Damage waiver
Encyclopedia
Damage waiver, or as it is often referred to, collision damage waiver (CDW) or loss damage waiver (LDW) is an optional damage
coverage
available while renting a vehicle
. It covers the rental vehicle. Some companies also offer liability insurance
and towing
coverage.
Terms and prices vary among car rental companies and locations. Alternatives include other vehicle insurance policies, some credit card coverage, and some travel insurance.
Collision, theft, other damage. When a customer does not pay the car rental company to waive damage, and a rented car is stolen, or damaged by accident, vandalism, weather (hail), etc., the customer or other insurance must pay to the rental company the full cost of repair, plus administrative charges and, in some states, loss of use.
The rental company's damage waiver normally covers accidental damage and towing a damaged vehicle, as long as the renter complies with the rental contract (such as authorized drivers, locations, no racing). Waivers may also cover theft, vandalism, loss of use, and liability. The renter often has a choice among different coverages for different fees.
Damage waivers are not necessarily complete. They may have deductibles
(also called excess
) and limits on the amount covered. Liability coverage always has limits.
The descriptions above come from rental company websites, under headings like Policies, FAQ, Coverage, or More.
Damage Waivers can be bought from the car rental company in most countries, or through a car hire excess insurer in the UK, or through travel insurers. Coverage from the car rental company may be required if the renter lacks proof of coverage elsewhere.
, since it transfers some risk from the car renter to the rental company. However rental companies do not call it insurance, since it is a waiver between the renter and the company that the company waives their right to charge the renter for valid damages to the vehicle. Rental companies are not licensed or regulated as insurers. There are also no claims made. Rental companies treat CDW as a waiver of their right to make the renter pay for damage to the car.
, plus addressing large claims above the primary insurance limits.
If the renter has no other vehicle insurance for the specific claim (no insurance at all, or not in the relevant country, or no collision insurance, etc.), the credit card company (if it offers coverage) will pay the whole amount, up to its limits.
All four credit card companies listed below cover collision damage with some of their cards. The main difference among the cards is that Discover covers nothing else; Visa and some MasterCards and American Express cards also cover theft, while other MasterCards and American Express cards include theft, vandalism, hitting a deer or chipping a window (sources at bottom of table).
Other issues important to some renters are that Discover and American Express cover only the cardholder, not helpful when people share a car rental. Visa and MasterCard only cover rental contracts of 15 days or less (not even the first 15 days of longer rentals). Some American Express and MasterCards are not useful on dirt or gravel roads, since they exclude "damage sustained on any surface, other than a bound surface such as concrete or tarmac". Some Discover cards exclude private roads, such as shopping centers and some subdivisions.
MasterCard and Visa in the United States say they cover "Physical damage and/or theft", but an introductory paragraph for some MasterCards and all Visa cards limits this to "collision or theft," so vandalism and hail are excluded. It may be ambiguous whether deer impacts and glass chips are covered as "collisions." MasterCards from Bank of America and MBNA generally have a simpler opening paragraph, which leaves coverage in place for any physical damage.
Even among these brands, some cards lack coverage entirely, especially debit cards and cards with low credit limits.The AmEx Platinum Cash Rebate card
, for example, has no coverage. MasterCard "Standard" cards lack coverage, while "Premier", "Gold" and "Platinum" cards vary in their coverage.
These schemes apply to cards issued in the US, Trinidad and Tobago, and apparently nowhere else. In addition, no credit card will cover a rental that is being billed to a third party, such as in the event that an insurance company is being directly billed for the rental.
The following table is an effort at a summary, though not guaranteed. Coverage is complex and changes periodically. Telephone staff do not know the changes. Formal insurance policies govern and are not easily available to cardholders, who are only given summaries, like the links below.
"Loss of use" and administration fees are often advertised as covered by credit cards. However, credit card companies pay these items only if the rental car company provides proof. If rental car company does not provide proof, there seems little reason for the renter to pay either.
Damage
-General concepts:* Collateral damage, unintended damage caused during a military operation* Fire damage* Foreign object damage* Hydrogen damage, metal degradation processes due to interaction with hydrogen* Property damage, damage to public or private property...
coverage
Coverage
-Filmmaking:* Coverage , the size of the image a lens can produce* Camera coverage, the amount of footage shot and different camera setups used in filming a scene...
available while renting a vehicle
Car rental
A car rental or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time for a fee...
