Which Credit Cards Offer Primary Rental Insurance Coverage?
Rental car agencies will offer extra insurance options when you pick up the car, but knowing which credit cards offer primary rental insurance coverage can help you decide how much (if any) you want to pay for. Not all policies are created equal, and the cards are not uniform by any means in how their policies work.
Updated 2/9/22
What is Primary Rental Insurance Coverage?
The key word is “primary”, meaning that this is your go-to, first option. By having “primary”, this is your first coverage. Other cards will offer “secondary” coverage, meaning it can fill in the gaps from what the rental car company’s insurance didn’t cover (assuming you bought it). Rental agencies will offer you Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) or Loss Damage Waiver (LDW). Only waive these if you know you have primary insurance coverage from your own policy or from your credit card.
Primary rental insurance for rental cars means this is your first call after an accident, theft, or other type of damage to your rental. Not dealing with “secondary” policies can reduce the amount of paperwork and number of agencies involved when something goes wrong. That’s already stressful enough without adding more insurance agents and more companies putting you on hold. Secondary coverage typically involves your own insurance policy, as well. Who wants to call them to make a claim and have your rates go up ever month? No thanks.
Things To Know Before You Rent A Car
Before digging into which cards DO offer this benefit, there are some things to know about how to use this perk. Not taking the right steps before the accident can mean you’re stuck with the bill. Here’s what you need to know in advance:
- You need to reserve and pay for the rental car with the credit card whose insurance you want to fall under. (Sounds like a no-brainer, but this means paying with a different card and then supplying this card for the security deposit during rental won’t cut it)
- You must list all drivers on the rental agreement. If the person driving during the accident isn’t on the paperwork, you’ll have a mountain of problems.
- When picking up the car, decline the rental company’s CDW / LDW. If you want your coverage to be primary, don’t accept theirs.
Charges that a rental agency can hit you with during an accident include not only repair costs but also towing to the repair shop and something called “loss of use”. This is what the rental agency claims they’re losing every day that car can’t be rented by other customers.
These Credit Cards Offer Primary Rental Insurance
Noticeably absent from this list: Citi products. After they revamped their perks and benefits back in September, they axed this benefit from everything but the Costco card. Barclays, Bank of America, and Discover also don’t offer primary coverage.
Chase Credit Cards
Coverage is primary with these Chase cards and provides reimbursement up to $75,000 for theft and collision damage for rental cars in the U.S. and abroad. That includes using your card to pay or your points through the Chase portal with Ultimate Rewards earning cards.
Personal Cards
- Chase Sapphire Reserve (earn 3X on the rental)
- Chase Sapphire Preferred (earn 2X on the rental)
- United MileagePlus Club CardÂ
- United MileagePlus Explorer Card
- United Gateway Card (coverage is secondary in the U.S., unless you have no other policy)
- United Quest Card
- Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa
Business Cards
- Chase Ink Business Plus
- Chase Ink Business Preferred
- United Explorer Business Card
- United Club Business Card
- Chase Ink Business Unlimited
- Chase Ink Business Cash
One thing to remember on the business cards. The primary coverage only works when the rental is being used for business purposes.
Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi
Primary coverage is available from the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi. It provides coverage up to $50,000 worldwide. You and authorized drivers are covered, as long as you pay for the full rental with this card and decline the rental agency’s coverage. Benefits are described here.
Note that this benefit is secondary within the U.S. If you have another policy, that will take preference.
Capital One Cards
Coverage is primary with these Capital One cards and provides reimbursement up to $75,000 for theft and collision damage for rental cars in the U.S. and abroad. That includes using your card to pay and points-based payments through Capital One Travel
Personal Cards
Both of these will earn bonus points if your rental is booked through Capital One Travel.
Business Cards
Remember that coverage for rentals on business cards is intended for rentals being used for business purposes.
American Express Cards
Surprisingly, they’re all created equal. Why? Not a single one of American Express‘ credit cards offer primary rental insurance. Here’s why they’re on the list: they all offer an option for it. The fee isn’t bad: $19.95 to $24.95. Fees vary depending on the card you’re using and the options selected. The Premium Car Rental Protection option moves your secondary coverage (default) to primary when using your Amex cards. Enroll in advance when reserving the car.
The only cards that will earn a bonus on the rental are the Blue Business Plus and Blue Business Cash cards, since they earn 2X or 2% on every purchase. Every other card will earn 1.5X or less.
