An excellent credit card benefit is the car rental collision damage waiver that covers damage to your rental car. To get this coverage, you just need to use your credit card and refuse the collision damage waiver (CDW) option from the rental car agency.
It’s worth noting that no US cards cover liability for damage to other people’s cars or occupants.
Not all CDW coverage is created equal.
Many credit cards only provide secondary coverage, so if you damage your rental car you’ll need to file a claim with your own insurance, and credit card coverage only kicks in for the deductible amount or if your claim is denied. If you don’t have your own insurance and aren’t covered by anyone else’s insurance then your credit card coverage would effectively be primary coverage.
But some cards provide primary coverage, which will cover damage to your rental car without having to file a claim with your insurance company.
One of the best banks for primary coverage is Chase. However, on 10/1, Chase switched its card protection benefits provider from eClaimsLine To Assurant. Together with that change, Chase consumer cards that provided primary coverage no longer do so for New York state residents. Coverage for New Yorkers is now secondary, unless they don’t have personal auto insurance, in which case it will still be primary.
That includes cards that previously covered New York residents with primary coverage including:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
- Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
- United℠ Explorer Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
- United Quest℠ Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
- United Club℠ Infinite Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
- JPMorgan Reserve Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
- JPMorgan Ritz-Carlton Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
You can click on each card’s guide to benefits for full details.
Coverage for rentals outside of the US will remain primary, even for New York residents. That’s good, as Chase cards are excellent for renting in places like Israel. Just be sure to get a letter of coverage for countries like Israel, which you can now request online here. Print it, as rental car agencies in Israel will ask to see it to allow you to waive their own CDW coverage.
What other options are there for NY residents?
Chase business cards provide primary coverage in the US and abroad, but coverage in the US is primary only if the rental is for business purposes. That coverage even applies to New York residents. Coverage abroad is always primary.
Do they just take your word for it that the rental was for business purposes? I’ve had a few claims for damage to rental cars in Israel (rental car companies in Israel often charge you for previous damage, so be sure to take lots of photos and videos to avoid dealing with this), but never had to make a claim in any other country, so I don’t have experience with that. If you do have experience with a claim on a business card, please share in the comments below!
That includes cards like:
- Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
- Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
- Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
- United℠ Business Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
- Chase World Of Hyatt Business Credit Card (10/1 Guide to benefits)
You can click on each card’s guide to benefits for full details.
The Capital One Venture X Visa Infinite and the Capital One Venture X Business Card Visa Infinite provide primary coverage in the US and most countries, even for New York residents. However, coverage doesn’t apply for rentals in Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland.
Find full coverage details in the Venture X Visa Infinite Guide to Benefits here and the Venture X Business Visa Infinite Guide to Benefits here. Other versions of the card will have different benefits.
The Capital One Spark Cash and Capital One Spark Miles for Business Visa Signature cards have primary coverage in the US and abroad, but only when the rental is for business purposes. See the guide to benefits for full details. Coverage doesn’t apply for rentals in Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland.
Another option is opting into AMEX Premium Car Rental coverage for $19.95 per rental ($12.25 for FL residents or $15.95 for CA residents) that will allow any AMEX card to cover rental car damage on a primary basis, except for vehicles rented in Australia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, and New Zealand.
What cards do you use for rental car coverage?
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79 Comments On "Chase Consumer Cards Drop Primary Auto Rental Coverage For New York Residents, Here Are Some Other Options"
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The link to request the letter online points to https://chasecardbenefits.com/ – which has been down for quite some time now
Works fine for me. Try a US VPN?
Kabakov IYKYK
Hehe
“Another option is opting into AMEX Premium Car Rental coverage for $19.95 per rental… except for vehicles rented in Australia, Ireland, Israel…”
Really interesting that standard Amex coverage does cover Israel, but Premium excludes Israel.
Yup, pretty odd.
I did NOT know that
How is this legal?
We reached out to Chase for comment for the reason for this change and will update this post if they respond.
Ouch, that sorely hurts! What did NY residents do to get punished like this?
Probably some NY state regulation, though I don’t know what exactly.
NY has different compliance standards for all types of insurance- this is by far not the only example where NY residents don’t have access to the same insurance products as the other 49 states.
I’ll use jetblue
Are they primary or secondary?
Just NY is changing?
Yes, NY residents only.
How do we get this back?
Call you senator to change the law
Senators listed to the DFS, not the other way around. Talk to LICONY if you want to get involved
Sorry, I meant NYIA
You should realize that not everyone who has personal car insurance has insurance that covers car rentals.
I’m in NYC and have Geico on my personal car. However I have the lowest possible coverage, and hence car rentals are not covered. So for me, all these cards would still be primary.
My point is, it’s not a given that if you have personal car insurance that CC CDW is always secondary.
Incorrect. In NYS car insurance automatically covers rental if you are out of state or car in repair shop. (Car rental not covered prob means they don’t reimburse you for car rentals if car is in accident)
Yup, in my experience the lowest auto insurance doesn’t cover the cost of car rentals, but does cover damage to rental cars.
Is this true? Is that how it works? I have that too.
You seem to be confusing two different types of coverage. An add-on coverage, which you indicated you don’t have, is a rental car reimbursement in case of a covered claim. That has nothing to do with GEICO covering you in a rental car you happen to rent for any reason.
Does this mean where my license/ insurance policy is or my CC billing address?
