The fact that many credit cards provide rental vehicle advantages is no surprise; given the amount of money banks have invested in marketing credit cards to regular travellers. Most credit cards offer rental vehicle discounts, so use yours when you're planning a trip and save money on a car rental.
Credit cards that provide rental vehicle advantages sometimes come with collision damage waivers, discounts on rentals, and even complimentary memberships in rental car loyalty programmers.
Credit Card Benefits for Car Rentals
· Insurance
When you refuse the rental vehicle company's insurance and bill the whole rental to your credit card, many credit cards offer some collision/loss damage waiver coverage. When renting a car, this is one of the most valuable features of most credit cards since it may protect you from a significant financial loss if you damage a rental automobile and save you $10 to $25 per day in insurance fees from the car rental business.
· Secondary or Primary Insurance
Before using it, it's critical to know if your credit card's automobile rental insurance benefit is primary or secondary. As a general rule, if you lose, damage, or steal your vehicle while renting a car from a rental company and your credit card's insurance covers the damage, your credit card's insurance will pay for it first.
This is critical, as personal auto insurance often includes a deductible, and any claims made against it will appear on your C.L.U.E. report, which might lead to an increase in your premium. Using a credit card as secondary insurance will only cover damages not covered by your insurance.
· Personal or Business
Your credit card's automobile rental insurance coverage may not protect you if you rent a vehicle for a business trip or a holiday. Your credit card company sometimes restricts car rental insurance coverage based on the purpose of your travel.
Most small company credit cards limit the scope to business-related rentals. Thus, this is a regular occurrence. If you want to hire a car, be sure your vacation is covered by the collision/loss damage waiver insurance offered by your credit card.
· Rentals Abroad—Beware Exclusions
If you have a credit card, you may get insurance for automobile rentals, but that doesn't imply the coverage is universal. The majority of credit cards that offer automobile rental coverage restrict specific nations' protection. Be aware of these restrictions when you rent a car overseas, and don't rely on your credit card to protect you in areas that it doesn't.
· Additional Restrictions
You should be aware of additional limits and exclusions with credit card automobile rental insurance before depending on it. The amount of time a customer may use a credit card to pay for a rental automobile is sometimes restricted.
Turo and other peer-to-peer "car-sharing" services like it are not covered by many credit card companies' rental vehicle insurance policies. Moving vans, trucks, and towing vehicles are frequent exclusions from coverage.
Best Car Rental Credit Cards
Rental car desks and shuttle buses with business logos circling the arrivals level may spring to mind while thinking about renting a car. On the other hand, Rental automobiles are a viable choice for those on the road. Taking road journeys that last more than a few hours may necessitate hiring a car if yours is an older model with less than ideal reliability.
When traveling with more than one person or with a lot of camping gear, you may want to consider hiring a larger vehicle. It's also possible that you wish to maximize your mileage, given the distance, you'll be covering.
· Chase Sapphire Favored Card
Redeeming points and depending on rental vehicle coverage are both possible with the widely used Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.
Rental vehicles may be booked using Chase Ultimate Rewards points, worth 1.25 cents each when redeemed for travel, so a $150 car rental will typically cost you roughly 12,000 points.
A unique feature of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is that it pays for damage to your rental car before your regular auto insurance does. Most rental cars come with a cash value coverage limit equal to your pay for them.
· Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase Sapphire Reserve, a more expensive version of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, offers identical perks to the more basic card, including primary insurance for rental cars. There is a $75,000 deductible.
With this card, you'll be able to get more bang for your buck with your Chase Ultimate Rewards® points than you would with the Sapphire Preferred Card. With a point value of 1.5 cents per point, a $150 automobile hire only required 10,000 points.
Because of the cardholder discounts, you may choose to purchase with cash instead of redeeming your points. National Car Rental's elite status is automatically granted to Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders (yes, rental car companies have loyalty programmers and select groups like airlines and hotels).
· Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One World Elite MasterCard has a cheaper annual cost than the Chase Sapphire Reserve and offers better rental car benefits than the latter.
When it comes to primary automobile rental insurance coverage, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card comes standard with a limit of $75,000.
Hertz President Circle membership, which grants you access to a particular Hertz Rewards member line as well as the ability to choose from the most fantastic range of Hertz credit cards.