. It covers the rental vehicle. Some companies also offer liability insurance
Liability insurance
Liability insurance is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims. It protects the insured in the event he or she is sued for claims that come within the coverage of the insurance policy...
and towing
Tow truck
A tow truck is a vehicle used to transport motor vehicles to another location , or to recover vehicles which are no longer on a drivable surface.Towing services are generally provided by an emergency road service operator...
coverage.
Terms and prices vary among car rental companies and locations. Alternatives include other vehicle insurance policies, some credit card coverage, and some travel insurance.
Risks addressed
Liability. If the car damages property or injures someone, the customer or other insurance must pay for the damages (liability). US car rental companies sometimes include minimum liability insurance required by law in the basic rental charge. Hertz includes it in all states except California. Avis includes it in all states except California and Texas, at least for renters who lack their own coverage. Other companies do not publicize where they include liability insurance in the basic rental charge. Some car rental companies offer more liability insurance for a fee.Collision, theft, other damage. When a customer does not pay the car rental company to waive damage, and a rented car is stolen, or damaged by accident, vandalism, weather (hail), etc., the customer or other insurance must pay to the rental company the full cost of repair, plus administrative charges and, in some states, loss of use.
The rental company's damage waiver normally covers accidental damage and towing a damaged vehicle, as long as the renter complies with the rental contract (such as authorized drivers, locations, no racing). Waivers may also cover theft, vandalism, loss of use, and liability. The renter often has a choice among different coverages for different fees.
Damage waivers are not necessarily complete. They may have deductibles
Deductible
In an insurance policy, the deductible is the amount of expenses that must be paid out of pocket before an insurer will pay any expenses. It is normally quoted as a fixed quantity and is a part of most policies covering losses to the policy holder. The deductible must be paid by the insured,...
(also called excess
Excess
Excess may refer to:* Angle excess, in spherical trigonometry, quantity, used to calculate the area of polygon on a sphere* Excess, in insurance, similar to deductible* Excess, in chemistry, describing any reagent that is not the limiting reagent...
) and limits on the amount covered. Liability coverage always has limits.
The descriptions above come from rental company websites, under headings like Policies, FAQ, Coverage, or More.
Damage Waivers can be bought from the car rental company in most countries, or through a car hire excess insurer in the UK, or through travel insurers. Coverage from the car rental company may be required if the renter lacks proof of coverage elsewhere.
Insurance or not?
CDW meets the basic definition of insuranceInsurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
, since it transfers some risk from the car renter to the rental company. However rental companies do not call it insurance, since it is a waiver between the renter and the company that the company waives their right to charge the renter for valid damages to the vehicle. Rental companies are not licensed or regulated as insurers. There are also no claims made. Rental companies treat CDW as a waiver of their right to make the renter pay for damage to the car.
Credit card coverage of damage waiver
Some credit cards offer insurance for theft or damage to rented cars. Usually any such insurance from a card is "secondary," meaning that if the renter has any personal or business vehicle insurance with appropriate coverage, that will pay first. Then the renter can claim from the credit card company to pay the primary insurance's deductibleDeductible
In an insurance policy, the deductible is the amount of expenses that must be paid out of pocket before an insurer will pay any expenses. It is normally quoted as a fixed quantity and is a part of most policies covering losses to the policy holder. The deductible must be paid by the insured,...
, plus addressing large claims above the primary insurance limits.
If the renter has no other vehicle insurance for the specific claim (no insurance at all, or not in the relevant country, or no collision insurance, etc.), the credit card company (if it offers coverage) will pay the whole amount, up to its limits.
All four credit card companies listed below cover collision damage with some of their cards. The main difference among the cards is that Discover covers nothing else; Visa and some MasterCards and American Express cards also cover theft, while other MasterCards and American Express cards include theft, vandalism, hitting a deer or chipping a window (sources at bottom of table).
Other issues important to some renters are that Discover and American Express cover only the cardholder, not helpful when people share a car rental. Visa and MasterCard only cover rental contracts of 15 days or less (not even the first 15 days of longer rentals). Some American Express and MasterCards are not useful on dirt or gravel roads, since they exclude "damage sustained on any surface, other than a bound surface such as concrete or tarmac". Some Discover cards exclude private roads, such as shopping centers and some subdivisions.
MasterCard and Visa in the United States say they cover "Physical damage and/or theft", but an introductory paragraph for some MasterCards and all Visa cards limits this to "collision or theft," so vandalism and hail are excluded. It may be ambiguous whether deer impacts and glass chips are covered as "collisions." MasterCards from Bank of America and MBNA generally have a simpler opening paragraph, which leaves coverage in place for any physical damage.
