AE vs DC cards for primary rental car coverage

[dougp26364]

Normally, I'm not in favor of paying an annual fee for a CC just for one benefit but, we rent cars on average each year for a minimum of 21 days and we're often over 30 days. So I decided to check into the American Express program and Diners Club program for rental car coverage.

What got me to thinking about it was an AE application we received in the mail. In the past, I had an AE CC but their customer service treated me exceptionally poorly one year when our income dropped below their minimum level for a card. Essentially, one bad year and I was worse than a steaming pile of you know what to the card rep that called me. It's the ONLY time I recall being hung up on by any one in the customer service industry. However, given that my intention are only to use such a card for travel benefits, I was willing to look into them again.

I know I've seen it posted here that AE has a primary coverage benefit that can be purchased for an additional $19.95 per rental but, I could not find it on their web site. I took the time to call them and ask about this benefit and all they told me they had was secondary coverage. As I already have CC that provide secondary coverage, I elected not to apply for another AE card.

I then went to the DC web site to take a look at their benefits and they DO offer primary coverage at no additional charge when using their card to pay for a rental car. The card does carry an annual fee of $95 plus $35 for additional cards but, since we rent cars 3 to 6 weeks per year, this could be considered a nominal fee against purchasing CDW or having the hassle of filing a claim against ones own insurance for minor door dings, scrapes, scratches or any other issues a rental car company might come up with after the car has been dropped off. Not to mention the piece of mind knowing I should only have to deal with one company rather than go through the issue of coordinating benefits between my own insurance carrier and then the CC company acting as secondary insurer.

At any rate, since AE has been brought up as having primary coverage as a benefit and having had them tell me over the phone that they don't offer that benefit, I thought I should post my own experience in searching for better coverage for CDW from a CC company.

[johnmfaeth]

Hi Doug,

Here's the description of the statement charge they place when it's used:

Transaction Date: No Additional Information
Post Date: 09/01/2006
Transaction Description: PREMIUM CAR RENTAL PROTECTION
CRA NO. 02430XXXX <=== Deleted by JF for privacy

Charge: $19.95
Merchant Address: AMERICAN EXPRESS
43RD FLOOR
200 VESEY STREET
NEW YORK NY 10285
USA

Merchant Type: INSURANCE
Doing Business As: PREMIUM CAR RENTAL INSUR
-----------------------

You may want to give them another call. It's only available for personal cards, not small business or corporate cards.

John Faeth

[dougp26364]

I know I keep seeing it here but, it's not on their web site, they can't find it when I call and ask them about it and it was easily found on the Diners Club web site.

Like I said, I've had serious issues with AE customer service. I'm not about to expose myself again if the information is not easily available. Besides, the cost between AE and DC for the coverage is negligable depending on how many times I rent a car. As it stands now, we've rented a car on at least 4occasions over the last several years. That's close to $80 with AE plus, their own reps couldn't find the information you've posted. If their own people have issues finding the information, I have little confidence in the coverage when I need it most.

[johnmfaeth]

Hi Doug,

Since part of what you are buying is peace of mind, you are much better off with the Diner's Club. Every DC holder I have ever spoken too about this loves DC and the insurance coverage.

I think what happens is that the general american express representatives aren't trained properly in all their products. Just a look at the web site shows about 30 types of cards alone.

What I do, is ask to be transferred to the department that handles what I am interested in. Whether it be frequent flier miles, insurance coverage, etc.

Then you get it from the horse's mouth.

Either way, you'll do well. Good luck!

John

[Dave M]

I have had a Diners Club card for about 20 years. When Diners merged with MasterCard a few years ago, the value of the card diminished significantly, especially parts of the Club Rewards program. However, I still have the card, solely for the purpose of using it for car rentals. Otherwise, I find that the affinity programs (Marriott and United) of two other cards I have better fit my needs.

I have had to use the coverage only once. I had a rental car stolen in Tampa about five years ago. It was recovered by the Tampa police several hours later - completely trashed and partially stripped. I called Diners, gave them the details and sent them a copy of the rental contract. I gave the rental car company the same info and the contact info for the appropriate department at Diners. Never heard another word.

Obviously, I like the primary insurance coverage!

[Loops]

I've had the premium coverage through AE for a couple of years already due to another tugger posting about it. It is Primary coverage!

https://www152.americanexpress.com/f...tal/product.do

[urple2]

This is good info and conversation that I have viewed on here several times.

The more I rent a car and the more stories I read about renter's horror stories on reimbursement and loss of use, sure makes me consider doing something.

I'm parking my rental car farther and farther away from other cars,each vacation I take.

Is this the right site I should be using for application? https://apply.dinersclubus.com/Appli...0P54B6LKA9DCNW

Thanks.

[Icarus]

A minor correction to Dave M's post:

DC and MasterCard didn't merge. In North America, Citibank owns the DC franchise and they started issuing DC branded Master Cards rather than maintaining the standalone DC card network. Other countries still issue the standalone DC card. What it did was make it far easier to use, since DC wasn't accepted everywhere like MC is. On the negative side, cardholders lost some benefits when they made the transition. The primary benefit lost was that DC gave you 60 days to pay your bill. Now it's a full 30 days unlike most Visa and MC's which give you a very short time to make your payment. Also, it's still a charge card, and not a credit card unlike all other bank issued MCs.

Dougp: Your patterns clearly show that DC is the way to go for you. I am pretty sure that the $19.95 per rental thing for Amex is primary coverage, but that's not really material here, because with your patterns, you would save money by getting and using DC for your car rentals.

-David

[dougp26364]

Originally Posted by Loops

I've had the premium coverage through AE for a couple of years already due to another tugger posting about it. It is Primary coverage!

https://www152.americanexpress.com/f...tal/product.do

Now that's exactly what I was trying to find online but couldn't. If they wouldn't bury things like that on their web site or train their associates better, I'd have used that pre-approved application they sent me to sign up rather than look up Diners Club online.

As it is, it will pretty much all come out in the wash as we rent enough to make the annual fee for Diners Club and the periodic fee from American Express about the same.

[mshatty]

I used the premium coverage through Amex this past Christmas for a car rental. It charged the $19.95 on my bill. What was interesting is that I didn't fill up my gas tank and had to pay $20 for gas with the auto rental company. For some reason the rental company billed it as a separate charge a couple of days after the main rental. When it did, another $19.95 was charged against my Amex like it was another rental.

I called Amex and they removed or credited $19.95 to my account. Point: Every time you have an auto rental charge on your Amex, a $19.95 charge will be added. So watch how your rental is being charged.