was secondary but there were witnesses and I could get my own insurance to get through to the other guy's insurance, so nothing else was required.

Be informed that in case of an accident, the rental agency may charge for loss of use and loss of value; the insurance company acting on behalf of CSP might want the rental company to provide documentation to prove such loss, and the agency may decline to provide proof citing confidentiality while still charging you.

Since I rent frequently, it doesn't make sense for me to pay for the agency's very high insurance charges; if you're going to rent one-off, you might want to weigh in those possible extra charges and headache against paying the premium.

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Thu, 28 May 2015 22:45:04 GMT

CSP is primary, both domestic and abroad.

Re: CSP and car rental

Ghoshida — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 19:06:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Actually, can someone elaborate on the whole car renting thing? It's been years since I've had cards and even longer that I actually rented a car.

I have the CSP and a Venture; I think as Visa Sig cards they cover the primary insurance...or something like that? I have no idea what any of that means because I don't have auto insurance at all. (I don't own a car. I have motorcycle insurance but I know that's not applicable to anything but my bikes.)

So if you were in my situation and walked into a car rental joint and wanted to rent a car, which card would you use, what coverage do you get, what coverage do you refuse from the rental agency? Collision, loss, liaibility, etc. Assume that I am okay with paying more upfront for piece of mind, whether it's a ding to the windscreen or something worse.

Thanks.

Hi.

I am a non-owner. That is, I don't own a car. I mostly ride a bike, use transit, and rent cars on weekends and for road trips. I also use Car2Go (point-to-point rental) and ZipCar (short duration rental).

I got a non-owner's insurance from Progressive. That protects me against liability. You can check for those policies with other providers such as Geico as well. In most cases, they'll only cover liability and against uninsured motorists but not against collision damage to the car you were driving. It's also helpful if you're using a friend's car and their insurance doesn't cover beyond immediate family.

If you're not driving frequently, you could just pick up the supplemental liability protection offered by the rental company. For casual renters not renting more than 1-2 days in a month, that's often going to be cheaper than going for a full-fledged policy.

I use one of the following, depending on the quarter: Discover, CSP (auto on Car2Go and ZipCar), and US Bank Cash+. I always decline any rental company waiver.

With Car2Go and ZipCar, the situation sounds tricky because Visa doesn't recognize them as "rentals" - there's a case going on about ZipCar. Anyway, unless you purchase ZipCar's monthly / annual waiver, you're going to pay up to $1000 deductible in the case of a damage to the vehicle. With Car2Go, they're going to add a $1 fee to every ride and bring that deductible down to $250 per accident. They offer free liability insurance, however.

Discover (and I believe Mastercard) is secondary insurance. So if you have own insurance, you are supposed to file with them first. The downside is that your rates may go up if you're at fault. Discover and Mastercard then pays any amount that your own insurance is not paying.

CSP Visa Signature is primary; so you can file the damage waiver directly to them. You don't need to call them everytime you rent. Bother them only when you get involved in an incident; however, remember not to charge / split your bill across multiple cards. The one rule that you need to adhere is to charge all of the bill (after any discount) to one card only.

Discover, Mastercard, and Visa won't extend this service for high-end cars (mostly $50k and above) and beyond a set number of continuous days per rental (typically 2 weeks to a month). AMEX has a special policy that charges $19.99 per rental (not per day) that has more relaxed rules; however AMEX requires (at least when I last checked) the cardholder to be US permanent resident to be able to make use of that policy. The other 3 are free of cost and have no such restriction unless the issuing bank has any restriction.

In case you get into an accident, do the usual, i.e. file a police report, get a copy of the report, take some pictures of the damaged vehicle with your phone, and if it's not your fault, get as much detail about the other guy as possible. If it's a hit and run (as it happened with me), see if you can get any witness who'd like to help with the description of the offender.

Call up your cardmember services and they'll patch you up with an insurance company they're working with. That agent will then take all this detail from you and as a proof of using the card, they'll ask for (a) the rental agreement which has your car number and credit card number and (b) the credit card statement that has your card account number and this particular rental. Typical privacy aspects are applicable; you'll be advised of them when you actually file the claim. They'll also give you a claim #.

