Amex card travel insurance

[drsmithy]

I can't speak about the AMEX cover, but I have used the CBA Gold Mastercard cover twice in the past (albeit quite a while ago - 2001 and 2003, I think it was). I believe it is/was underwritten by Zurich.

The first time was on a trip in NZ, when my bag with camera, some warm clothes, iPod, etc) was stolen while I was sitting at a table at a ski resort restaurant. (Aside: the thief must have had some serious stones, because he literally took it from behind me while I was sitting facing away from the table). I rang up about making a claim later that day and was told a police report would be required. Said report was dutifully filed and faxed to the CBA, new stuff was bought and the costs refunded within a week or two.

The second time was a trip to the UK, where I managed to put a serious scrape down the side of our rental car - excess was about 700 quid. The situation was made more complicated because it happened quite late the night before we left, and I had to drop the car off the next morning before the rental agency actually opened. I can't remember exactly who I had to forward all the paperwork to, but I ended up being refunded the excess (plus the currency conversion surcharge, if I remember rightly) within a couple of weeks.

 

[Bunty]

As equus states below, with a couple of points of further clarification.



To further clarify, when insurance is purchased from car hire companies in the US, there is no excess.

With regard to Amex Platinum Charge Card, although it covers LDW/Deductible, it does not provide third party property damage, third party injury cover or legal liability cover. This means that you will still need to purchase this in the US - known as various names by different car hire companies, including Additional Liability Insurnace (ALI), Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI) and others. Amex Plat Charge Card's included legal liability cover also specifically excludes cover when using a motorised vehicle, which would include a hire car, as do most, if not all, other credit card policies and bought travel insurance policies.

As discussed in numerous other threads on this forum, the best options for non-US residents, including Australians, when renting a car in the US are:

1. Hiring from the likes of Hertz, who often provide packaged rates including all insurances, often for less or only slightly more than the price for US residents excluding any insurance;

2. Booking through the UK based websites of the major car hire companies (e,.g. Avis, Dollar, Thrifty) which provide packaged rates including all insurances;

3. Booking through third party consolidators/aggregators/brokers, which also provide packaged rates including all insurances. Members on this forum recommend the likes of argus, driveaway holidays, netflights and others.

4. purchase a separate policy which specifically covers LDW and third party legal liability. There are a number of them available, usually from the UK, with cost starting at approx. AUD 100. Again, search this forum for further details.

The Amex Platinum T&C's does say:

"We will pay any amounts You are responsible for under the Rental Agreement,including the Deductible if loss is incurred during a Covered Rental Trip, as a result ofaccidental damage, fire, vandalism, theft or loss of use of the Rental Vehicle. This will​

apply whether You are responsible or not for the accident."

Presumably, this also includes third party property damage, third party injury cover or legal liability cover, unless these are specifically excluded elsewhere.

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[Bunty]

Like a few others here, I am very happy with the Amex Platinum Charge card insurance. At $900 pa for the card (unless you can get a discount), it is not cheap, but as you are presumably paying $249 for the Qantas Amex Premium, and $600 for the Travel Insurance you may want to consider the charge card if you qualify. Adding your wife as a supplementary would see you both covered by the Travel Insurance, for about the same net spend.

Benefits are a little different, so it will depend on your travel patterns - you wouldn't get 2 lounge invites, but instead get a Priority Pass membership. Take out the included Credit Card, and get a free DJ flight (or one night hotel stay). Lose out on bonus points on Qantas spend, but get higher rate (1.5 points per dollar) for all spend. No direct sweep to Qantas on the Charge Card, but gains the flexibilty to transfer to QF if you want, as well as other such as SQ, MH etc.

I don't believe you will need to add your wife as a supplementary as the T&C's suggest that she (and dependant children) are automatically covered under the Cardmember. The definition of the insured is:

"You/Your means any person provided they are an American Express Platinum​

Card member or their Spouse or Dependent Child."

Save the Supplementary for someone else!

