Re credit card coverage of CDW

I would be interested in hearing from others concerning their rental car insurance experiences.

For over 30 years I declined the auto rental companies’ insurance in England and France and used my credit card coverage for the CDW (collision damage waiver). The only incident I had was when a shopping cart or branch sticking out of a hedge on a country lane put a one-inch scratch on the rear panel of my rented car. I felt the rental company sent an excessively high repair bill, but it was paid.

However, when renting from another major company in Spain a few years ago, I again declined their coverage. Unfortunately, in France a couple of days later, my codriver was rear-ended while making a turn. I had a claim form written in Spanish, of which I speak only a very few words, while the woman who hit us had one in French, so we completed that one. (I also took photos.)

In the stress of the moment, I noted the insurer as the rental company, figuring it could be straightened out when I reported it to them, which I did that evening. I probably should have put the credit card company name down as the insurer; I called them that evening also (expensive phone calls as we didn’t have a European phone at that time).

The end result was I found the credit card coverage did NOT cover damage to the other vehicle!

There would have been no problem regarding payment for damage to my vehicle, if I could have gotten a copy of the bill from the rental company. However, on rental, they had stamped my credit card on a blank form in order to charge “for fuel” if I did not return the tank full (I had no problem with that). They ended up charging to that credit card the insurance amount (what I would have paid for their insurance if I had taken it in the first place), and as this was about the same amount as the damage to the other person’s vehicle, and the rental company would now cover the damage to my vehicle, I let it go through and thought I was probably lucky!

Since then, I have checked the fine print of my other credit cards and found that almost none of them cover damage to other vehicles! So I can’t help wondering if it is a good idea to recommend using the credit card coverage for auto insurance, as it does seem to be a gamble. On the bright side, over the years I was lucky and did save a bunch of money.

Something else I learned since then — American Express Optima (OPEN Small Business Network) now offers, to quote them, “Extensive Coverage for one low flat rate.” For $24.95 per rental, you can enroll in their Premium Car Rental Protection program (800/338-1670) and be provided with up to 42 days of coverage.

It also provides some types of coverage not usually offered by the normal credit card insurance program, including “Up to $100,000 of coverage for Accidental Death and Dismemberment. . . up to $100,000 of primary Collision and Theft coverage for rented vehicle. . . up to $15,000 per person for Excess Medical Expense Coverage (and) . . . up to $5,000 per person for Excess Personal property coverage.”

As always, there are countries in which you cannot get this coverage. And, as always, there is the exclusion for damage to other vehicles, so I called AmEx Optima to discuss this and was passed on to someone in the insurance department. I explained my concern and was advised that I could decline the rental car company’s CDW but accept their liability!

I then called Hertz, as I was renting from them in France in a couple of weeks, and was surprised to be told that liability for the other vehicle is included in the basic rental rate! Being a natural-born skeptic, I called again a week later and talked to someone else, who told me the same thing. What a relief!

I do wonder, though, if it is the same with all rental car companies. Also, when I had the problem last time, I had rented from a major rental car company in the U.S. before leaving, and I later found out that the branch where I picked up the car (Barcelona) was owned locally so probably had different rules.

By the way, in Portugal over the last 10 years I have rented from a local company. As their rates, including CDW, have been less than those of the major companies without insurance, and thinking of Portugal’s driving statistics, I always have taken this rental company’s insurance!

K. BIRD
Zephyrhills, FL