Once you've got the police report # and the claim #, give it to the rental agency so that their claims department could begin processing. Stay out of the process as much as possible (from personal experience). If another guy's at fault, their insurance will pick up almost all of the tab including loss of use and administrative fees. If you're responsible, be ready to pay from your own pocket (pessimistic version) 1-2 days of rental bill e.g. if your car rents for $20/day, they might add $40 as loss of use / fees and the credit card insurance may, at times, decide not to pay for it because the rental company did not fully cooperate with utilization logs. Has not happened to me but I've heard many such stories on the net.

Hope it helps.

Edited to add: Not all visa signature offer primary insurance. CSP offers primary, many others offer secondary. If you don't have coverage from your auto insurer then these insurance policies become primary.

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Thu, 28 May 2015 23:29:51 GMT

@MstrPTato wrote:
CSP is primary, both domestic and abroad.

i want your boa card limit

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Fri, 29 May 2015 00:45:25 GMT

Lots of false information on this thread. CSP is only primary if you don't have a car insurance. Unless you live in NY or SF, you likely do. Also, it only covers CDW. Most of the time that is not enough. Keep that in mind.

Re: CSP and car rental

Ghoshida — Fri, 29 May 2015 00:51:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Lots of false information on this thread. CSP is only primary if you don't have a car insurance. Unless you live in NY or SF, you likely do. Also, it only covers CDW. Most of the time that is not enough. Keep that in mind.

Please cite legit sources when you make such claims.

Why would you have a car insurance if you don't have a car, even if you don't live in NY or SF? I know literally thousands of people around me who don't. That being besides the point, what you're referring to IS actually secondary insurance, such as Discover, which becomes primary if you don't have coverage by your own insurance.

CSP provides primary insurance, as mentioned in their agreement: https://creditcards.chase.com/sapphire/credit-card-benefits

If you have documentation otherwise, please post so that any misconception could be cleared.

What are the other false information?

What is not enough? Clearly, it does not cover liability which is why I recommended either (a) taking own liability policy or (b) accepting supplemental liability from the rental agency. It may or may not cover loss of use / loss of value which is something I also put as a caveat in my post. Please elaborate about the "other" stuff.

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Fri, 29 May 2015 01:18:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Lots of false information on this thread. CSP is only primary if you don't have a car insurance. Unless you live in NY or SF, you likely do. Also, it only covers CDW. Most of the time that is not enough. Keep that in mind.

as the person above says.... CSP indeed provides primary by default on domestic soil

these cards usually never provide liability... OP should pay for liability (or self insure/buy another 3rd party insurance for liability )

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2014/08/18/credit-cards-with-primary-rental-car-insurance/

Also, you might find it difficult to get the card to pay for loss-of-use (the card may cover loss-of-use, but requires rental company to mail over fleet logs to prove usage percentage. rental company never gives it up because it is "trade secrets")

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/11107080-post6.html

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2015 16:25:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@MstrPTato wrote:
CSP is primary, both domestic and abroad.
i want your boa card limit

Didn't take much to get...quick recon from $1000 right to $19,500. How old is your Travel Rewards card? Have you tried a CLI...its going to be a HP.

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2015 16:52:22 GMT

I use the Amex primary version which is 19.99 a swip . If you got the CSP you'll just need liability .

Re: CSP and car rental

red259 — Sun, 31 May 2015 19:54:00 GMT

I rent cars every couple of months, so I am well versed in this. I do not have a car so I do not have any insurance. Last time I rented I used the barclay arrival+ because I wanted to use my rewards on the rental. For someone like me without insurance the way it works is that thye credit card will provide collision/damage for the rental car, so I do not need to purchase the waiver from the rental agency. What is not covered by the credit card is personal injury (like if you injure another driver). Rental agencies do provide some basic personal injury coverage as part of the rental. The amount of coverage they provide depends on the state and it is so they can comply with state minimums. That being said the coverage is usually not significant so it is a good idea to purchase additional personal injury coverage if you do not already have it.