What about someone who is a resident outside of NY but rents in NY?
Erm. Then it sounds like they’re not a NY state resident.
Isn’t it a NY law that NY residence are covered for rental cars under their personal auto insurance policy?
I think nearly all personal auto will cover you when you rent a car. But filing a claim with your insurance will make your rates go up.
Also a claim on your personal insurance is subject to a deductible, whereas rental CDW on a CC is no deductible.
You can still claim the deductible via your credit card’s secondary coverage, but your rates would still go up.
I have insurance in ny but only for third party not for my own car
The cow became primary?
Or I still need to report and get denied than use second?
A car I rented in CO was struck by a truck while parked in 2009. I filed a claim with Amex and they told me to file a claim with my insurance company and that Amex would be secondary to that. I didn’t even have my own insurance, but was a driver named on someone else’s NY policy. Although that policy had a deductible for comprehensive / collision that would have applied if the insured car had been damaged, they explained to me that because this claim was for an out of state rental, it was treated as a liability claim and there would be no deductible. Therefore, the Amex coverage ended up paying nothing. As far as I know, the insurance rate didn’t increase.
Dan thanks for this post I live in NY and travel to Florida often renting cars there I’ve always used my chase sapphire reserve. I have a trip coming up right after succos after reading your post I enrolled in Amex rental program. I tried calling Amex but it’s after hours to find out if this is a once a year enrolment which covers all rentals for a year or I need to enroll before every rental. ????
I believe it’s a one time enrollment and they’ll charge you automatically every rental until you opt out.
Correct, once and done.
why do you have to refuse the collision damage waiver (CDW) option from the rental car agency?
this has been bugging me for years
Cause they charge a lot of money for it, if you refuse you don’t have to pay
for me it sounds like its a requirement. In order for the cc’s coverage to kick in, you must decline the the rentals insurance, not just that they worry for unnecessary costs.
and i wonder why
Darn. I’ve used either the sapphire or United explorer card. Glad I’m still covered when I travel to Canada but it’s a problem in the US
Every time I rent a car in Israel I make sure they see me snapping pics & vids at pickup & dropoff, narrating any issues I see, etc.
They get pissed sometimes, since they know they won’t be able to squeeze you out.
True.
Umm, not sure why you didn’t mention it, but Bonzah is a really great option for all the types of Car Rental Insurance…
Bonzah is not so cheap anymore even though you could buy liability for a rental vehicle its about 12 dollars per day
+1
@Dan, you ever had a good experience using any of their policies?
I use free options.
Non ny renting in Israel. Amex Plat personal and biz – which will be primary coverage for Israel rental? Chase vs Amex platinum- which is better for Israel car rental?
Ink preferred is Primary
Amex is only secondary.
Remember, if you use the cash or unlimited there will be a foreign transaction fee.
I think you can pay car rental in USD, so no fees for foreign currency/ you choose which currency to bill you. iirc. Talking about inks, which are x5 Points at office supplies, and not cash back? any 5x AT office supplies and NO annual fees?
Is this a good enough reason to demand downgrading or closing a newly opened chase saphire reserve card?
No. Unless you’d like to give back the Sign Up Bonus and not get another one for 4 years.
If you don’t have personal insurance and you claim cc insurance does still go on your record somewhere ?
No.
Exclusions for New York by Chase, Israel by capital one… I guess Jews are higher risk.
How long will it be before NJ gets lumped into this somehow?
Amex has an amazing CDW since you are insured per rental until 42 days other than chase that gives you only 30 days.
It’s not primary unless you pay for premium.
Does Amex Platinum Business provide primary insurance for NY residents?
Not unless you pay the $19.95/rental fee mentioned in the post.
when/ how do you activate $19.95 fee for amex platnium to be primary? is it for both biz and personal platnium? ($700 each, planning to ditch one ……) – downgrade to what? or ok to close?
US Bank Altitude Reserve still offers primary I believe
what happens if the primary card holder has primary coverage thru his insurance and additional card member that is using the card for his car rental does not have primary coverage elsewhere, will he still be eligible?
Yes
Hey Dan,
So if I don’t have car insurance and I rent a car CDW effectively has the same coverage with my chase card as before or is there a change?
No change in that case.
Chase has dropped coverage in Israel. I am here now and the Chase letter specifically EXCLUDES Israel. When I was here in July, it was included.
For which card?
I just got the letter for CSR. It says Israel is included.
Read it again?
Does it go by the primary account holder or the card user, if a NY resident gets added as an user on a out of NY account, would that work?
I assume it goes by the driver’s residence, but you can call Chase and ask.
I prepaid a rental for succos in Miami with my chase card. Am I no longer covered for primary?? Can I change the card I use when I get there?
Correct, if you are an NY resident.
Yes, you should be able to.
Made a claim with an Ink Card. They needed a letter on letterhead confirming the trip was for business purposes.
What happens with the claim?, Do they accept any letter from the employer?, What should the letter state?
hi all
any changes multi month rental’s
covering month after month ?
also if i don’t have car insurance any thing changes ?
So what does Amex cover and which cards ??
Does the Td Aeroplan(A Canada card) provide primary coverage?
I have many Chase cards and am a NY resident with geico insurance. I also have some Citibank cards.
Does the issues also apply to Citibank cards for NY residents?
I’m not sure what you mean by primary and secondary coverage. Can you explain?
Thanks!