Renting a car usually involves taking out temporary car insurance. However in some instances your card company already offers this possibility within its package. With such cards as Visa Premier, American Express, or Mastercard Gold a potential client can rent a vehicle with a complete peace of mind. Find out from your banking institutions what type of insurance and assistance guarantees you will be afforded as a client. 

Car Rental Insurance 

Wherever you go do not forget your Premier card! In addition to being able to easily pay for your shopping sprees, it also gives you the option to benefit from a rental vehicle agreement guarantee. The visa premier card is eligible for use in France and abroad. 

Visa Premier Card 

Conditions for obtaining coverage under a visa premier card are the following: 

• The car rental company must be a professionally licensed company. If you have rented from a private individual this guarantee is no longer valid. You must subscribe to an appropriate insurance agency in order to benefit. In addition you must sign a car rental agreement at the professional car rental agency, making mention of the names of all potential drivers of the vehicle. 

• The rental limit is 60 days which can be renewed if necessary.

• The claim limit is 2 per calendar year 

• The driver of the car must respect the driving conditions of the chosen vehicle as well as the traffic laws in the region where the customer is traveling.

The Guarantees 

The premier visa card covers thefts and various accidents whether you are responsible or not. If your car rental needs to be repaired the insurance pays the full amount of the repair up to a limit of 50,000 euros. In the case of vandalism you must attach a police report. The rental company can charge your credit card to pay for repairs and you can receive a refund once you have documentation as proof of repairs. It should be noted that the car rental guarantee offered by the visa premier card is not an offer offered by the bank but rather by the Visa credit card company. Insurance and assistance services therefore do not change depending on the bank. The bank only has precedence when it comes to price caps imposed by the bank. 

Warranty exclusions 

The car rental guarantee offered by the visa card does not apply to all circumstances. Certain exclusions must be taken into account to avoid any confusion: 

• If you choose a commercial vehicle, its weight must not exceed 3.5 tonnes.

• If you opt for a collector car it must not be older than 20 years old. 

• You cannot rent a caravan or a camper to benefit from covers with your visa premier card. 

• You cannot rent a luxury car, like the Ferrari, the limousine, the Porsche, or even Jaguar 

• You cannot rent an all-terrain car

• The coverage also excludes damage perpetrated on a voluntary basis, causing wear and tear on the car. 

Visa Platinum Card

Reserved for a privileged clientele this credit card with the slogan “far from the ordinary” offers even more advantages than the Visa Premier card. For the rental vehicle warranty your card covers up to 7,500 euros for expenses such as the repairing of the vehicle in the event of significant damage. The conditions on obtaining the guarantee are the same as for the Visa Premier card meaning that you must pay all rental costs via your Platinum card. In addition to the advantages offered to you, you also get discounts on car rental costs in certain agencies such as Hertz,Sixt, or Avis. 

American Express Car Insurance 

With American Express, both the gold card and the platinum card users benefit from a rental car guarantee. The insurer is Chubb European Gourp SE, while the implementation of all gurantees is done through AXA Travel Insurance. The AMEX car rental gold covers all damage and theft of the vehicle of up to 75,000 euros. This guarantee is effective once you are at least 100 km or more away from your place of residence. 

American Express conditions of use: 

Here are the conditions to benefit from the advantages of Amex car rental insurance:

• Your American Express bank account must be valid 

• Use of the American Express credit card to pay for all costs related to the rental of the vehicle

• The car rental company must be a professional agency which has all the obligatory licenses in the country where the vehicle is registered

• The vehicles considered by the Amex car rental guarantees only designated four-wheeled motor vehicles who are registered 

• The insured is covered for a single contract that is to say that the validity of the contract is limited to 90 days, you must therefore renew it for a longer period 

• The contract is valid worldwide

• The cover is effective beyond 100 km from the home of the insured. 

