topic Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection..... in Credit Cards

Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:54:42 GMT

Anyone enrolled in this program? Pros/cons? I only rent 3 or 4 times/year, usually decline the additional rental agency insurance but sometimes feel some apprehension. In all my years of renting I've never had a claim but it could happen.

Thanks

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:22:09 GMT

Never had a claim either-

I understand the coverage is excellent. I used it last July-

Anderson wrote:

Anyone enrolled in this program? Pros/cons? I only rent 3 or 4 times/year, usually decline the additional rental agency insurance but sometimes feel some apprehension. In all my years of renting I've never had a claim but it could happen.

Thanks

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:27:43 GMT

timothy you held out longer than i would have, the 24 hour boycott served it's purpose. congrats on the approval!

i thought the rental coverage was an automatic thing, are you saying one has to enroll/activate it? several card issuers have this perk. i even took it one step farther and for about $60.00 a year i added a rental car rider to my auto policy, this rider even covers the loss of use of the rental car so the rental agency can't charge me for revenue they "lost" by not having the car available while it's being repaired. does the cc coverage have this feature?

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:38:11 GMT

it is automatic-

When I rented the guy did not even bother to try and sell me add'l coverage.

dnm45227 wrote:

timothy you held out longer than i would have, the 24 hour boycott served it's purpose. congrats on the approval!

i thought the rental coverage was an automatic thing, are you saying one has to enroll/activate it? several card issuers have this perk. i even took it one step farther and for about $60.00 a year i added a rental car rider to my auto policy, this rider even covers the loss of use of the rental car so the rental agency can't charge me for revenue they "lost" by not having the car available while it's being repaired. does the cc coverage have this feature?

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:39:49 GMT

my Auto insurance has automatic coverage for rentals

If something were to happen- I would let them fight it out.

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:43:04 GMT

Timothy wrote:
my Auto insurance has automatic coverage for rentals

If something were to happen- I would let them fight it out.

i called my rep and he said my policy covers me and will wrap around the rental, but the loss of use was an add on. i have state farm, if that helps.

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:46:59 GMT

That IMO is their problem-

It is hard to have too much coverage-

It was a 48 hour+ AMEX free BTW-

dnm45227 wrote:

Timothy wrote:

my Auto insurance has automatic coverage for rentals

If something were to happen- I would let them fight it out.

i called my rep and he said my policy covers me and will wrap around the rental, but the loss of use was an add on. i have state farm, if that helps.

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:48:31 GMT

https://www152.americanexpress.com/fsea/travel/car_rental/product.do

This is PRIMARY coverage. No need to have your personal vehicle insurer involved. Rates seem very fair, one flat fee per rental period. Thinking of enrolling.

dnm45227 wrote:
timothy you held out longer than i would have, the 24 hour boycott served it's purpose. congrats on the approval!

i thought the rental coverage was an automatic thing, are you saying one has to enroll/activate it? several card issuers have this perk. i even took it one step farther and for about $60.00 a year i added a rental car rider to my auto policy, this rider even covers the loss of use of the rental car so the rental agency can't charge me for revenue they "lost" by not having the car available while it's being repaired. does the cc coverage have this feature?

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

joestay — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 03:23:29 GMT

Sorry to bring this tread back up but I didn't want to make a new thread.

Okay. I need to rent a car this friday in another state. I decided to sign up for the premium car rental protection just right now. I will reserve a car later tonight online. Anyone know what's in the "welcome kit" that will be coming to me in 7-10 days (i'll be out of state during this whole time)? Is there anything important I need to sign? Anything else important I should know because this is the first time I am renting a car. Thanks.

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Walt_K — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 04:28:23 GMT

If you're leaving Friday, I'd just call Amex and ask them.

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

drsmith — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 04:39:06 GMT

@joestay wrote:
Sorry to bring this tread back up but I didn't want to make a new thread.

Okay. I need to rent a car this friday in another state. I decided to sign up for the premium car rental protection just right now. I will reserve a car later tonight online. Anyone know what's in the "welcome kit" that will be coming to me in 7-10 days (i'll be out of state during this whole time)? Is there anything important I need to sign? Anything else important I should know because this is the first time I am renting a car. Thanks.