Even among these brands, some cards lack coverage entirely, especially debit cards and cards with low credit limits.The AmEx Platinum Cash Rebate card
Rebate card
A rebate card is a debit card that provides funds promised by a business as a rebate. They are often offered to those who make a specific purchase, or for loyalty to a company by accumulating a certain amount of money or number of points worth of purchases from a particular company.While some...
, for example, has no coverage. MasterCard "Standard" cards lack coverage, while "Premier", "Gold" and "Platinum" cards vary in their coverage.
These schemes apply to cards issued in the US, Trinidad and Tobago, and apparently nowhere else. In addition, no credit card will cover a rental that is being billed to a third party, such as in the event that an insurance company is being directly billed for the rental.
The following table is an effort at a summary, though not guaranteed. Coverage is complex and changes periodically. Telephone staff do not know the changes. Formal insurance policies govern and are not easily available to cardholders, who are only given summaries, like the links below.
"Loss of use" and administration fees are often advertised as covered by credit cards. However, credit card companies pay these items only if the rental car company provides proof. If rental car company does not provide proof, there seems little reason for the renter to pay either.
| Coverage | MasterCard MasterCard Mastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison, New York, United States... |
Visa | Discover Discover Card The Discover Card is a major credit card, issued primarily in the United States. It was originally introduced by Sears in 1985, and was part of Dean Witter, and then Morgan Stanley, until 2007, when Discover Financial Services became an independent company. Novus, a major processing center, used to... |
American Express American Express American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary/Secondary Coverage | Secondary (primary on Continental Airlines MC) | Secondary | Secondary | Secondary, or Primary at extra cost |
| Collision damage | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Theft | Yes, unless car keys are missing or renter has not used common diligence | Yes, unless car was running unattended | No | Yes, if locked |
| Loss of use and other administrative charges by rental company | Yes* | Yes* | No | Varies by card* |
| Vandalism, hail, weather, falling objects | Some | No | No | Yes |
| Liability, personal injury | No | No | No | No |
| Maximum length of rental (days) | 15 | 15 for personal rentals in renter's country, 31 elsewhere and for business rentals | 31 | 30 or 42 |
| Type of roads covered | Some cards cover All, some cover just Paved roads | All | Some cards cover All, some cover just Publicly owned roads | Some cards cover All, some cover just Paved roads |
| Geography covered | World except Ireland, Israel, Jamaica; maybe Aust, NZ, Italy | World except N+S Ireland, Jamaica, Israel. | US & Canada | World except Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Aust, NZ, Italy. |
| Drivers covered, assuming a cardholder signs contract | All drivers authorized to drive by the rental contract | All drivers authorized to drive by the rental contract | Person named on Discover Card | Person named on Amex card |
| Transporting any property | Yes | No | No | No |
| Other exclusions | Trucks, large vans, motorcycles, luxury cars. Many other standard exclusions, such as lack of reasonable care, racing, violating law, wear & tear, war. | Same, also exclude large SUVs | ||
| Other aspects | Rented vehicles must have a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $50,000 or less. | Excludes equipment not installed by manufacturer (Ex. Rental Agency GPS) Promises payment 15 days after all documents submitted. | Payment limit of $25,000. | Offer better coverage for $20-25 per rental. |
| Report to credit card company in | 30 days | immediately, file claim in 45 days | 90 days | 48 hours, file claim in 60 days |
| Source, examined 7/17/2007, updated 1/25/2011 | 1. mastercard.com/rentandsave 2. benefit information center 3. MasterCard Trinidad and Tobago |
visa.com/eclaims No sources found (6/18/2008) on Visa Europe, so the program does not cover cards issued in Europe. | discovercard.com/discover/data/account/... This page says it addresses Titanium & Motiva cards. A web search does not reveal a page for Platinum coverage, and a 2006 paper description "Important information about your Discover Platinum Card Account" has similar coverage, but also excludes private roads, such as many shopping centers and subdivisions. | 1.yourcarrentalclaim.com 2.www152.americanexpress.com/fsea/... 3.corp.americanexpress.com... 4.secure.cmax.americanexpress.com/... |
Further reading
- Lyons, Paula, Rental Car Insurance Coverage
- Bulloch, Tom, CDW Costs in Ireland International Travel News, Sept 2009 - Ireland generally excluded from credit card insurance
- Bach, Stan Car Rental Insurance Glitch International Travel News, March 2008 - Small CDW coverage in rental contract precludes card coverage
- Harkin, John, Rental Cars and CDW International Travel News, December 2007 - Discusses talking to rental company and carrying card benefits booklet
- Holifield, Lee, Rented car online for Heathrow International Travel News, August 2007, p.30