For people who don't own a car they can purchase a non-oweners insurance policy. I did this one year and it is worth it if you can get a good deal and will have enough rentals in a year to justify it. I think like ten rental days makes it worth it, but that will all depend on the price quote you get and what the rental agency would charge for insurance. People who own cars need to check their insurance policies to see what kind of coverage the get for rental cars.

Re: CSP and car rental

red259 — Sun, 31 May 2015 19:59:50 GMT

@Ghoshida wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Lots of false information on this thread. CSP is only primary if you don't have a car insurance. Unless you live in NY or SF, you likely do. Also, it only covers CDW. Most of the time that is not enough. Keep that in mind.
Please cite legit sources when you make such claims.

Why would you have a car insurance if you don't have a car, even if you don't live in NY or SF? I know literally thousands of people around me who don't. That being besides the point, what you're referring to IS actually secondary insurance, such as Discover, which becomes primary if you don't have coverage by your own insurance.

CSP provides primary insurance, as mentioned in their agreement: https://creditcards.chase.com/sapphire/credit-card-benefits

If you have documentation otherwise, please post so that any misconception could be cleared.

What are the other false information?

What is not enough? Clearly, it does not cover liability which is why I recommended either (a) taking own liability policy or (b) accepting supplemental liability from the rental agency. It may or may not cover loss of use / loss of value which is something I also put as a caveat in my post. Please elaborate about the "other" stuff.

People who rent cars several times a year can save money have a non-owners insurance policy, because rental agencies charge an arm and a leg for insurance coverage. A non-owners policy isnt for someone doing one or two rentals but if you end up renting for like two weeks on a vacation or something it makes sense.

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Sun, 31 May 2015 20:11:28 GMT

The major piece of info I think is wrong was the statement that VIsa Sig is usually primary. Primary is still pretty rare, and most Visa Sigs are exactly the same as Plat for this.

Re: CSP and car rental

bch238 — Sun, 31 May 2015 20:14:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Lots of false information on this thread. CSP is only primary if you don't have a car insurance. Unless you live in NY or SF, you likely do. Also, it only covers CDW. Most of the time that is not enough. Keep that in mind.

I don't think this is accurate. It was secondary until about a year ago (meaning, if you had your own insurance, it was secondary, but if you had none, then it was primary), but Chase changed the benefit to make it primary coverage. Primary means that it shall pay first, and other insurance shall be secondary.

This is from the description of benefits on the Chase website: "Decline the rental company's collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is primary and provides reimbursement up to the actual cash value of the vehicle for theft and collision damage for most rental cars in the U.S. and abroad."

Re: CSP and car rental

red259 — Sun, 31 May 2015 20:20:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The major piece of info I think is wrong was the statement that VIsa Sig is usually primary. Primary is still pretty rare, and most Visa Sigs are exactly the same as Plat for this.

+1 Most visa signatures are not primary coverage. The CSP is primary

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 00:01:49 GMT

@bch238 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Lots of false information on this thread. CSP is only primary if you don't have a car insurance. Unless you live in NY or SF, you likely do. Also, it only covers CDW. Most of the time that is not enough. Keep that in mind.
I don't think this is accurate. It was secondary until about a year ago (meaning, if you had your own insurance, it was secondary, but if you had none, then it was primary), but Chase changed the benefit to make it primary coverage. Primary means that it shall pay first, and other insurance shall be secondary.

This is from the description of benefits on the Chase website: "Decline the rental company's collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is primary and provides reimbursement up to the actual cash value of the vehicle for theft and collision damage for most rental cars in the U.S. and abroad."

I believe this is true regarding CSP and primary coverage. I think PRG has this also but not regular Gold which has secondary.

Re: CSP and car rental

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 03:33:10 GMT

PRG is secondary but you can make it primary by paying 20 dollars for every rental transaction ( not every day ) .