pipsil

Fodor's "The Tipster" states that using your credit card to cover CDW Insurance may not be all it's cracked up to be. We always use it but have never had to make a claim Does anyone have any experience with this?
I'm also not quite sure if " personal liability insurance that

pipsil

I don't know what happened there but i was not able to complete the sentence when it got posted. I want to know if 'personal liability' usually included in the rental agreement means that you are covered if a person in the other vehicle is hurt. I have tried to ask the rental company but somehow don't get a satisfactory answer

Dick

IT depends on the card.

Some cards offer secondary insurance which kicks in after your own insurance has paid. They would pay the deductible and any other "non coverd" charges not paid by your own company.

Other cards act as the primary coverage and pay the whole claim. This is best because no claim goes against your own insurance record..but I don't hink mny cards still offer this.

With most cards, you need to reject the insurance offered from the rental company.

We had one claim(for a break in in Hawaii) several years ago. Our card paid for the entire claim inlcuding "loss of use(the income the rental co lost by not having the car available) and an administrative charge.

DO NOT rely on any advice you get on this or any other forum regarding insurance.

Get a copy of the coverage from your CC company to find out what is covered and what is not. The coverage is not uniform..Assume nothing.

We needed to notify our CC company with short time frame and file a police report. If we waited to contact the CC company when we got home, it woudl have been too liate to file the claim.

Leona

Dick's advice is the most intelligent I've read on a rental car thread..

Several European countries will NOT accept CDW insurance on your credit card. EVERY credit card is different. Most posters insist that Mastercard will cover the CDW, but when I checked with my MC company before our trip to Ireland, they told me that they would not. We paid an additional 32 Euros a day for the full CDW coverage, including loss of use, but it was "priceless" for the peace of mind it gave us during our vacation.

pipsil

Thank you Dick. For some reason I assumed that all cards offered the same coverage. E.G: All Gold Cards, all Platinum Cards etc. I will ask each of my card issuers to send me their CDW coverage so I have something in writing.
Leona, € 32 a day!!! Before I could enjoy the peace of mind the coverage brings I'd have a nervous breakdown

Patty

I believe Diners Club offers primary coverage. I don't know of any other card that does that, most are secondary. Unless of course, you don't have any personal vehicle insurance, then by default, they become primary. In addition, you need to find out which countries are specifically excluded from coverage.

beachdreams

I have a platinum Am/Ex and they do cover it. I called and they not only told me yes they did cover it but directed me to the location on their website where I could print out this information. However, since Am/Ex has a few different platinum cards, this may/may not apply to all of them.

I know that my platinum Mastercard also covers this because I called prior to using that card to rent a car this past December, however, because rules change and companies differ, I would highly recommend calling prior to renting a car each time to make sure you have the most up to date information.

MrPep23

Here are some links to credit card company CDW policies:

Visa:
http://www.usa.visa.com/personal/car...insurance.html

Mastercard (Mastercard coverage seems to be available only on Gold cards and up):
http://www.mastercard.com/cardholder...insurance.html

American Express:
https://www124.americanexpress.com/c...linsurance.jsp

JohnD

Reply to MrPep23,
Thank you very much for providing the above CC links.

I found the following non-coverage statement to be of interest from the Mastercard linkquot;Theft of or damage to unlocked or unsecured vehicles."

beachdreams

Also remember that the company from which you got your mastercard and visa may differ.

pipsil

Thanks to all of you who replied. You have given me more information than I thought was available. Especially the fact that it depends which company issues the card! Traveling gets complicated with frequent flyer miles, upgrades, car rental companies, Orbitz, Priceline and now CDW coverage. Still, it, all worth it.