Amex Guarantees 

 You have accident insurance, theft insurance, and a full payment of the deductible. The insurance considers bodily injury and property damage. The LDW, CDW, TP, SLI, and DEW type guarantees apply to your rented vehicle, as long as it meets all the conditions imposed. Sometimes your car rental agency offers you all these types of insurance, if you have an AMEX card you decline this offer. The rental should only be entirely paid via Air France KLM Pro Card - American Express Platinum. The following are the guarantees of an Amex Card:

• Unintentional damage to the vehicle , the insurance covers material damage: whether it results from theft, accident, or fire during the rental period. It should be noted that the compensation does not exceed the value of the vehicle you have rented. 

• In the case of additional civil liability the insurance covers material and bodily injury, the maximum limit of compensation being 750,000 euros. 

Like all insurance your American Express card offers guarantees with a few warranty exclusions: 

•  If the car is fraudulently damaged, by criminal acts or an intentional accident

• If the complaints are against your family or if your family files a complaint against you; this is also the case for those present with you at the time of the event

• If the car rental was used within the period outside of the stated contract

• If you breached the terms of contract, which caused the incident 

• If the rented vehicle is not yet registered if it is a caravan or an all-terrain vehicle 

• If you have used the vehicle for a test ride or for a car race (knowing that this is strictly prohibited by professional car rental agencies)

• If, through your fault the vehicle has been requisitioned by the police

• If the damage concerns the interior of the car and that this was perpetrated by an intentional act 

• In the event of a natural disaster (normally covered by a national or regional guarantee fund depending on the country)

• In the event of a lawsuit by willful misconduct

• Damage to animals and other objects that you have transported 

• If you have rented a self-service car 

• In the insurance clause several types of vehicles are excluded from the contract including the Rolls Royce, the Chevrolet, the Hummer, the Porsche etc. 

The Mastercard Gold Car Rental Insurance

The guarantees of the Mastercard gold vehicle rental insurance are acquired worldwide for all natural persons who use this bank card to rent their car. The car that you can rent and with which you can benefit from this insurance must not exceed 50,000 euros. The contract covers all material and physical damage. 

Conditions for obtaining cover with a Gold MasterCard

Here are the conditions to be able to benefit from the gold mastercard car rental:

• The vehicle must be rented to a professional rental company with which you have signed a rental contract 

• You must pay for the car rental with Mastercard Gold so your account must be valid 

• The service is limited to 2 claims per year 

• The guarantees do not apply in the event of theft or loss of keys

• The names of the drivers must all appear in the rental contract 

• You must strictly comply with all the regulations and conditions stipulated in the contract

• You must not rent the vehicle for more than 60 consecutive days 

• You must meet the criteria imposed by the rental company and by law in the country where you are traveling with the rental vehicle. 

The MasterCard Gold Guarantees

In most cases you rent a car while traveling which leads to taking out insurance but if you have a Mastercard Gold you already have the following coverages:

• Travel accident: the insurance covers all material and bodily injury whether death or disability caused by the accident 

• Vehicle theft: your card also covers the costs related to theft or vandalism linked to the vehicle you have rented 

• The insurance also covers repatriation costs and medical costs abroad. For this purpose you must already be covered by your health insurance and your Mastercard Gold card covers the rest of the costs not reimbursed. 

Mastercard Gold Warranty Exclusions

There are a few exclusions for the Mastercard Gold card:

• Illnesses and their consequences except if illnesses are caused by an accident during the rental period

• If the leased vehicle is more than 20 years old and whose production has been stopped for more than 10 years 

• If the vehicle weighs more than 3.5 tonnes 

• The guarantees do not apply to motorhomes, caravans and quads

Now you know that you can travel freely by hiring a car with confidence . Do not hesitate to ask your bank for more information. Although the bank is not your insurer they can still provide you with the information that you need. This summary is given on an information basis only. Please note that certain conditions may vary depending on the type of credit cards and according to the specifications set forth by each individual bank. It is therefore important that you check with your local bank and credit card company for specifics pertaining to the card in your possession. Only the information provided by your bank and its insurer is authentic. We hope that this insight will have been useful for you when you rent a car in Guadeloupe and Martinique with Alwégo. Alwégo, Let’s Go!