How to use hire car access on my credit card

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bobe

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How do I go about using my credit card to use as the access for car hire in the USA? Do I just say at the counter that I don't want insurance as my card will cover it?
 
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Have a look at the thread linked above and the other US threads in the Car hire section.

To clarify/summarise:

Almost all Australian credit cards only cover the 'excess' on the rental car waiver (as mentioned, it is not insurance). The exceptions are Amex Plat and Centurion Charge cards, which provide Loss Damage Waiver cover for the rental car only (they do not provide third party legal liability cover, nor does any Australian issued travel insurance policy provide this for rental cars, as far as I'm aware). Despite what is mentioned in the thread linked above, as Mwenenzi says, excess is rarely applicable in the US - you either have no insurance, or full cover (where CDW/LDW and LIS/ALI taken or included), with no excess.

Forget using credit card - there are plenty of other options.
 
What ADMel said above is 100% correct

Your credit card insurance is next to worthless in the USA

Another way to explain it, is that without the insurance provided/paid to the rental car company, you are up for ALL costs/damages/loss of rental income/legal liablity/any other costs that they can charge to you.

So this could mean you are up for tens or hundreds of thousands of $$ for an accident.

The cost of insurance (CDW/LDW/LIS/ALI) is quite small when renting basic cars in the USA

You will find insurance is pretty much always packaged together with the car hire cost anyways as well.
 
I usually booked US car rental through www.arguscarhire.com which includes insurance however when picking up the car I always confirm that in the unlikely event of an accident I'm up for zero in damages ie come out of it without paying one cent.
 
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