Author Topic: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage  (Read 6373 times)

Monkey stache

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Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« on: July 23, 2015, 02:42:26 PM »
I'm finally going carless! Anyways, occasionally I will need to rent a car but I'm no longer an insured driver. My credit card company (Mastercard) covers rentals up to $50,000 (I always rent economy) and if I use the card to pay the whole balance of the rental and decline coverage from the rental company. Does anyone have any experience with this? I read the fine print but I still wonder if there's any loopholes I don't know about.

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2015, 03:04:10 PM »
Yes I use my AMEX for this, which I imagine is the same thing.  Only loopholes are it doesn't cover liability, so you need coverage for that, and there's also a limit on the number of consecutive rental days.  On AMEX it's 30 days, but you can purchase extended protection.  Oh, and it usually doesn't cover all rental types, like trucks, full size SUVs, and sports cars.

forummm

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2015, 03:09:03 PM »
I'm not familiar with Mastercard's terms. But Visa has a very similar benefit. With Visa they don't pay for "loss of use" costs--i.e. the value that the rental agency is not getting from renting out the car while it's being prepared. But that amount of money is going to be limited so I don't worry about it.

Visa also does not pay for liability coverage. So it's actually illegal to drive around without liability coverage. You either need to take it from the rental agency or get your own policy from an insurer. There was a thread here recently about them--I forget the name of the term but it's car insurance for people who don't own a car.

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2015, 03:19:03 PM »
Visa also does not pay for liability coverage. So it's actually illegal to drive around without liability coverage. You either need to take it from the rental agency or get your own policy from an insurer. There was a thread here recently about them--I forget the name of the term but it's car insurance for people who don't own a car.

Now-owners liability is what you'll want to look for.  Most insurance companies don't offer it.  I have it through State Farm, someone else in that other thread has it a little cheaper through Gieko.  I've heard USAA also offers it but I can't use them and have never gotten confirmation from anyone that they really do.

beltim

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2015, 03:31:54 PM »
Visa also does not pay for liability coverage. So it's actually illegal to drive around without liability coverage. You either need to take it from the rental agency or get your own policy from an insurer. There was a thread here recently about them--I forget the name of the term but it's car insurance for people who don't own a car.

Now-owners liability is what you'll want to look for.  Most insurance companies don't offer it.  I have it through State Farm, someone else in that other thread has it a little cheaper through Gieko.  I've heard USAA also offers it but I can't use them and have never gotten confirmation from anyone that they really do.

USAA does offer it.  I had them quote a price for me last year.

Monkey stache

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2015, 05:14:48 PM »
Thanks for the information. I didn't realize that liability wasn't covered with my credit card. When I canceled with USAA they offered the non-owner coverage and I didn't get a quote but will now. I really don't want to pay monthly for something I'm only using here and there but I imagine it's cheaper than getting it through the rental car company.

My other option is using car2go but it gets expensive if I need the car for the day (includes full coverage insurance). $85+22% in taxes (~$104) vs Hertz will rent me a car for 24 hours for under $40 including taxes and fees but not insurance. I don't plan on needing an all day rental on a regular basis as we have decent public transportation plus good bike infrastructure.

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2015, 06:26:33 PM »
Thanks for the information. I didn't realize that liability wasn't covered with my credit card. When I canceled with USAA they offered the non-owner coverage and I didn't get a quote but will now. I really don't want to pay monthly for something I'm only using here and there but I imagine it's cheaper than getting it through the rental car company.

My other option is using car2go but it gets expensive if I need the car for the day (includes full coverage insurance). $85+22% in taxes (~$104) vs Hertz will rent me a car for 24 hours for under $40 including taxes and fees but not insurance. I don't plan on needing an all day rental on a regular basis as we have decent public transportation plus good bike infrastructure.

