I am also faced with this dilemma as I am planning to rent a Fiat 500 in Barcelona Spain, drive along the coast to Pompei, Italy then to Venice, Italy then back to Barcelona Spain, hitting every town along the way in two weeks. The CDW (Collision damage waiver) can be prohibitably high in some countries from $11.00 day Germany to $33.00 day Spain the best deal is to get the 24.95 premium car insurance from American Express.
1. 24.95 one time charge covers 42 days (Washington state 30 days) $19.95 for California residents (Dont know why they get a break)
2. The coverage kicks in when you charge the car rental on the Amex card. You do not have to pay the credit card bill first.
3. Coverage is primary, covers all theft/damage to rental vehicle.
4. There in zero deductible (CDW in europe you have to pay $500 ded first)
5. All European vehicle rentals come with free 3rd party liability insurance which covers damage to other vehicles & injuries if YOU are at fault
6. Coverage is worldwide except for vehicles RENTED in australia, ireland,israel,italy,jamaica & new zealand. As long as you RENT from another country you are covered driving in these countries
7. Covers most vehicles including SUV's, pick ups, luxury
8. $100K theft/damage to vehicle, $100K death/dismemberment to you or your passengers ($250K for california residents) 15K excess medical coverage for you or your passengers
9. You must DECLINE the CDW for this to kick in, rental clerk may try to scare you as they make commission off CDW (but most are nice, i only had one in costa rica pressure me)
10. Your own auto insurance does NOT cover you outside the USA except for Canada & Mexico & Mexico ONLY up to 50 miles from the border
11. Amex is supposed to charge you but ive noticed at times they did not but you would still be covered. I would call them before your trip to make sure they charge you
12. Obtain an International drivers permit from AAA before your trip you will be fined on the spot if not. You need to fill out the application, 2 passport photos, front/back of drivers license & $15.00 fee

BTW I'm an Insurance Claims Adjuster and former Rental car clerk so have knowledge of this, if you think your regular credit card is gonna cover all this you are in for a nightmare of calls & paperwork especially if the rental car companies repair estimate is excessive...

I think you have one error - "2. The coverage kicks in when you charge the car rental on the Amex card. You do not have to pay the credit card bill first."

The coverage starts when you pick up the car, not when you charge the car rental. This per Am Exp. I paid upfront in April for a trip in September. Therefore, my coverage starts in Sept. And also, as a followup to my post on Apr 25- I did talk to the rep and they made a note in my account that the although it might not show up as a car rental, that it was indeed a rental. No need to worry, the charge came through from Kemwel and from Am Exp for the $24.95. Now I will just have to see if a second charge comes through in Sept when I pay direct fees to Europcar.

<The coverage starts when you pick up the car> Exactally. We have had this coverage from AX for a number of years and it's as DeebitNM explained. Actually, I don't think NH residents can currently get this coverage from AX. We are 'grandfathered in'.

Also note that not all Amex cards qualify for the coverage. For example, one of my Amex is a Macy's card and I almost blew it booking a car w/ that card instead of my 'regular' Amex.

On hunch, I phoned them to make sure, w/ the Macy's Amex you cannot purchase that coverage.

I have a Delta Skymiles Amex and I don't think you can purchase it on that, either. I like my card okay for the miles, but there are some Amex benefits you don't get with it, like the deal about buying some theater seats in NY.

Mine is a plain old basic Delta Skymiles card and I was able to buy it.

I have a Costco American Express and it is covered and I also have a Delta Platinum American Express card and it is covered AS LONG AS YOU CALL AMERICAN EXPRESS AND ENROLL THE CARD.

I just enrolled my Delta card and I recieved a confirmation from American Express in writing. I have the original information from some years ago but it never hurts to have something updated

The letter says in the first paragraph and I quote:
Thank you for enrolling in Premium Car Rental Protection. Simply by using your enrolled American Expres Card to reserve and pay for a Rental Car, you have the security of knowing that you are automatically protected.

I will also say that as previously stated if you rent a car through a third party like Orbitz, you must tell them the charge is specifically for a car as American Express does not assume that the charge from a third party is for a car.

Christina - We have the Gold Delta Skymiles Amex cards and have enrolled my husband's card in the $24.95 plan.

Interesting, though, I booked a car last year with Kemwel, used the card to prepay, and called Amex Assurance to inform them. The $24.95 insurance charge did not appear on the next statement. I called Amex Assurance again and reported that no charge had yet appeared. They assured me it would be taken care of. I called again just before departing for our trip and was told that the charge would be put through right away. It wasn't. I also used the card to pay Europcar for their additional charges. Still no charge from Amex. Thankfully, we had no issues where insurance coverage would have been needed, but just in case, I had documented every call as to date/time/person I spoke with. They seem to be in need of a better system for dealing with these types of prepaid rentals.

WELL. I had enrolled in the plan and while traveling in Portugal we returned to our car in a garage and discovered that someone dinged it.
Avis charged our card E225. It was a very small scrape but noticeable. Now we will see what happens.

Less than a month after filing the report with the American Express Premium Car Rental Protection they settled the claim we had with Avis for damage on the car.
Very easy and I am very well satisfied.

You just discovered the difference between AE's $25 primary coverage vs. Visa/MC's free, secondary coverage. Had you made a claim with Visa/MC, you would still be exchanging emails and forwarding forms and other paperwork. AE covers the expense, Visa/MC reimburses you.

I am curious about liability. What if you damage another vehicle, or injure someone in another vehicle. Amex does not cover this, so what happens if the unfortunate occurs? (I just had a phone conversation about rental insurance with an Amex rep and she stressed that none of their policies cover liability).

"<i>I am curious about liability. What if you damage another vehicle, or injure someone in another vehicle. Amex does not cover this, so what happens if the unfortunate occurs? (I just had a phone conversation about rental insurance with an Amex rep and she stressed that none of their policies cover liability).</i>"

Liability is a legal mandate. Cars are not rented w/o it - so usually it is included in the base rate.

I appreciate this is an old thread; lots of good info here. I found this via Google when looking for AMEX and Autoeurope.

I called AMEX to confirm my coverage (I'm already enrolled in the Premium plan) and they mentioned that calling was the right thing to do. They did a "manual adjustment" to make AutoEurope charge look like a car rental so it would trigger the $24.95 payment.

I don't anticipate any charges in Europe (we'll see), so I wanted to make sure they "knew" I was renting. If I do have a charge, then I will likely need to sort it out upon return as I will likely have a duplicate $24.95 charge.

FYI.

Hopefully not needed!

We always rent with AutoEurope and I have been through this with AMEX a couple of times now. The first time, I called them after paying AE and they said they would take care of it. Shortly before leaving on the trip, they had still not charged us and I called them back. This time I got the name, etc., of the person I spoke with and we went to France and got a car from Europcar. There were no issues when returning the car and all was well. AMEX never charged us. The next trip I called them again and was again told they would take care of it and charge us. This time they did. We will rent from AE again in September, and again I will call. I would just advise you to document that AMEX was advised about your rental.

Hope you will post another of your great trip reports when you get back.

I guess I'll have to now, MaineGG. :D

Wow! I'm glad to see that this information is still pertinent. Enjoy your holiday!

Robyn :)>-