Does Chase Credit Card Cover Your Car Rental Insurance?

Chase Credit Card Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited offer insurance benefits for the financial expense of a damaged or stolen rental car. However, collision damage waiver (CDW) coverage is secondary insurance, meaning it only kicks in when other types of coverage have been depleted.

Individuals renting cars frequently may benefit from the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Chase credit cards provide cardholders primary rental car insurance.

How Rental Car Insurance Works

The Chase Freedom FlexSM and Chase Freedom Unlimited CDWs cover damage to a vehicle rented using the Chase credit card caused by collision or theft up to the monetary value of the vehicle. But keep in mind that this benefit is only paid out when other types of insurance have been covered.

ACCORDING TO THE BENEFITS GUIDE, the CDW will not pay for theft or damage that is refundable by your insurers, employers, employer’s insurance, or any other legal reimbursement.

Therefore, the Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited CDWs are supplemental insurance. It will only cover the gaps in your automobile insurance. In most circumstances, the benefit will cover your deductibles or the money you will have to pay from your own pocket if you file a claim under your current auto insurance policy.

Chase credit cards give primary insurance when you file a claim, taking precedence over your auto insurance. One such card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, which, unlike the Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited cards, has an annual charge of $95.

Collision Damage Waiver (CDW)

A CDW is primarily designed to cover the financial costs of a damaged or stolen rental automobile. If you return a car with a defect or damage, the card’s coverage will take effect after all other kinds of insurance have been exhausted, including your automobile insurance. As a result, customers who have a large deductible on their existing automobile insurance coverage will benefit the most from supplementary rental car insurance.

Since it is before your auto insurance policy, frequent car renters would be better off with a Chase credit card offering primary rental automobile insurance. Because the card, rather than other kinds of insurance, pay the claim, cardholders with main rental vehicle insurance can avoid a claim and higher car insurance prices.

That isn’t the case with most Chase credit cards’ secondary insurance, which requires you to file a claim on your auto insurance before covering any excess charges.

Choose the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, which has the best primary auto insurance policy of any card, offering the perk and the lowest yearly fee. 

On the negative, the only cards that offer primary insurance incur an annual cost, but given that rental vehicle companies charge as much as $10 or $15 per day for CDWs, the annual price more than pays for itself for frequent renters. 

For customers who rent automobiles for at least one week each year, a $95 annual cost on a card with total coverage pays for itself.

How To Make The Most Of This?

When you use the Chase Freedom Flex or Chase Freedom Unlimited card to pay for the whole vehicle rental transaction and refuse equivalent coverage from the car rental provider, you will get a CDW.

The two-step procedure for obtaining a CDW is as follows:

1. Complete the whole rental transaction with your benefit-eligible Chase credit card.
   
2. If the rental business offers you a collision damage waiver or equivalent clause, decline it. In their contract or while interacting with you, the corporation may refer to the vehicle damage insurance as a CDW or LDW (loss damage waiver). You will not be qualified for the vehicle rental CDW if you accept the rental company’s collision damage waiver.

What Does CWD Cover?

The CDW compensates cardholders up to the monetary value of the rental automobile for any insured damage or loss. This perk is only valid for rentals of up to 31 days in a row, and the entire transaction must be started and completed using your Chase credit card.

The following are some examples of frequently covered losses:

• Theft and physical damage to the covered rental car.
  
• Towing reasonable expenses for transporting the vehicle to a qualified repair facility.
  
• While the car is being repaired, the firm rental levies valid loss-of-use costs.

Loss-of-use coverage is crucial because few people understand they’re liable for paying for a rental car while their car is being repaired. For example, if an accident causes damage that requires a week to repair, the renter must pay when the vehicle is out of service. Chase credit card rental car insurance might be useful in this situation.

It’s worth noting that the coverage excludes any responsibility or damage to other vehicles. It also excludes any bodily injury or other forms of responsibility. The coverage is just for the expense of repairing or replacing a rental vehicle that has been damaged or stolen. On the plus side, most state laws require automobile rental firms to provide customers with liability and bodily harm coverage.

Which Vehicles Are Not Covered

Most Chase credit cards, including Chase Freedom® cards, do not cover particularly expensive automobiles for obvious reasons. 

The CDW does not apply to most luxurious and exotic automobiles (such as Lamborghinis), bigger vehicles (vans that can transport more than eight people), or vintage vehicles (cars that are more than 20 years old or haven’t been manufactured in the previous 10 years). Trucks, motorcycles, and a few other sorts of vehicles aren’t covered either.

Final Word

Chase credit card does not include rental car insurance with full coverage. However, it does provide roadside assistance and a collision damage waiver.

When you use your Chase Freedom card to pay for a rental car and refuse the rental car company’s collision insurance, your card will protect you from theft and collision. This coverage is secondary to your current automobile policy if you already have automobile insurance.

If you don’t have auto insurance or want extra protection, the rental car company’s liability insurance is available. This will safeguard others if you hurt or damage someone else’s car in an accident where you were at fault.