Credit Card Benefits

[Dean Taylor]

I was recently in San Antonio on business. The last day there, I come out of my hotel (on my way to the airport) to find someone had backed into my rental car and left a big dent in the back door of it (mini-van). Of course, they left with no note or anything.

I never buy the adder insurance when I rent cars because I have pretty good insurance. I carry a $1,000 deductable on my auto insurance because I figure anything under that isn't worth filing for. My insurance company told me I should contact my credit card company I used to rent the car with to see if they had any coverage.

I contacted them (VISA) and much to my surprise, they covered the entire thing, with no deductable! They also covered the "days out of service" charge the rental car company charges while the vehicle is being repaired. I did have to send them about 10 pages of documents they require to process the claim but hey, this was probably $2K-$3K damage plus the days out of service charge.

No claim on my insurance means no deductable and my rates won't go up. Woo Hoo!

There are quite a few other benefits credit most cards carry too. I was aware of this but had never had to use them.

Also, this coverage is not available if I had used a debit card to rent with. I used a business card and was on business when it happened.

Keep this in mind if you ever have a problem with a purchase or rental vehicle incident.

 

[MEP001]

There are all sorts of things like that, for example I just found out that I have roadside assistance with my cell phone plan, and not just for me and my vehicles but anyone I and my cell phone are with when I call.

 

[Eric H]

There are all sorts of things like that, for example I just found out that I have roadside assistance with my cell phone plan, and not just for me and my vehicles but anyone I and my cell phone are with when I call.

Which carrier is that?

 

[pitzerwm]

There are a lot of things that are thrown in with your credit card etc, for this trip, I called American Express to let them know that I would be using the card out side the country and she told me about some Global Service, that if I have ANY problem overseas, to call a number collect and they will fix/figure it out for you. All free, well I expect there could be charges to bail you out of jail, but whatever.

Maybe we should read the fine print in that crap that they send us.

I found that there is a foreigntransaction fee of 3% on your CCards and from 1-3% on debt cards, so I found aome of each that wavied that. Of course, I getting screwed over her 2-4% on everything that I touch.

 

[rph9168]

Good information. I checked with my Discover and Visa cards and they do indeed offer collision damage as well as some other coverage. Visa required that the car be booked through them. I do not know how that works since I usually use Priceline but Discover only required that the rental be charged on their card. I never got coverage before because like most auto insurance I am covered on whatever vehicle I am driving.

It is no surprise that rental car companies never offer this tidbit of information. They charge an arm and a leg for daily coverage and probably make a lot of money with it. I rent rather frequently and have noticed that lately rental car companies are getting more aggressive in trying to get people to carry coverage.

 

[teamplex65]

And that my friends is why intrest rates are high, and the companies that accept the cards pay the transaction fees and percentages they do. When you use a rewards card at a restaurant, the restaurant is charged a higher percentage than a normal CC. The CC dont give up any of their profits, the "reward" comes from the restaurant being charged a higher transaction intrest rate. In turn the restaurant raises there prices to cover the 3-7% fee they get from rewards cards. Its not all free, and you pay for it somehow...