Damage Waiver - Credit Card Coverage of Damage Waiver

Credit Card Coverage of Damage Waiver

Some credit cards offer insurance for theft or damage to rented cars. Usually any such insurance from a card is "secondary," meaning that if the renter has any personal or business vehicle insurance with appropriate coverage, that will pay first. Then the renter can claim from the credit card company to pay the primary insurance's deductible, plus addressing large claims above the primary insurance limits.

If the renter has no other vehicle insurance for the specific claim (no insurance at all, or not in the relevant country, or no collision insurance, etc.), the credit card company (if it offers coverage) will pay the whole amount, up to its limits.

All four credit card companies listed below cover collision damage with some of their cards. The main difference among the cards is that Discover covers nothing else; Visa and some MasterCards and American Express cards also cover theft, while other MasterCards and American Express cards include theft, vandalism, hitting a deer or chipping a window (sources at bottom of table).

Other issues important to some renters are that Discover and American Express cover only the cardholder, not helpful when people share a car rental. Visa and MasterCard only cover rental contracts of 15 days or less (not even the first 15 days of longer rentals). Some American Express and MasterCards are not useful on dirt or gravel roads, since they exclude "damage sustained on any surface, other than a bound surface such as concrete or tarmac". Some Discover cards exclude private roads, such as shopping centers and some subdivisions.

MasterCard and Visa in the United States say they cover "Physical damage and/or theft", but an introductory paragraph for some MasterCards and all Visa cards limits this to "collision or theft," so vandalism and hail are excluded. It may be ambiguous whether deer impacts and glass chips are covered as "collisions." MasterCards from Bank of America and MBNA generally have a simpler opening paragraph, which leaves coverage in place for any physical damage.

Even among these brands, some cards lack coverage entirely, especially debit cards and cards with low credit limits.The AmEx Platinum Cash Rebate card, for example, has no coverage. MasterCard "Standard" cards lack coverage, while "Premier", "Gold" and "Platinum" cards vary in their coverage.

These schemes apply to cards issued in the US, Trinidad and Tobago, and apparently nowhere else. In addition, no credit card will cover a rental that is being billed to a third party, such as in the event that an insurance company is being directly billed for the rental.

The following table is an effort at a summary, though not guaranteed. Coverage is complex and changes periodically. Telephone staff do not know the changes. Formal insurance policies govern and are not easily available to cardholders, who are only given summaries, like the links below.

"Loss of use" and administration fees are often advertised as covered by credit cards. However, credit card companies pay these items only if the rental car company provides proof. If rental car company does not provide proof, there seems little reason for the renter to pay either.