Complimentary credit card car rental excess insurance can help cover costs if a rental vehicle is damaged or stolen and you need to pay an excess amount to the car hire company.
Depending on the credit card and policy, you could get cover when you rent a car overseas, in Australia or both.
Credit cards with complimentary insurance may include some form of car rental insurance. There are 2 main options:
As with any type of insurance, the cover and details vary. So it's important to check the insurance policy document for any card (or cards) you're looking at. To give you an idea, here is a table with some examples of credit cards and car rental insurance options for trips in Australia and overseas.
| Credit card provider | Credit cards | Insurance details |
|---|---|---|
| American Express |
| |
| ANZ |
| |
| BankSA |
| |
| Bank of Melbourne |
| |
| Citi | Level 1 cards:
Level 2 cards: |
|
| CommBank |
| |
| HSBC |
| |
| NAB | Level 1 cards: Level 2 cards: |
|
| Qantas Money |
| |
| St.George |
| |
| Westpac |
|
To activate your rental car insurance cover, you usually need to do the following:
The process can be slightly different depending on the insurance provider, so it's important to check the insurance policy document for full details. But as a general guide, you'll need to take the following steps:
If you're thinking of getting a credit card that offers complimentary car rental excess cover – or if your existing card offers this cover – make sure you keep the following details in mind before hiring a rental vehicle.
This type of cover is usually optional. But excess payments to a car rental company can be as much as $8,000 without this cover, compared to around $0 to $400 with cover.
Car rental companies typically offer excess insurance (or excess reductions) for about $20 to $30 per day, per car. It can go above $50 per day if you want a $0 excess.
There are also separate car rental excess insurance policies you can buy from as little as $2.83 per day. The cost depends on factors including the insurance provider, type of car and payable excess.
Based on these details, if you got complimentary car rental excess insurance through a credit card and hired a car for 7 days, you could save between $19.81 and $350 compared to paying for a car rental excess insurance policy.
But keep in mind that credit cards may have annual fees and other potential costs that you may want to factor in when you're considering different options. It's also a good idea to check the different policies so you know what's covered, what the limits are and how much you could be out-of-pocket.
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We have booked a hire car in the UK for 20 days. We have had gold card with ANZ for many years. What cover will this card give us with our rental.
Hi Rex and Rosly,
Thanks for your question.
ANZ Car Rental Cover covers the ANZ credit card account holder who has paid the relevant cover fee. Once you’ve become an ANZ credit card customer, you can obtain ANZ Car Rental Cover for an annual fee of just $24 (inc. GST) at the time of writing.
Cheers,
Shirley
Hi, does this type of cover only cover the cardholder or their partner (who would be a nominated driver) as well? ie if it was my card but say my partner was driving at the time?
Hi Trent,
Thanks for your question and for contacting finder.com.au – a financial comparison website and general information service designed to help consumers make better decisions.
Usually, with the complimentary travel insurance attached to a credit card, the cover extends to your immediate family (if they also meet the eligibility conditions of the insurance), so the rental vehicle cover will also be extended to them. But, depending on the conditions surrounding the car rental insurance of your policy and provided you meet them, your partner may or not be covered. I suggest that you contact your credit card’s provider of complimentary travel insurance to be sure.
Cheers,
May