USAA Credit Cards
There’s a reason why their slogan is “I’m a USAA member for life!” Many people swear by them for their customer service and perks for military. When low-fee or no-fee credit cards offer primary rental insurance, that’s a win. USAA is only open to members of the military, veterans, and eligible family members. If you qualify, this is a great option for a card to cover your rental cars. All of their cards offer this perk equally. It should be noted that this insurance is primary 1) when renting outside your home country and 2) when renting in your home country and you don’t have a car insurance policy of your own. If you have a car insurance policy on your personal vehicle, for example, then the USAA coverage becomes secondary.
U.S. Bank Visa Credit Cards
U.S. Bank offers primary rental insurance on many of their credit cards, as well. Benefits breakdowns per card can be seen here, but numerous cards offer primary rental insurance if you decline the insurance from the rental agency and pay for the full cost of the rental with your U.S. Bank credit card. Those cards which offer this perk provide the exact same levels of coverage — both personal and business cards. The Altitude reserve offers primary insurance, for example, while FlexPerks Gold doesn’t
Notable Exceptions to Primary Rental Insurance Through Credit Cards
Not to make you think insurance could be simple, there are exceptions. Aside from the business / personal use exception listed above, there are other things to know.
Where You’re Driving the Car
Most rental coverage doesn’t cover certain places. Aside from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and their countries you basically can’t do business with (Cuba, South Sudan, North Korea, etc.), there are other countries often not covered. The most common countries blocked from coverage policies:Â Australia, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Jamaica & New Zealand. Renting a car in these countries? Take a longer look at your coverage options before picking up the car.
Special Cars
Most coverage only applies to standard cars. Anything from compact to full-sized sedan should be good. If you’re renting a Hummer or a Ferrari, you’re probably not covered. “Non-standard” is a catch-all term that means cars that are overly pricey or likely to lead you to risky driving (off-road, super fast) won’t be covered. This also applies to large vehicles like an RV or a huge van for your family reunion.
Non-Standard Driving Behavior
Speaking of going off-roading, check your coverage terms. If you’re doing something outside of normal street driving, you might not be covered. Racing, driving off-road without a special policy addition, or committing a crime behind the wheel (DUI, for example) can void your coverage.
Length of Rental
The Amex policy above covers 42 days. However, Chase and USAA coverage periods are for 30 days. The Costco Anywhere Visa covers rentals of a max of 31 days. If you’re getting a long-term rental, check with the insurance provider to see what changes after 30 days.
A Note About the Other Car(s) and Other Driver(s)
You were in an accident, but you’re OK. You’re safe, and your credit cards offer primary rental insurance. Everything is going to be fine…until you get a huge bill. These primary insurance policies through credit cards cover your rental car. YOUR rental car. That’s it. Did you damage another car? Hit a fence or damaged someone’s property? These fall under liability insurance, which isn’t in the policies.
Was the car damaged because someone else ran into you and doesn’t have insurance? This type of coverage falls under Uninsured Motorist and/or Underinsured Motorist policies. Primary coverage from your credit card won’t cover cases where the rental car agency wants to pursue these UM policies.
The policies also won’t cover physical injuries to you, your passengers, or other people. They basically accomplish 1 thing: make sure you don’t owe the car rental agency money for damaging or losing the car. Anything else is usually left out. Guess who foots that bill if you haven’t planned for it.
Final Thoughts
Knowing that credit cards offer primary rental insurance is great, because it can save money and paperwork during the rental process if something should go wrong. However, it’s not as simple as it looks on the surface. You might escape this ordeal without owing anything to the rental agency for damages, but it won’t cover medical bills or paying for the repairs to a car you bumped into. Take all of these things into consideration when renting a car, so you can make the best, most informed decision possible to protect yourself. No one else is going to look out for you. As a final note: it won’t hurt to get a letter or document of some kind showing that you have primary rental insurance coverage. I’ve been to rental counters that wouldn’t let me decline coverage without proving (in writing) that I have it from another source.
Lower Spend - Chase Ink Business Preferred® 100K!
Chase Ink Business Preferred® is a powerful card that earns 3X Ultimate Rewards points in a broad range of business categories on the first $150K in spend per year. Right now earn 100K Chase Ultimate Rewards points after Learn more about this card and its features!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Costco Personal is only secondary coverage in the US, which is part of the world: In the United States, the coverage provided by this benefit is secondary.
Thanks for catching that.
What about a no-fee Chase Sapphire card? I think it still offers a similar coverage as with Reserve/Preferred.