No, it's just a copy of their insurance policy

As a car rental agent I'd love to elaborate on this. Almost all credit card rental car coverage is secondary, which means it won't do squat until you've exhausted your personal insurance. Also, all of you who use personal insurance may want to read the fine print. Personal insurance that covers loss of use usually only covers what the insurance company deems as a "reasonable cost" which in most cases is about $30/day

We rent mini vans for about $400 a day right now, so that leaves a pretty huge gap that you would be responsible for. Renters also rarely are aware of what they are actually responsible for on the vehicle. Hail damage, accidents, trees falling on the car, the tires, and obvious damage all is your responsibility. We had tennis ball sized hail last year, and you can't imagine how many people were enraged when they found out we would be billing them for the hail damage to the cars.

Amex's premium protection "which you have to enroll in, not their secondary coverage" is the only reasonable substitue to the damage waivers car rental companies offer in my opinion. I would highly advise anybody with an AmEx to enroll on this.

One excellent trick, is that if you enroll in this, but you're absolutely positive you didn't damage the car, you can change credit cards on the end of your rental to skip out on the fee from amex for using the coverage.

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

joestay — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 04:48:33 GMT

Thanks for the detailed replied. It was very helpful. I've been reading up on this and that's why I decided to enroll in it. I've been reading conflicting stories on the "loss of use" fee. Is it covered or not?

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 05:10:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
https://www152.americanexpress.com/fsea/travel/car_rental/product.do

This is PRIMARY coverage. No need to have your personal vehicle insurer involved. Rates seem very fair, one flat fee per rental period. Thinking of enrolling.
@dnm45227 wrote:
timothy you held out longer than i would have, the 24 hour boycott served it's purpose. congrats on the approval!

i thought the rental coverage was an automatic thing, are you saying one has to enroll/activate it? several card issuers have this perk. i even took it one step farther and for about $60.00 a year i added a rental car rider to my auto policy, this rider even covers the loss of use of the rental car so the rental agency can't charge me for revenue they "lost" by not having the car available while it's being repaired. does the cc coverage have this feature?

I think it's a good deal. I'm personall enrolled in the $75K policy for $19.95. The primary coverage is what makes this really valuable to me.

It's good peace of mind for me to not have to worry about the stupid rental car when that I'm not used to driving in some city that I'm not familiar with.

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

drsmith — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:51:14 GMT

Unfortunately I don't believe that loss of use fees are covered by AmEx. Although I will check the insurance packet when I get home and update this post.

The upside to their coverage though is that it is that flat rate of $19.99 or $24.99 (at Avis we charge $27.99/day for our full LDW)

I believe the Amex coverage is superior to personal insurance simply because you don't have to file a claim and pay a deductible, and have your rates increased. While you may still be on the hook for the down time, you don't end up paying more out of pocket than you would have with your own insurance

So IMO LDW>Amex>personal insurance

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 20:56:09 GMT

Just be aware that there are some exclusions, Ireland seems to come to mind. Otherwise, the primary coverage is the key especially if you rent for a long period. The $25 or so cost is nothing for peace of mind.

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

joestay — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:27:28 GMT

Okay. I reserved a large SUV (the one that seats 7 people) through Enterprise. I should be okay with amex premium car rental protection, right?

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

joestay — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 04:01:33 GMT

One last thing. Costco Amex TrueEarning is eligible to enrolled into the premium car rental program right?

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

drsmith — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:01:10 GMT

Yes, and I believe so

I have the delta amex and it was eligible. Just check online, it should be an option on their website.

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:01:56 GMT

@drsmith wrote:
Unfortunately I don't believe that loss of use fees are covered by AmEx. Although I will check the insurance packet when I get home and update this post.

The upside to their coverage though is that it is that flat rate of $19.99 or $24.99 (at Avis we charge $27.99/day for our full LDW)

I believe the Amex coverage is superior to personal insurance simply because you don't have to file a claim and pay a deductible, and have your rates increased. While you may still be on the hook for the down time, you don't end up paying more out of pocket than you would have with your own insurance

So IMO LDW>Amex>personal insurance

As a fellow rental sales agent, I agree with that 100%.

Another surprising note with the Amex premium coverage is that they cover luxury cars and other specialty vehicles, which most card coverage and personal insurance will not. Also interesting that no where on there does it say it will (or will not) cover loss of use. If I had an Amex, I would email them to find out.

Re: Amex Premium Car Rental Protection.....

UFGuy2006 — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:02:19 GMT

@joestay wrote:
One last thing. Costco Amex TrueEarning is eligible to enrolled into the premium car rental program right?

Yep, I just used my costco card last week for a rental and confirmed it was enrolled.