If you re planning on renting a car outside the US, the quickest way to determine if you ll be cover

Do I need to buy rental southwest airlines fares reservations car insurance? Skip to content Home Start Here! About Spencer s Plan Make Money AirBnB.com Lending Club With Credit Cards College Students Save The Best Military Banks Zero TV Free Credit Reports On Deployment southwest airlines fares reservations Memory Foam Mattress Rental southwest airlines fares reservations Car Insurance Cable TV Invest Personal Capital TSP SDP Credit Cards Barclaycard Arrival $440 Bonus Frontier Airlines 50k Miles Bonus AAFES Military Star Card American Express Insurance Auto Life Military Benefits GI Bill All Posts Best Of MMM Contact Me Lending Club Review 1.5 years, 8.35% return, 2 Defaults How much does having kids increase your military pay? Do I need to buy rental car insurance? Posted on October 19, 2012 by Spencer
Long answer: It depends on what country you re in, your auto insurance coverage, what credit card you use, and how much hassle you want to deal with in the event a claim is made. Renting Outside the United States
If you re planning on renting a car outside the US, the quickest way to determine if you ll be covered is to contact your auto insurance company or credit card company. Most credit card companies and insurance companies extend coverage to most of the world, but it doesn t hurt to check. Personally, I always pay extra for rental car insurance outside the US. It s just not worth the hassle dealing with foreign laws and rental car companies when they find the slightest ding on your car. The rest of the information in this article assumes you re renting in the US. Auto Insurance
Many military members insure themselves southwest airlines fares reservations and their automobile through USAA. If you have USAA auto insurance,  the coverage you have on your vehicles extends to your rental car . You can see this for yourself in your USAA auto insurance by going to the FAQ section.
For other companies, I recommend calling them or checking their respective website to see  if they extend the same coverage to rental cars. Usually, they do. Do credit cards cover car rental insurance?
All of the four major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover) offer some sort of car rental insurance. All of these programs require the following two steps: Pay for the rental using an eligible card Decline the collision damage waiver offered by the rental car company
That second step can throw people for a loop. You mean I m supposed to say no to extra insurance? Well, yes. It can be counter-intuitive, but if you want to save money, declining the rental insurance offered by the rental company can save you 30-50% southwest airlines fares reservations of the cost of renting.
Most of the credit card insurance programs offer secondary coverage. southwest airlines fares reservations That means that your auto insurance is on the hook first for any damage and then your credit card will cover the remainder. If your auto insurance southwest airlines fares reservations doesn t cover collision or some other category, then the credit card company would become your primary coverage southwest airlines fares reservations provider and would cover the damage, usually up to a pre-determined southwest airlines fares reservations amount. VISA Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver
Then you have a collision damage waiver   from Visa . That list covers pretty much every card Visa issues, other than Student cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards. Visa covers up to the actual cash value of the vehicle as it was originally manufactured. Be sure to file any claim within 45 days. This does not appear to cover liability or medical expenses, so ensure that your regular auto insurance covers you for these contingencies. southwest airlines fares reservations MASTERCARD -  Car Rental Collision Damage Waiver Insurance
MasterCard is not as forthcoming on their website as to what cards are eligible or what their coverage limits may be. However, they do offer car rental collision damage waiver for some of their eligible cards. The USAA Cash Rewards® World MasterCard®  is one of the MasterCards that offers auto rental insurance. AMERICAN EXPRESS Car Rental Insurance
AMEX offers up to $50,000 coverage on most of their cards. Like most the credit card auto insurance products, their coverage is secondary southwest airlines fares reservations (meaning your regular auto insurance covers what they will first). Some of the AMEX Platinum cards offer up to $75,000 in coverage. DISCOVER Car Rental Insurance Plan
Discover only offers $25,000 in secondary coverage. This should be sufficient provided you have additional coverage through your auto insurance company. If not, you may want to consider purchasing collision coverage from the auto rental company or using a different card that offers better protection. The Best Credit Card Auto Insurance Policy
Of the course major credit card companies, Visa seems to offer the most protection, on the most number of cards, for the lowest cost (FREE!). Visa is also the most transparent of the four companies when it comes to describing their policy and coverage. My experience with Chase car rental insurance
When I was TDY to Oklahoma for 3 months, I rented cars nearly every weekend. It was cheap (usually only $70 for Friday morning to Monday southwest airlines fares reservations morning) and of course I didn t have to worry about maintenance or other annoying costs of ownership.
