Visa’s car rental insurance benefit, known formally as Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, can provide reimbursement for damages from theft or collision when you rent a car with your eligible card.
Here’s what you need to know about this benefit and how it works.
| Coverage | Covers damages caused by theft or collision up to the actual cash value of most rented cars. Includes coverage for substantiated loss-of-use charges, administrative fees, and reasonable and customary towing. |
| Primary or secondary coverage | Within country of residence: Secondary coverage. Outside country of residence: Primary coverage. Some cards offer primary coverage within country of residence. |
| Covered rental period | Within country of residence: Up to 15-31 days. Outside country of residence: Up to 31 days. Varies by card. |
| Common country exclusions | Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland Varies by card. |
| Vehicle brand exclusions | Excludes high-value brands including Corvette, Porsche and Tesla and some models of other common brands Some cards have a total coverage limit of $75,000 instead of vehicle brand exclusions. |
| How to file a claim | www.eclaimsline.com 1-866-390-9735 1-804-673-1164 if calling collect from outside the U.S. 1-800-348-8472 if you need assistance in Spanish. Call the number in your card’s Guide to Benefits. |
These cards offer Visa car rental insurance.
Once you’ve entered your card information, the next thing you’ll see is a list of benefits available on your card. Select “Collision Damage Waiver” to begin your car rental insurance claim.
The website will walk you through providing your contact information, including name, address, email address and phone number. After that, you’ll be asked for some basic information about your claim.
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Finally, you’ll be asked to upload and documents relevant to the claim. Although you are not required to upload documents to start your claim, you might save some time by uploading any documentation you have collected. When processing your claim, your adjuster will likely ask for many of the documents in the claim form upload list.
After you’ve provided all of the information in the form, you can click “Submit Claim” to submit your claim.
Once your claim is submitted, you’ll eventually be contacted by a claims adjuster who will likely ask you to provide additional documentation to evaluate your claim. One of the first things that you’ll be required to provide is a paper Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver claim form, which must be postmarked within 100 days of the theft or damaged date.
Be sure to provide any documentation promptly to speed the processing of your claim. All documentation must be provided within 365 days of the theft or damage date, or your claim may be denied.
If you have any questions about the status of your claim, you can call Card Benefit Services at 1-800-348-8472 or the number in your card’s Guide to Benefits. You can also check the status of your existing claim with your claim number or your credit card number at www.eclaimsline.com.
If you have additional questions about your Visa car rental benefits or want to dig into your specific card’s coverages, here are some resources that you might find helpful.
Aaron Hurd is a credit card, travel rewards, and loyalty program expert. Over the past 15 years, he has authored over a thousand expert contributions published by leading outlets including WSJ, TIME, Newsweek, Forbes, NerdWallet, The Points Guy, Bankrate, CNET, and many others. He has also served in consulting roles for many of these same outlets, designing content strategy, hiring teams of teams of editors and contributors, developing thought-leadership pieces, and ghost-editing for senior editors. Aaron is well-known in the miles and points community and regularly presents about travel rewards at conferences like the Chicago Seminars and Minnebar. Aaron has enjoyed the game of optimizing credit card rewards since getting his first credit card shortly after he turned 18. He started learning about credit cards and travel rewards from the (now defunct) FatWallet Finance forums and FlyerTalk. He holds more than 40 open credit cards and has first-hand experience with almost every major credit card product. View all posts
