Last Updated on July 30, 2024 by Elizabeth
Many credit cards provide car rental insurance among its travel benefits, but which are the best of the best? In a study from WalletHub, credit cards from Chase and Wells Fargo top the list.
While many cards offer coverage up to the cash value of your rental vehicle, the best credit card rental car insurance policies up the ante to as much as $75,000.
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Amazingly, the WalletHub study found that less than half of consumers (47%) even know that credit cards often provide car insurance coverage. This is a big deal, since having protection—either from your personal auto insurance or from a credit card—can mean that you don’t have to opt for expensive over-the-counter insurance offered by the rental car company.
Best and Worst Credit Cards for Car Rental Insurance
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After analyzing the car rental insurance offers from 71 different credit cards, WalletHub determined that these were the best of the bunch.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve Card
- All USAA Cards
- J.P. Morgan Reserve Card
- All Other Chase Consumer Visa Cards
- Chase Freedom Flex
- U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card
- All American Express Consumer Cards
- Capital One Visa Consumer Cards
- All Wells Fargo Consumer Cards, like the Wells Fargo Propel American Express Card
- Capital One World MasterCard Consumer Cards
- Bank of America Premium Rewards
- Bank of America Travel Rewards
- U.S. Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Card
According to WalletHub’s analysis, Chase is the best credit card company for rental car insurance, covering cardholders for up to $75,000 and 31 days. Overall, the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card was deemed the very best credit card for car rental insurance coverage.
The worst credit cards for car renters are issued by Citi and Discover, which no longer provide rental coverage on their credit cards. But an exception is the Costco Anywhere Visa Business Card by Citi. That has no annual fee for Costco members and is one of few Citi cards to still offer car rental insurance and other travel benefits.
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Methodology
WalletHub reviewed the publicly available online car rental policies of all the credit cards currently being offered by the 10 largest issuers, excluding student and co-branded offers, and collected the information needed to answer the following questions: What vehicles are excluded? What other exclusions do the policies have? What is the quality of the coverage? How do you activate the benefit? How should claims be filed? Finally, how easy it is to obtain complete policy information?
More tips:
Do not rent a truck, open-bed vehicle, exotic/antique car, large van or full-size SUV if you want credit card rental car insurance coverage. Most credit cards exclude those categories from car rental insurance benefits.
Double check your coverage if you plan on renting longer term. More than a third of cards only cover domestic rentals for up to 15 days.
Stay on the paved roads. About a quarter of credit card rental car insurance policies won’t cover damage that occurs while driving on a dirt or gravel road.
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