Featured Review: Credit Cards with Primary Rental Car Insurance
Updated October 12, 2022.
When you rent a car, you have four options for collision damage coverage. (1) Purchase collision damage waiver (CDW) directly from the car rental company. (2) Use your own collision damage coverage under your auto insurance policy, which normally comes with a deductible and you risk having your premium increased. (3) Use American Express Premium Car Rental Protection Plan - you have to register your Amex card and you will be charged $25 ($18 for California residents) per rental by Amex for the primary coverage. If you rent a car for several days, this normally saves money over buying CDW from rental car companies. (4) Use your credit card's CDW for free. Here we will discuss a bit about the last option since it is confusing to most people.
There are two types of rental car insurance for collision damage provided by credit card companies - primary and secondary. The difference is that primary coverage kicks in before your own auto insurance while the secondary coverage is after that. If you don't have any auto insurance or you only have liability coverage on your auto insurance (meaning that you don't have collision and comprehensive coverage), then the two types of coverage from your credit card is identical. However, many of us do have collision coverage under our auto insurance, and that is why secondary type won't really help you much when you have a collision damage of your rental car.
After this little discussion, I am sure you will want to find out which credit cards offer primary rental car CDW coverage. Most credit cards offer secondary coverage and only very few offer primary. We definitely wish that more cards will come with this great benefit in the
future. Here is the list of currently available credit cards with primary CDW and the annual fees are noted.
The following cards have been discontinued for new customers:
© 2011-2020 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.
When you rent a car, you have four options for collision damage coverage. (1) Purchase collision damage waiver (CDW) directly from the car rental company. (2) Use your own collision damage coverage under your auto insurance policy, which normally comes with a deductible and you risk having your premium increased. (3) Use American Express Premium Car Rental Protection Plan - you have to register your Amex card and you will be charged $25 ($18 for California residents) per rental by Amex for the primary coverage. If you rent a car for several days, this normally saves money over buying CDW from rental car companies. (4) Use your credit card's CDW for free. Here we will discuss a bit about the last option since it is confusing to most people.
There are two types of rental car insurance for collision damage provided by credit card companies - primary and secondary. The difference is that primary coverage kicks in before your own auto insurance while the secondary coverage is after that. If you don't have any auto insurance or you only have liability coverage on your auto insurance (meaning that you don't have collision and comprehensive coverage), then the two types of coverage from your credit card is identical. However, many of us do have collision coverage under our auto insurance, and that is why secondary type won't really help you much when you have a collision damage of your rental car.
After this little discussion, I am sure you will want to find out which credit cards offer primary rental car CDW coverage. Most credit cards offer secondary coverage and only very few offer primary. We definitely wish that more cards will come with this great benefit in the
future. Here is the list of currently available credit cards with primary CDW and the annual fees are noted.
- Capital One Venture X ($395)
- Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95)
- Chase Sapphire Reserve ($550)
- Chase United Explorer Card ($95)
- Chase United Club Card ($450)
- Chase Ink Preferred BUSINESS Card ($95) *only when you use the rental car primarily for business purpose*
- Chase Ink Premier BUSINESS Card ($195) *only when you use the rental car primarily for business purpose*
- J.P. Morgan Reserve ($550)
- U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve ($400)
The following cards have been discontinued for new customers:
- Diners Club Card Premier ($95)
- Diners Club Card Elite ($300)
© 2011-2020 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.