I do all of the above.  I have zipcar ($60/yr + per-hour rental) for quick errands, like picking up someone from the airport, and do normal car rentals for weekend getaways etc.  It does get to be a little expensive to cover all options like that, but it's still way cheaper than owning a car, and cheaper than using zipcar for more than a day, which it's not really intended for.  If you don't think you'll use a normal rental that often you can just use their insurance for the liability part (which is cheaper than the loss/damage waiver) and save yourself the hassle/cost of purchasing your own.  I just got it because I'm doing a monthly rental in August so the non-owners policy immediately paid for itself.  I may not renew it.

Monkey stache

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #7 on: July 23, 2015, 07:25:18 PM »
Ryan, how do you like Zip car? We have it here but it's not conveniently located (yet?). Also since you don't own a car, do you use Google Express? I was looking at that the other day and I remember it's available in San Fran (so jealous!).

Called USAA and it's $12.30 a month for non-owner liability which seems very fair. I'm renting a car for a week next month while I'm out of town so I'll go with that rather than the $28/day coverage through the car rental place. Can I  have a policy for only a month? Still debating the pro's and cons of a traditional rental vs car2go for a day. Car2go includes insurance AND gas and is very conveniently located (usually around the corner from me) but is $103 a day. The traditional rental involves me catching a bus to a train to the airport ($1.75-2.25 fare and 40 minutes each way), I have to pay for gas, keep non-owner insurance but only costs $40 for the day (before gas and insurance). I'm thinking I'd be doing this once a month.

Edit: Third option is another rental place downtown which is 15-20 minutes by one bus but it's $55/day.
Edit again: I can't math. The non-owner insurance is $12.30 a month.
« Last Edit: July 23, 2015, 10:35:50 PM by Monkey stache »

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #8 on: July 23, 2015, 07:49:46 PM »
Ryan, how do you like Zip car? We have it here but it's not conveniently located (yet?). Also since you don't own a car, do you use Google Express? I was looking at that the other day and I remember it's available in San Fran (so jealous!).

Called USAA and it's $6.15 a month for non-owner liability which seems very fair. I'm renting a car for a week next month while I'm out of town so I'll go with that rather than the $28/day coverage through the car rental place. Can I  have a policy for only a month? Still debating the pro's and cons of a traditional rental vs car2go for a day. Car2go includes insurance AND gas and is very conveniently located (usually around the corner from me) but is $103 a day. The traditional rental involves me catching a bus to a train to the airport ($1.75-2.25 fare and 40 minutes each way), I have to pay for gas, keep non-owner insurance but only costs $40 for the day (before gas and insurance). I'm thinking I'd be doing this once a month.

Edit: Third option is another rental place downtown which is 15-20 minutes by one bus but it's $55/day.

I like zipcar, they have good service and the cars have been good, but there are also about 5 different locations within 4 blocks of me, so it's super convenient.  My non-owners is about $250/yr so that price is crazy cheap, I'd definitely get that.  As far as ability to only do it for a month that's up to them.  I have to do mine in 6-month terms.

The other options are just a trade-off between convenience and cost.  I've done zipcar for a whole day (about $100) a couple times when I had visitors and didn't want to waste several hours getting to and from the rental car company via transit, but for a whole weekend it's definitely not worth it.

dodojojo

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #9 on: July 23, 2015, 09:31:44 PM »
I'm going to call USAA about non-owner liability insurance tomorrow.

I swear a few years back, I called multiple insurance companies and none of them offered this type of insurance.  So for personal rental, I always buy liability insurance from the car rentals.  The prices usually range from 12-15 daily.  A monthly rate of 6.15 is a bargain.  I probably average about 12-18 days of car rental annually.  I'm traveling next week and will have a 4 day rental.  I wonder if the insurance will be valid in time?

Monkey stache

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #10 on: July 23, 2015, 10:34:40 PM »
I can't math you guys! It's $73.77 for a 6 month premium which is $12.30 a month. Don't know why I divided it by 12. D'oh! Still far cheaper than my policy when I owned a car. I wonder why the insurance with the car rental company is cheaper for you though. It's around $28-30 a day when I book online.

forummm

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #11 on: July 24, 2015, 05:57:28 AM »
I wonder why the insurance with the car rental company is cheaper for you though. It's around $28-30 a day when I book online.

