by somaligentleman » Tue Jun 02, 2009 03:30 am
I don't own a vehicle nor any car insurance policy but occasionally do rent vehicles. The Collision Damage Waiver runs about $20-25/day which is too expensive. I have seen products such as American Express Premium Car Rental Loss Damage insurance which offers primary CDW coverage for $25/per rental occasion. There is a similar policy from Access America and other companies.
Are these policies worth buying rather than counting on the secondary coverage CDW offered by credit cards or rental company CDW ? Has anyone filed a claim with American Express's Premium Car Rental Loss Damage Waiver ?
Are these policies worth buying rather than counting on the secondary coverage CDW offered by credit cards or rental company CDW ? Has anyone filed a claim with American Express's Premium Car Rental Loss Damage Waiver ?
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 03:46 am Post Subject:
This has come up several times in the past. There is a product called a Non-owners policy that covers you while you are driving a vehicle you do not own. From what I understand it's relatively inexpensive.
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 06:19 am Post Subject:
Hi somaligentleman,
Is there a specific reason why you wanna go for these bank products?
I do believe many of us have tasted these products and came up complaining for unsettled claims.
I have seen products such as American Express Premium Car Rental Loss Damage insurance which offers primary CDW coverage for $25/per rental occasion.
Did you shop online? Or is it that you received telemarketing calls?
Steven
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 09:27 am Post Subject:
I have seen products such as American Express Premium Car Rental Loss Damage insurance which offers primary CDW coverage for $25/per rental occasion. There is a similar policy from Access America and other companies.
Do you someone who has used these products and can give you a feedback? As Steven has mentioned you may face troubles in processing a claim in the future with these policies as they may have several exclusions.
I'd suggest that even if you go for these plans have an agent explain all the terms and conditions of the policy explained to you beforehand.
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 01:54 pm Post Subject:
Thank you all for your help.
TCope - I live in Massachusetts and can't seem to find a nonowner's policy. I have asked Liberty Mutual and they don't offer such a policy.
Steven - I discovered these products after renting a car using Hotwire.com and was offered a CDW policy by Access America for only $36 for the entire period while Hertz wanted $25 per day. I did some further research and saw that there were plenty of complaints against Access America especially for travel insurance claim issues that I did not take it and instead paid the CDW offered by Hertz as I do not own an insurance policy.
Kelvin, I have spent time googling and could not find any claim issues with the Access America Rental CDW and there was scant information on claim issues with the American Express Premium Rental Collision product. I have read over the fine print on the American Express product and it seems to be more comprehensive than the credit card secondary coverage but I am uncertain how convenient/with ease on how they settle claims. I had hoped to find resources online/testimonials of people who have used such a product.
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 04:35 pm Post Subject:
TCope - I live in Massachusetts and can't seem to find a nonowner's policy. I have asked Liberty Mutual and they don't offer such a policy.
Other posters have mentioned that they could not find these policies either. I only know they existed/were written years ago when I worked at USAA as I took a few claims under these types of policies.Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 04:17 am Post Subject:
Most insurance companies can offer you a Non-Owner's Policy. From what I hear, it is not that expensive. Definitely a good idea to get that, since you seem to be driving cars that are not yours quite often. Visit Auto Insure USA. Simply enter your Zip Code, and upon doing so, you will be presented with a list of local auto insurance companies. From there, you can visit each company as you wish, and receive free quotes.
Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 05:33 am Post Subject:
Hi Somaligentleman,
I did some further research and saw that there were plenty of complaints against Access America especially for travel insurance claim issues that I did not take it and instead paid the CDW offered by Hertz as I do not own an insurance policy.
Did you conduct the same research on Hertz settlement process?
Do you have any idea of their settlement success rate?
Steven
Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 06:18 am Post Subject:
Hi Somaligentleman, Hope you have also compared the coverage offered by Hertz.
I've always been uneasy with these cheap policies. Often they are not worth the money. I think you would agree that not finding complaints online doesn't imply that the company has a clear track record with claims.
You would find bunch of complaints against big companies like- Allstate, StateFarm or Geico. But when you would compare the number of complaints against the business they write you would find the ratio negligible.
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