During this time, I never once paid for the Enterprise car rental insurance. Because I was using the Chase Freedom Card and the Chase Sapphire Preferred to rent these cars, I never paid a dime for rental car insurance from the rental car company . This saved me over 50% of the cost of renting, and I was still covered by my USAA auto insurance and the supplemental coverage of the credit cards.
While I never had to make a claim, Chase s customer support has always been helpful and relatively painless. I m sure they would handle the claims process quickly and professionally. The Chase car rental insurance covered me for nearly a dozen car rentals and I never once had a problem with it. The Bottom Line on Rental Car Insurance
So before you rent, ask yourself these questions: Am I renting in the United southwest airlines fares reservations States? Does my regular auto insurance extend to rental cars? Am I using a credit card that includes a auto rental collision damage waiver?
southwest airlines fares reservations If you answered southwest airlines fares reservations yes to all of these questions, you do not need to purchase rental car insurance from the rental car company . If you answered no to one or more of the questions, you re going to want to double check your coverage and make sure that you ll be covered in some form.
Insurance is an important part of protecting your financial assets and moving towards financial independence. However, saving money is also one of the quickest ways to becoming financially independent. By using your regular auto insurance and credit cards, you can insure yourself while saving southwest airlines fares reservations over 50% of the cost of renting automobiles.
Have you ever had an accident while driving a rental car? I d love to hear about your insurance experience in the comments, especially if you went through your credit card company! My Top Three Recommendations for Achieving Financial Independence While You Serve
1. Bank with a military friendly bank , like USAA . I've been a proud member of USAA for 6 years now and have never had a better customer experience with any other bank. They charge no BS fees, refund ATM fees, and have the best auto insurance prices for military servicemembers.
2. Use a cashback credit card , like the Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard . How does a $440 sign up bonus, NO foreign transaction fees, and 2.2% cashback on every purchase sound? Read my review southwest airlines fares reservations to see why I love this new card.
3. Track your growing investments using Personal Capital . In order to get where you want to go, you have to know where you are. Personal Capital is like Mint.com for investors. While Mint is good for tracking your expenses southwest airlines fares reservations and getting out of debt, PC is good for seeing your wealth and investments accumulate and grow. Track your Roth TSP, Roth IRA, banking accounts, SDP, and the myriad of other accounts you have all in one place with Personal Capital. It's free and presents a beautiful graphical view of your financial situation. Join today to get the most complete picture of your finances. Read my full review here .
This entry was posted in Credit Cards , Insurance . Bookmark the permalink . Lending Club Review 1.5 years, 8.35% return, 2 Defaults How much does having kids increase your military pay? One Response to Do I need to buy rental car insurance? southwest airlines fares reservations Carolsue says: October 1, 2013 at 22:26
There is some very useful info here. So many people spend money on rental car insurance when they really don t have to. It s good to know when you should add extra and when it s not necessary. Reply Leave a Reply Cancel southwest airlines fares reservations reply
Hey there! I'm Spencer, southwest airlines fares reservations the creator of Military Money Manual. I'm an active duty officer in the US Air Force. I write about achieving financial independence southwest airlines fares reservations using your military pay and benefits. My goal is to be financially southwest airlines fares reservations independent by age 40 . I love traveling with my wife and for work. I'm always southwest airlines fares reservations looking for ways to increase my income, save more, invest smarter, maximize my military benefits, and live better. Please leave a comment or drop me a note, I'd love to start a conversation!
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