There are usually 3 kinds of insurance they offer--damage to the vehicle, liability, and medical. Maybe you're looking at a bundled price.

DeltaBond

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #12 on: July 24, 2015, 06:39:55 AM »
From someone who had a rental car damaged, I would personally just pay for the insurance with the rental of the car.  They have a tendency to charge things that those insurance plans don't cover, and that's all their insane calculations of  what income and profit they lost by having to keep the car in a shop to be fixed and not rent it out for those days.  They really punish you if you damage their rental cars.  I have my own insurance, but I will ALWAYS get their insurance, too, period.

dodojojo

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2015, 09:27:22 AM »
From someone who had a rental car damaged, I would personally just pay for the insurance with the rental of the car.  They have a tendency to charge things that those insurance plans don't cover, and that's all their insane calculations of  what income and profit they lost by having to keep the car in a shop to be fixed and not rent it out for those days.  They really punish you if you damage their rental cars.  I have my own insurance, but I will ALWAYS get their insurance, too, period.

I have an internal debate about this every single time I'm renting...right up till I get to the counter and then I opt for just liability.  From your post, it seems like it just buying comprehensive coverage is the way to go?  It just chaps my hide that it comes out to $26-30 daily on top of the rental!

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #14 on: July 24, 2015, 10:33:56 AM »
I have an internal debate about this every single time I'm renting...right up till I get to the counter and then I opt for just liability.  From your post, it seems like it just buying comprehensive coverage is the way to go?  It just chaps my hide that it comes out to $26-30 daily on top of the rental!

Which is why I use my own insurance.  I'm willing to take the risk.  Although using the rental companies insurance can be nice in that you can do anything to the car and not worry about it.  Really nice for times like when we went off the grid camping in a Fiat500 and the roads were intended for a 4x4.

K-ice

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #15 on: July 24, 2015, 11:07:25 AM »
I always find it unclear at the rental.

I've also called the CC to confirm and it doesn't help much.

The rental said the collision insurance is included so I can't decline it. "It's Free"
The car got scratched/gashed. Deep, two doors.
400€ deductible for the damage. Probably about 1000€ to fix.
CC did not reimburse since I didn't decline.
I tried to explain that the 400 was less then the 1000 so I don't understand why they would still reimburse me. But I knew they wouldn't.

Very frustrating.

5y later same rental. I insisted on declining. He acted like I was from outer space. Saved no $ on the rental.  He said I would be responsible for everything.
Did I trust my Cc?

Luckily all went smooth so IDK.



DeltaBond

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #16 on: July 24, 2015, 11:22:59 AM »
From someone who had a rental car damaged, I would personally just pay for the insurance with the rental of the car.  They have a tendency to charge things that those insurance plans don't cover, and that's all their insane calculations of  what income and profit they lost by having to keep the car in a shop to be fixed and not rent it out for those days.  They really punish you if you damage their rental cars.  I have my own insurance, but I will ALWAYS get their insurance, too, period.

I have an internal debate about this every single time I'm renting...right up till I get to the counter and then I opt for just liability.  From your post, it seems like it just buying comprehensive coverage is the way to go?  It just chaps my hide that it comes out to $26-30 daily on top of the rental!

I will never again decline their insurance.  If that's the cost, then that's the cost of renting the car.

wotan

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Monkey stache

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #18 on: July 25, 2015, 10:04:22 AM »
I think I'll get non-driver coverage since it's $147.54 for an entire year and I always take a 7-8 day trip every year and rent car for that duration. The additional insurance through the rental car company for one week costs more than a year's worth of insurance. Plus I can rent a car when I need it throughout the year and still be covered by my non-driver insurance.

Monkey stache

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Re: Mastercard car rental insurance coverage
« Reply #19 on: August 20, 2015, 05:13:04 PM »
Update: I called USAA to get non-owner auto insurance and they told me I get a multi-policy discount on my homeowner's insurance. I'm not sure why the retentions department didn't tell me this when pitching that policy because my discount exceeds the cost of non-owner insurance. It would cost me money not to have it!