Effective September 1st, 2017 American Express will be making changes to the following benefits (old and new policies can be seen by clicking the links below). Thanks to Travel With Grant for pointing these out:
Let’s take a look at the actual changes being made.
Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance Changes
- Coverage will be extended to vehicles rented in Ireland, Israel and Jamaica. Cars rented in Australia, Italty & New Zealand will continue not to be covered.
- Eligible rentals will now include certain types of full sized sport utility vehicles, exotic/expensive cars, full sized vans, trucks, pick-ups and cargo vans.
I think they may have made some mistakes because when you look at the new policies listed on the American Express benefits website, it still lists Ireland, Israel & Jamaica as ineligible countries and also those new eligible rentals are still listed as ineligible.
Purchase Protection Coverage
- Purchase protection coverage will now cover incidents related to Natural Disasters with a maximum per occurrence limit of $500 per incident. Previously natural disasters were not listed.
Our Verdict
They are also making some other minor changes (e.g baggage insurance doesn’t cover prosthetics) but the main change will be the rental coverage in additional countries. American Express provides secondary CDW insurance (Chase provides primary on some premium cards). Most people will still be best off using the Chase Sapphire Reserve card on car rentals if they have it due to the primary insurance and the fact that it earns 3x on all travel purchases (including car rentals). More details on Chase’s policy can be found here.
Hat tip to Travel With Grant.
