I’m planning to rent a luxury car on an upcoming trip, and I’m concerned about the risk of damaging it. So I’m wondering if anyone here has had experience with making a claim on the collision insurance provided by Visa (or other credit card companies) for rental cars.
The rental agency offers insurance, of course, but for various reasons I’d prefer not to use it. And if you take the agency’s policy, Visa won’t cover you.
I’ve read the information about Visa’s coverage, so I’m reasonably clear about what they’re promising. What I want to know is, how are they to deal with? Do they make it easy, is it a pain in the ass, would I have to pay for some things I didn’t expect to, and so on.
So if you’ve damaged a rental car and used the Visa insurance policy to get it fixed, I’d like to hear about your experience. Thanks.
One thing to keep in mind is the difference between “luxury” and “exotic.”
when I was paying attention to such things, there were specific exclusions in both my CC “insurance benefit” and my personal Auto policy.
As far as I know (if using a CC), my personal auto insurance policy would take care of my claim, subject to deductable… the CC would cover the deductable.
IANAIA (Insurance Agent), nor a CA (Claims Adjuster) so I’ve no clue if I’m telling stories, or speaking the god’s honest truth about the matter. YMMV
Quick question: Do you have any automobile coverage, yourself already? If so, check with your insurance policy/agent - you may already be covered by your existing policy, without having to pick up any additional coverage from anywhere else.
A standard auto policy should cover rental car liabiliy in full, and collision up to the actual cash value of the vehicle. If the vehicle is in an accident, and is a total loss, the rental company would look to recover the full replacement cost, as well as the money they would lose by not having the vehicle available to rent. This can be considerably more than the ACV, which is why it is a good idea to get the CC coverage.
We had a rental car accident insurance claim through Visa in Canada. What happens is that in our case Hertz contacts us about the damage and how much you owe. Then we forwarded the information to Visa and they settle it between them. They were actually all very nice about it all. Visa mailed us a cheque and we sent it off to Hertz. It was actually pretty painless, just getting the Hertz claims department in touch with the right Visa department. But, you have to make sure your visa card covers rental car damage, which ours does, so we always decline rental car insurance. And don’t forget to keep your rental claim agreement because for some reason I think Hertz needs it to look you up if you are using Hertz. We are part of the Hertz Gold club but I don’t think that mattered with how this insurance claim was handled, but I don’t know.
I used to work in the rental car business during most of the 1990s. I’ve seen my share of horror stories of people who had relied on VISA for their rental car collision coverage. Of course, the smooth ones never made it to me.
Part of the problem is that some rental companies can tack on a lot of extra charges. Loss of use fees, towing, and extra rental charges if the car is impounded for any reason. Also, VISA may not pay if you’re guilty of a criminal infraction while driving.
Many times, a personal insurance company will be able to successfully reduce or eliminate the extra charges, where as VISA will not put forth as much effort.
In general, I found the upper level cards probably had the best collision coverage. American Express and Diner’s tended to be a bit easier.
Of course, this is from over 6 years ago so much may have changed.