topic Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance) in Credit Cards

Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

Bk2006 — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 20:45:46 GMT

I travel fairly often and rent a car perhaps 10 times a year, on average. I was looking through the benefits guides of several of my credit cards and noticed that only 3 out of my current 11 cards still offer rental car collision damage waiver (CDW). This is a benefit that used to be standard on most prime cards, but it seems to have been nerfed by many issuers such as Citi and Discover in the last few years.

Right now, in my portfolio, these are the only 3 cards that have rental car CDW:

NFCU Cash Rewards MasterCard
Chase Southwest Visa
Bread Cashback Amex

My PenFed Promise card, opened in 2016, used to include the rental CDW but I am unsure whether it still does (hard to find info on this card as it's no longer issued for new customers and PenFed won't do a PC without opening a new account...ugh)

What are some other cards that offer rental car CDW in 2023? It has come in handy for me at least twice over the last 20 years or so - had a cracked windshield and a minor fender bender that my cards (one time Visa, another time Amex) covered in full. The credit card coverage is usually secondary, but if you drive an older car like me and don't have collision or comprehensive insurance on your personal car--or don't own a car at all--the coverage is primary.

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

wasCB14 — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 21:02:47 GMT

I don't rent cars often.

I use the Amex premium coverage, paying per use.

I'm in California where it's cheaper than in most other states (though FL customers I think pay even less).

I used to use CSP/CSR but with so much spend going to Amex, BofA, and cobrands...I found I didn't really have enough spend to justify the AF there. If I was renting ten times a year, I'd probably just get a CSR again.

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

jojo79 — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 15:16:10 GMT

Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve both provide primary coverage.

I have the CSP and it's my go-to card for car rentals for this exact reason. It's also generally a great travel CC, even with the $95 AF.

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

keekers — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 16:31:16 GMT

FYI, NFCU Cash Rewards is secondary coverage, not primary. Not sure about the others

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

SouthJamaica — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 17:07:44 GMT

@Bk2006 wrote:
I travel fairly often and rent a car perhaps 10 times a year, on average. I was looking through the benefits guides of several of my credit cards and noticed that only 3 out of my current 11 cards still offer rental car collision damage waiver (CDW). This is a benefit that used to be standard on most prime cards, but it seems to have been nerfed by many issuers such as Citi and Discover in the last few years.

Right now, in my portfolio, these are the only 3 cards that have rental car CDW:
NFCU Cash Rewards MasterCard
Chase Southwest Visa
Bread Cashback Amex
My PenFed Promise card, opened in 2016, used to include the rental CDW but I am unsure whether it still does (hard to find info on this card as it's no longer issued for new customers and PenFed won't do a PC without opening a new account...ugh)

What are some other cards that offer rental car CDW in 2023? It has come in handy for me at least twice over the last 20 years or so - had a cracked windshield and a minor fender bender that my cards (one time Visa, another time Amex) covered in full. The credit card coverage is usually secondary, but if you drive an older car like me and don't have collision or comprehensive insurance on your personal car--or don't own a car at all--the coverage is primary.

Personal: Chase World of Hyatt, Digital FCU Platinum, Interior FCU Platinum, Amex Hilton Honors, PenFed Power Cash Rewards, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Freedom Unlimited, NFCU Platinum, Chase Amazon Prime, Amex Blue Cash Everyday, Unify FCU Platinum

Business: Amex Blue Business Plus, Amex Business Hilton, PayPal Business Cashback, BHG MORE Business, NFCU Business Visa

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

Anonymalous — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 20:01:17 GMT

@Bk2006 wrote:
I travel fairly often and rent a car perhaps 10 times a year, on average. I was looking through the benefits guides of several of my credit cards and noticed that only 3 out of my current 11 cards still offer rental car collision damage waiver (CDW). This is a benefit that used to be standard on most prime cards, but it seems to have been nerfed by many issuers such as Citi and Discover in the last few years.

Right now, in my portfolio, these are the only 3 cards that have rental car CDW:
NFCU Cash Rewards MasterCard
Chase Southwest Visa
Bread Cashback Amex
My PenFed Promise card, opened in 2016, used to include the rental CDW but I am unsure whether it still does (hard to find info on this card as it's no longer issued for new customers and PenFed won't do a PC without opening a new account...ugh)

What are some other cards that offer rental car CDW in 2023? It has come in handy for me at least twice over the last 20 years or so - had a cracked windshield and a minor fender bender that my cards (one time Visa, another time Amex) covered in full. The credit card coverage is usually secondary, but if you drive an older car like me and don't have collision or comprehensive insurance on your personal car--or don't own a car at all--the coverage is primary.

My two with secondary CDW coverage:

Navy Federal More Rewards Amex
Capital One Quicksilver WEMC

Those two cards also have an extensive list of other network benefits, like various purchase protections and extended warranties. The Cap1 card has the most, with a whole set of travel protections like cancellation, death, and baggage insurances.

None of my other three cards have more than a concierge and/or roadside assistance. To make a broad generalization, credit unions tend to retain more of the network protections, while most of the major banks have been cutting theirs back.

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

tussking — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 21:21:45 GMT

If you have an AMEX-issued card, you can call them and add automatic rental car coverage for close to $12.00, which is good for up to a 30-day rental. No need to add anything through the rental car company. It's an AMEX policy on your account, and whenever you rent a car, it automatically gets billed to your card. No policy is better on any credit card.