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[Bali Belly]

Whilst we where in Bali in April my wife became very ill and required immediate hospitalization
as i have a amex card i rang the number on the back of my card and was directed to ace
they faxed al the details to my hotel and rang me after 2 days to make sure my wife was okay
once back home i faxes all invoices to Ace and payment was was recieved in 2 weeks
very happy with the service and manner of staff from Ace

 

[AdMEL]

The Amex Platinum T&C's does say:

"We will pay any amounts You are responsible for under the Rental Agreement,including the Deductible if loss is incurred during a Covered Rental Trip, as a result ofaccidental damage, fire, vandalism, theft or loss of use of the Rental Vehicle. This will​

apply whether You are responsible or not for the accident."

Presumably, this also includes third party property damage, third party injury cover or legal liability cover, unless these are specifically excluded elsewhere.

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Third party injury, third party property damage and legal liability are not mentioned.

Section H of the t&c's covers Personal Liability Cover and specifically says:

Exclusions under Personal Liability Cover​

Cover does not extend to any loss caused or contributed to by:
​

4. Injury or loss of or damage to material property arising directly or indirectly out

of the ownership, possession, control or use by You or on Your behalf of:

(a) mechanically propelled vehicles ​

Given this, my read is that you are not covered for third party injury or property damage when using a hire car.​

 

[jonglo111]

I was advised on 1.6.11 by Ace Insurance (underwriters for Amex travel policies) that they do not cover pre-existing ailments, so readers BEWARE if you have any pre-existing ailments! Seems to me that credit card travel insurance is an absolute minefield, especially when trying to read all the detail involved. Good luck!

 

[equus]

I don't believe you will need to add your wife as a supplementary as the T&C's suggest that she (and dependant children) are automatically covered under the Cardmember. The definition of the insured is:

"You/Your means any person provided they are an American Express Platinum​

Card member or their Spouse or Dependent Child."

Save the Supplementary for someone else!

Whilst maybe technically OK, unless you are always travelling together, it might be impractical unless the spouse has a supplementary card. Some of the insurance (travel inconvenience, hire care indemnity) require the expenses to be actually charged to the card in order to qualify. Difficult to do if you are a spouse travelling alone and don't have a supplementary card.

 

[Homer]

I was advised on 1.6.11 by Ace Insurance (underwriters for Amex travel policies) that they do not cover pre-existing ailments, so readers BEWARE if you have any pre-existing ailments! Seems to me that credit card travel insurance is an absolute minefield, especially when trying to read all the detail involved. Good luck!

Don’t be too alarmed. As I understand it most, if not all, travel insurance policies exclude pre-existing conditions.

 

[serfty]

Thanks Homer, it is the co branded Amex/Qantas Ultimate Credit Card.

Here's the PDS: http://www.americanexpress.com/australia/pdfs/platinum_credit_terms_condition.pdf

 

[Dr Bob]

I have the American Express Rewards Advantage Card with complimentary insurance. Traveling to Singapore in August I redeemed classic award J return with QFF points & paid taxes & charges on card thinking this would be enough. But after reading this thread & checking the T&C I was in doubt. T&C states to activate travel ins cover "Purchase of trip on Amex rewards advantage card OR with Membership Reward Points".
I have just spoken to Cardmember Services at ACE ins regarding purchase with "points" & his advice was- "In case of a claim we would ask you to provide your QFF activity statement to verify transfer of sufficient points from your rewards program to cover the points purchase & we are very lenient with the time frame".
Damm I'm 15K short & wont make that up next month so I'll have to buy insurance.
I would think this advise would apply to all their Amex policies.

 

[Homer]

I would think this advise would apply to all their Amex policies.

No, the charge card insurance is different. In the case of the Centurion card, being a card member is all that is required for the travel insurance to kick in regardless of whether you paid for tickets on an American Express card, or some other way, or whether or not you used points. I believe the Platinum charge card policy would be the same.

 

[Chatterbocks]

I have never worked up the courage to travel based on my AMEX coverage alone - maybe I have been wasting money on additional coverage. Based on many comments here seems to be ok to just use the AMEX cover...

