Rental vehicle insurance with Amplify Signature card

[aaa99]

Hello,

Long time lurker, first time poster here.

I have a question about the Rental Vehicle excess cover provided by Amplify credit card.
Have a Amplify Signature card and it includes Rental Vehicle excess in Australia insurance.

In my understanding this would mean that I dont need to purchase extra excess reduction with the rental car provider. Is this correct?
Generally, the rental car agreements I have looked at propose an excess in the order of $2000-5000.
Since the maximum cover limit under the card for this category is $5500, I assume it should cover this.

I checked with issuing bank and they said that the rental company needs to have an insurance in the first place that covers the vehicle.
This is not explicit in the rental agreement, but is having a maximum liability/excess the same?

Are there any gotchas to look out for?

Thanks

 

[Jacques Vert]

The standard insurance is almost always included in the cost of the rental but best to check your rental agreement or call the hire company. Then there is the "extra" insurance which the rental companies like to push "...to reduce your excess to zero (or whatever)..."

The Rental Vehicle Excess cover will cover your excess in the case of an accident so there is no need to pay the extra daily charge to the rental company PROVIDED:

1. Your credit card excess cover is sufficient to cover the excess: looks OK from what you have indicated;
2. You stick to the rules: no drink & drive, etc. Also, some vehicles are not allowed on dirt or gravel roads so your Credit Card insurance won't cover the excess if you ignore this condition; and
3. Most importantly; check the conditions required by the credit card insurance to "activate" the excess cover.

I can't remember the exact conditions for the Amplify but generally you have to meet a certain condition. On some cards this will be spending a certain amount (say $500) on the card on expenses related to this particular trip; on other cards it will be that you must pay the whole of the cost of the rental vehicle on the card, other credit cards will have different, but similar, requirements before the rental excess cover kicks in.

Also check whether the excess insurance covers a second driver (if you have one) and any conditions: some do cover the second driver, some don't, some require both names to be on the rental agreement, etc., etc.

I always rely on the rental excess cover on my credit card and never take the offer from the rental company which is usually very poor value; but I always make sure I check the Terms and Conditions and tick all the boxes.

JV

And welcome to AFF!

 

[aaa99]

The standard insurance is almost always included in the cost of the rental but best to check your rental agreement or call the hire company. Then there is the "extra" insurance which the rental companies like to push "...to reduce your excess to zero (or whatever)..."

The Rental Vehicle Excess cover will cover your excess in the case of an accident so there is no need to pay the extra daily charge to the rental company PROVIDED:

1. Your credit card excess cover is sufficient to cover the excess: looks OK from what you have indicated;
2. You stick to the rules: no drink & drive, etc. Also, some vehicles are not allowed on dirt or gravel roads so your Credit Card insurance won't cover the excess if you ignore this condition; and
3. Most importantly; check the conditions required by the credit card insurance to "activate" the excess cover.

I can't remember the exact conditions for the Amplify but generally you have to meet a certain condition. On some cards this will be spending a certain amount (say $500) on the card on expenses related to this particular trip; on other cards it will be that you must pay the whole of the cost of the rental vehicle on the card, other credit cards will have different, but similar, requirements before the rental excess cover kicks in.

Also check whether the excess insurance covers a second driver (if you have one) and any conditions: some do cover the second driver, some don't, some require both names to be on the rental agreement, etc., etc.

I always rely on the rental excess cover on my credit card and never take the offer from the rental company which is usually very poor value; but I always make sure I check the Terms and Conditions and tick all the boxes.

JV

And welcome to AFF!

Thank you for your time and the elaborate reply.
Some great points here that are worth checking.

I will have to double check point 3 on activating and the point about the second driver.

I also noticed that on the general rental vehicle excess insurance (not the one specific for Australia), they state that they will cover the smaller amount between:

1. Property damage as a result of the event and
2. Excess in the agreement

Most likely the excess would be less than property damages in most cases. I suppose like you said it is worth checking the standard rental insurance to check what they include/exclude in their cover in terms of property damage, etc.