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

Horseshoez — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 21:27:17 GMT

@tussking wrote:
If you have an AMEX-issued card, you can call them and add automatic rental car coverage for close to $12.00, which is good for up to a 30-day rental. No need to add anything through the rental car company. It's an AMEX policy on your account, and whenever you rent a car, it automatically gets billed to your card. No policy is better on any credit card.

No policy is better? I would argue the Chase Primary CDW, which is free with one's CSP and CSR cards is better.

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

wasCB14 — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 21:43:12 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@tussking wrote:
If you have an AMEX-issued card, you can call them and add automatic rental car coverage for close to $12.00, which is good for up to a 30-day rental. No need to add anything through the rental car company. It's an AMEX policy on your account, and whenever you rent a car, it automatically gets billed to your card. No policy is better on any credit card.
No policy is better? I would argue the Chase Primary CDW, which is free with one's CSP and CSR cards is better.

$12.25/$15.25...for FL residents only only. Cost depending on vehicle. Not the first state I'd have expected to be cheapest. Maybe there was some AARP lobbying?

$15.95/$17.95 for California residents.

$19.95/$25.95 for everyone else.

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

digitek — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 22:50:42 GMT

I didn't see this one mentioned yet, but US Bank Altitude Reserve has primary rental car insurance coverage. The AF is $400 but has $325 credits for dining that are pretty easy to recover. It's a full on premium travel card with lots of benefits/coverage.

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

galahad15 — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 12:31:09 GMT

The Wells Fargo BILT card has primary coverage CDW, all with no annual fee (which was the primary reason I added it to my current card collection)

Why use an AF-based card for primary CDW coverage purposes when you can get the same level of coverage with the BILT card for no AF?

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

Horseshoez — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 13:33:21 GMT

@galahad15 wrote:
The Wells Fargo BILT card has primary coverage CDW, all with no annual fee (which was the primary reason I added it to my current card collection)

Why use an AF-based card for primary CDW coverage purposes when you can get the same level of coverage with the BILT card for no AF?

The $95 annual fee for the CSP more than pays for itself if you do any traveling at all.

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

SpaethCo — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 21:37:11 GMT

I think it's worthwhile to note that if you live in a state with laws that force auto insurance companies to include rental cars in Property Damage Liability coverage, this might be meaningless to you.

I paid for the Amex per-rental coverage several times before learning that Minnesota statute 65B.49(5a) requires that any personal auto policy written in Minnesota must cover rental cars (including loss of use) as part of standard liability coverage with zero deductible, even if you don't otherwise carry comp/collision on any of your vehicles.

What this means is that any card-derived "primary" CDW coverage will only act as co-primary coverage and Amex (or Chase or whoever) will engage with my personal auto insurance company to share claim costs, but no matter what I'm going to have a claim against my personal auto insurance.

There are a handful of other states where this is the case, so make sure you consult with someone familiar with your own state's laws.

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

masscredit — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 00:28:14 GMT

So is it the card itself or the type of card that offers coverage (Visa, MasterCard or AMEX)? I received my new Cap 1 Quick Silver card yesterday. When I called to ask about this, the woman mentioned MasterCard benefits. I later started to read the info that came with the card. It has a few sections that cover rental car insurance. Plus there is trip cancelation, baggage delay, lost luggage and a few other things. I don't know what any of my cards offer. I need to go through them all and maybe make a spread sheet so I can use the card that best suits my situation when I make a purchase.

Re: Credit Cards with Car Rental CDW (Insurance)

Aim_High — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 01:25:26 GMT

@masscredit wrote:
So is it the card itself or the type of card that offers coverage (Visa, MasterCard or AMEX)? I received my new Cap 1 Quick Silver card yesterday. When I called to ask about this, the woman mentioned MasterCard benefits. I later started to read the info that came with the card. It has a few sections that cover rental car insurance. Plus there is trip cancelation, baggage delay, lost luggage and a few other things. I don't know what any of my cards offer. I need to go through them all and maybe make a spread sheet so I can use the card that best suits my situation when I make a purchase.

It's generally the card itself, @masscredit. While Visa and Mastercard may advertise their benefits for each level of their cards, whether your particular card includes all (or any) of those benefits is ultimately up to the issuing lender. For example, AOD FCU doesn't include any of the Visa Signature benefits on their card although it does have very low APRs and fees as well as great cash rewards.

It's also a question of whether the benefit is primary or secondary. More cards include secondary, which only kicks in after you file a claim on your personal auto insurance. It reimburses your deductible, but then you're stuck with a claim filed on your insurance policy which may affect your rates. Primary insurance is much more rare, but it pays completely independent of your insurance, meaning there is $0 out-of-pocket and no effect on your rates. Most Visa Infinite cards have primary insurance, including Chase Sapphire Reserve. Chase even includes primary on their Visa Signature Sapphire Preferred.

Yes, checking with your lenders and reading the brochures is the only way to know your specific benefits.

AMEX is a different animal from Visa/Mastercard. They no longer have any automatic coverages on their credit cards but you can sign up for coverage at an additional fee which is activated and charged as each car is rented.