And yes, some rental companies offer spouse as second driver for free (some charge for it), and don’t want to put a second name on the contract even when asked. Wonder if the spouses are covered in the insurance terms.
Aleks – the no-fee Sapphire card does offer Collision Damage Waiver (CDW). As for the spouse thing, it sounds easy (less paperwork), but I can’t find anything specifically saying “you are covered when driving, even if your name isn’t on the paperwork”. That sounds like an insurance nightmare waiting to happen.
American Express has changed the way they bill the Premium Car Rental. It used to be when you initially rented the car and the rental car Company put the temporary hold on your credit card that triggered the charge for the Premium Insurance. However, they have now changed it and the charge is triggered after your rental when the charge actually posts on your credit card. This is a huge difference because some rental car companies (I know for sure Budget/Avis does this) split any rental over 30 days into 2 contracts one for the first 30 days and one for the remainder. Therefore, you will get billed twice for the Premium Car Rental Insurance. And Amex will not waive the 2nd charge since there are 2 different rental contracts.
The point here is, Amex can say they are covering you for 42 days of continuous coverage but in reality (at least with Budget/Avis, I don’t know about the other rental companies) you can’t get a rental contract of more than 30 days anyways. So the 42 days is misleading.
Jack – that was really good info. Thanks for sharing.
Where did you see that USAA provides primary rental car insurance? I thought it was only secondary.
Jeff – it’s here https://www.usaa.com/banking/credit-card-benefits-guide/
Well, if you read through the pdf, it clearly states the coverage is secondary
It’s primary outside your country of residence and primary if you don’t have your own policy already within your home country. If your name isn’t on a policy in your home country (where this would be secondary) then this insurance is primary. I hadn’t noticed the home country section. I’ll update the article. Thanks!
Good morning Ryan, I am not sure you have to list all drivers if renting with Thrifty and Dollar—and are a member of their rewards program. When I reserved a car last week I noticed the following on the Thrifty site:
Authorized Drivers
As a Member, can I have an Authorized Driver?
For rentals in the United States and Canada by members of the Program in those countries, renter’s spouse or domestic partner may operate the car without registering as an Authorized Operator or paying a fee, provided he or she is at least 25 years old and has a valid driver’s license from a jurisdiction acceptable to Thrifty. If under the age of 25, an age differential charge may apply.
Interesting. Didn’t know that. I wonder what the legal headaches are like if there’s an accident involving someone not named on the paperwork, though…
Wonder the same. Is there specific terms in coverage about that?
This is what I found on USB site.
If you do have personal automobile insurance or other insurance covering this theft or damage, the Auto Rental CDW benefit reimburses you for the deductible portion of your personal automobile insurance and any unreimbursed portion of valid administrative and loss-of-use charges imposed by the auto rental company, as well as reasonable towing charges resulting from covered theft or damage of the rental vehicle while it is your responsibility.
Here’s what I read from one of the cards I just clicked on: “Receive Auto Rental coverage by charging your entire rental transaction amount to your eligible card and declining the extra collision insurance (or loss damage waiver) from the rental company. If your rental car is damaged or stolen while you’re traveling, you can be covered! It’s your ticket to significant savings and increased peace of mind. Certain terms, conditions, and exclusions may apply.”
https://benefits.usbank.com/personal/personal.html
When I look at the terms of the US Bank insurance they never mention primary or secondary , but they do talk about covering what your other insurance doesn’t (including substantiated loss of use charges). Can you give a link to what support primary.
citi costco biz cc does offer primary coverage for either biz or personal rental
Citibank-COSTCO Visa *Business* card offers PRIMARY coverage, both in USA and internationally. I only have the Business version, so can’t say for certain if same terms apply to the Personal card – perhaps another reader can help out with that research. Here is a cut-and-paste of terms from Citibank site regarding Business Costco card:
In the United States, the coverage provided by this benefit is primary. Outside the United States, the coverage provided by this benefit is primary even if you have another insurance policy.
[…] Which Cards Offer Primary Rental Car Insurance: Rental car agencies will likely push you to buying rental car insurance through them, however you may be covered under one of your credit card. Here are the cards that offer primary rental car insurance. […]
US Bank Altitude Reserve?
Thanks for pointing this out! The page I’d gone to (where you can apply for credit cards) hadn’t listed this perk on their cards. Now that I found a benefits explainer page, it turns out ALL of the US Bank cards offer this. Updated the article. Thanks 🙂