Credit
Card Rental Insurance
Travel is one of the major expenses that consumers use their credit card for.
From tickets to hotels to car rentals, credit cards are every traveler’s best friend. Seasoned travelers who know
their way around travelling expenses are aware that when a car rental company offers insurance, you don’t have
to accept it. This is because almost all credit card companies offer credit card rental
insurance at varying levels.
The four major credit card issuers, American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa, have credit card rental
insurance for their clients. Visa and American Express offer basic coverage for free. Conversely, Discover and
Mastercard only offer credit card rental insurance to certain types of cards. Only Discover Business, Discover
Business Miles, Discover Motiva, Discover Titanum, Miles by Discover, and Platinum cardholders can have
access Discovers’ credit card rental insurance. MasterCard, on the other hand, only offers this insurance to
Gold, Platinum, World, World Elite MasterCard holders.
Salient features of the credit card rental insurance offered by these companies include the exclusion of luxury and
collector’s item type of vehicles and recreational vehicles on the coverage and the exclusion of countries like in
Israel, Ireland, Italy, Australia, Jamaica, and New Zealand.
The amount of coverage for the American Express credit card rental insurance can reach up to $50,000 for Blue,
Green, Gold, Optima, Small Biz, and Small Biz Gold Visa cards and up to $75,000 for Centurion, Platinum, and Small
Biz Platinum cards. Rental length limitations for this insurance is 30 days and it cannot be used for any type of
luxury van, pick-up truck, cargo van, full-sized SUV, and exotic sports cars.
The Discover credit card rental insurance, on the other hand, gives coverage of up to $50,000. Though it only
applies to car rentals in Canada and the U.S., it gives the cardholder at most 31 consecutive days of coverage.
Employees who use company credit cards are given up to 45 consecutive days of coverage. Excluded vehicles for this
credit card rental insurance include antique, limited edition, high value, or high performance motor vehicles;
recreational vehicles such as minibuses, pickup trucks, campers, and trucks; and, all vehicles that haven’t been
manufactured for a decade or more.
MasterCard’s credit card rental insurance also offers up to 31 consecutive days of coverage excluding the types of
vehicles disqualified by Discover. Amount of coverage can range from $50,000 for every incident to the lesser of
the amount of repair or its current market value sans the salvage.
Visa’s credit card rental insurance only covers the actual cash value of the vehicle when it was originally
manufactured. It also does not in include expensive and antique automobiles like limousines; vans; trucks; vehicles
with an open cargo bed; and recreational vehicles.
The credit card rental insurance should be included in your decision-making process when thinking of
applying for a credit card.
Source: Credit Cards For People With Bad Credit Rating
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