Best Credit Cards for Rental Car Insurance in November 2025

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Rental car companies charge up to $30 per day for insurance you might already have for free. 

A surprising number of credit cards include complimentary rental car insurance that could save you $100+ at the rental counter — or $1,000+ in case of an accident. 

But which cards are best? Which one offers rental car insurance and up to 10% cashback on rental cars? Or provides coverage for your rental car, plus a boatload of other travel insurance for no annual fee?  

To find out, I’ve tested dozens of cards to find the ones that offer the best combination of rental car coverage and other benefits.

Best for Primary Coverage

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• Why We Chose It

Best for Coverage + Elite Status

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Best for Business Rentals

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Best for No Annual Fee

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Best for High Cashback on Rental Cars

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How Credit Card Rental Car Insurance Works

In a nutshell, credit card rental car insurance provides you with a complimentary “damage waiver” for rental cars that you book using that card. 

To use Chase’s rental car insurance as an example, this damage waiver covers: 

• Theft
• Collision
• Post-collision towing
• Incident fees charged by the rental agency (e.g., loss-of-use charges, administrative fees)

So basically, it’s a free bundle of added insurance for you and your rental car. 

Why is this such a great perk? Well, because rental car companies typically charge around $30 per day for an optional damage waiver. So if you get a free damage waiver through your credit card, that could amount to $150+ in value for a five-day rental. 

That said, not all credit card rental car insurance is the same. Some cards offer primary versus secondary insurance, so let’s cover that next. 

Primary vs. secondary rental car insurance coverage

If your credit card provides “secondary” rental car insurance, this means you have to file a claim with your regular car insurance provider first before your credit card coverage kicks in. 

To give an example, let’s say you rent a Chevy Malibu and back into a tree. Hertz assesses the damage and bills you $2,000. 

Since you have the American Express Platinum Card®, which only provides secondary rental car insurance, you have to file with your regular car insurance provider first to help cover the bill. 

Your policy with GEICO has a $500 deductible, so GEICO covers $2,000 – $500 = $1,500, leaving you on the hook for the remaining $500. 

So you file a secondary claim with American Express for the remaining $500, and the company reimburses you. 

By contrast, if you have primary rental car insurance through your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, for example, you can file a claim directly with Chase for the full $2,000. 

As a result, primary rental car insurance is much better to have for two reasons: 

1. It cuts down on paperwork and reimbursement time.
2. It allows you to keep your primary car insurance uninvolved.

No. 2 is a huge deal because, according to the Insurance Information Institute, any time you have to involve your own insurance in an at-fault incident, it leads to a rise in your premiums. 

What does rental car insurance cover? 

As mentioned above, rental car insurance (aka a damage waiver) typically covers: 

• Theft
• Damage of any kind (e.g., weather, collision, animal)
• Towing
• Loss-of-use and other administrative fees imposed by the rental car agency

And if it’s secondary rental car insurance, it only covers whatever’s left after your regular insurance kicks in. 

What does rental car insurance NOT cover? 

By contrast, credit card rental car insurance typically does not cover: 

• Personal liability costs (i.e., damage or injuries you cause to others)
• Injuries to you and your passengers
• Loss or theft of personal belongings
• Damage due to misuse (e.g., off-roading, racing, donuts in the Walmart parking lot)
• Vehicles that aren’t rented from an official rental agency (e.g., Turo cars, borrowed cars)
• Vehicles with a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) above $75,000
• Antique, rare, or exotic vehicles (e.g., Bentleys, Ferraris)
• Rentals lasting longer than 15 days domestically or 30 days internationally (with some exceptions)

READ MORE: Credit Card Rental Car Insurance: What You Need to Know 

How To Activate Credit Card Rental Car Insurance Coverage

Thankfully, credit card rental car insurance isn’t one of those things that they make impossible to activate, so you never use it. Quite the opposite, it’s pretty effortless to use. 

Here’s how it works: 

1. Use the right credit card to pay for your rental

You need to book your rental car using a credit card that lists rental car insurance as a benefit. 

If you book using the wrong card, you’ll have to cancel and rebook using the right card to activate your benefits (ask me how I know). 

2. Decline the rental car company’s optional insurance

At some point during the checkout process, Hertz, Enterprise, et al will ask you if you want to include “Optional Insurance” or a “Damage Waiver” for around $30/day. 

Here’s what it looks like on the Enterprise checkout screen:

Your only mission is to make sure that you don’t buy this coverage, since this is exactly the type of coverage that you’re already getting for free from your credit card. 

Sometimes the rental car company might insist that you still need this coverage — or that you need to purchase their coverage to be adequately protected. 

This isn’t true, but if you need added reassurance (or just want someone else to do the talking), you can call your credit card’s benefits administrator to confirm. 

At this point, you’re done and covered. You don’t need to call your credit card company or benefits administrator just to notify them that you’re renting a car. Coverage is automatic as long as you use a card with the benefit attached. 

3. When necessary, file a claim

In the event of a covered incident (i.e., theft or collision), the first thing you’ll want to do is to call the police to obtain a police report and ensure your personal safety. 

Next, call your credit card’s benefits administrator, who can walk you through the rest of the process. It usually involves gathering and submitting a bunch of paperwork (e.g., police report, accident report, rental agreements, etc.) and waiting patiently for a verdict. 

If your coverage is secondary to your primary auto insurance, you’ll need to file a claim with the latter first, wait for their response, and then file with your credit card company. 

If this is all starting to sound a bit complicated, don’t worry — your benefits administrator can walk you through it all, step by step. 

READ MORE: Insurance and Protection for Road Trips

Pitfalls to Avoid

As you start using your credit card’s rental car insurance, watch out for these common mistakes:

• Forgetting to use the right card. I’m totally guilty of this, and the rental car companies typically won’t let you swap payment methods once you’ve booked. To prevent this from happening, set the right card as your default payment method on your rental car accounts.

• Assuming Turo is covered. Renting via Turo can be a big money-saver, but it comes at the cost of free rental car insurance. Per the Visa Signature Guide to Benefits, rentals that are “rented through a car sharing company that allows individuals to rent out their own vehicle” are not covered.

• Forgetting to decline the rental company’s insurance. If you forget to decline or uncheck that box, your credit card insurance will no longer apply, and you’ll be paying ~$30/day for something you already had for free (womp womp).

• Filing a claim to the wrong place. You may have to file with your regular car insurance provider first if your credit card only provides secondary coverage. Filing claims in the wrong order can lead to delays in reimbursement.

• Forgetting to add authorized drivers. Coverage only applies to you and other “Authorized Drivers” on the rental contract, so be sure to add anyone else who might be driving to extend coverage to them.

• Renting an uncovered vehicle. Credit card rental car insurance typically won’t cover vehicles considered old, rare, exotic, or with an MSRP exceeding $75,000. So you might want to think twice before upgrading to that Cadillac Escalade. 

Frequently Asked Questions

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Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.