 

[Rono]

The Amex Platinum T&C's does say:

"We will pay any amounts You are responsible for under the Rental Agreement,including the Deductible if loss is incurred during a Covered Rental Trip, as a result ofaccidental damage, fire, vandalism, theft or loss of use of the Rental Vehicle. This will​

apply whether You are responsible or not for the accident."

Presumably, this also includes third party property damage, third party injury cover or legal liability cover, unless these are specifically excluded elsewhere.

Bunty,
First paragraph right, second one is wrong, ie
Presumably, this also includes third party property damage, third party injury cover or legal liability cover
I think that if you ring Amex directly and speak to them, they will tell you what they told me only 2 months ago. No​

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[brucek]

Some good info re AMEX, however there are other premium cards more widely acepted than either AMEX, DC, JCB, et al. Having had all of the above in the past over a 35 year or so time span I find my Citibank Emirates Platinum Mastercard to be excellent value for money. All (almost) vendors that accept a credit card or EFTPOS accept it without surcharge. Many venues either don't accept AMEX and etc, or impose a surcharge, which they don't for MC or Visa. e.g. We stayed at Peppers Blue on Blue resort on Magnetic Island QLD last week and it imposes a 2% surcharge for AMEX and DC. Some fuel outlets don't accept such charge cards at all. My point is that many travellers charge airfares, accomodation, etc to cards other than AMEX. How do other major card companies 'free' insurance policies stack up?

Like some others, we don't travell OS to most countries without other travell insurance because we're not certain of how or if we will be covered by Citibank's platimum card insurance. Sure, some will say "read the policy". True, but I'm not a lawyer, and whilst I deal with commercial contracts on a regular basis am not confident enough to interpret with any authority a travell insurance policy's terms. It's too late after the event to argue, then lose a debate if one has to make a claim, and I expact the CC companies know this.

 

[steveda]

I'm sure that at some point Amex are going to cancel my card thanks to me claiming anything I can from the insurance, but I may as well milk it while I can. Another data point regarding an actual claim...

Was recently told by a nurse to delay/shortern a trip to Sydney due to health problems in the family (cue an extra $450 handed over to Qantas). Wife asked for a letter from them stating this for an insurance claim and was told it was their policy not to (we weren't going to argue as we'll need a bit of help from them over the next few months).

Put in a claim form by e-mail on 15th July with a covering letter stating that they could have a stat dec from me in lieu of the letter from the nurse if needed. Just had an e-mail back saying claim is approved and the $450 will be in my bank account in a few days.

All in all a pretty painless experience.

Cheers

Steve

 

[JakDac]

Just checked CommBank Plat Amex CANNOT use FF points for insurance

Just checked CommBank Plat Amex CANNOT use FF points for insurance not sure if reg Amex Gold Card changed (used to just pay taxes on card)

 

[bazza]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but does the Platinum charge card provide travel insurance even where the spend on travel is not made to the card itself? Does the travel insurance cover the family too?

 

[straitman]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but does the Platinum charge card provide travel insurance even where the spend on travel is not made to the card itself?

Yes

the travel insurance cover the family too?

It covers dependant family members. There is however the availability to get supplementary cards for non dependent immediate family members. I have done that for my daughters.

 

[Masonic Phantom]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but does the Platinum charge card provide travel insurance even where the spend on travel is not made to the card itself? Does the travel insurance cover the family too?

Hi bazza,
Yes it does cover you,spouse, & children under the age of 25 , without any expenditure on the card
It has served me well over the years.

Cheers M.P.

 

[bazza]

Hi bazza,
Yes it does cover you,spouse, & children under the age of 25 , without any expenditure on the card
It has served me well over the years.

Cheers M.P.

Thanks! Much better than the AMEX hotline - won't tell me a thing for certain, really.

Does the insurance cover the excess you pay on car rental if there are any claims? I know theres the $70,000 damage waiver... but thats different to paying the excess