Cracking the code of your Chase Freedom rental car insurance policy

Car insurance policies have long being offered by major credit cards, but there is still a lot of confusion around this subject – rental car and insurance companies are not helping to make the issue easier with their complicated rules and confusing options.

Let's have a look what rental car insurance options that Chase Freedom credit card offer to its holders. Chase Freedom is mostly issued as a VISA Platinum  or VISA Signature card, the benefits package comes from VISA.

To get your Chase Rental Car Collision Damage Waiver work for you, you need to rent a car on the name of the cardholder and pay in full with a Chase Freedom card. If a clerk at rental offers you any other type of insurance, you need to decline it explicitly; otherwise, Chase insurance will not work.

Rental car agent often insists that you buy additional collision damage waiver from the rental company – it is understandable because additional options are extremely profitable for a company and rental agents are usually under pressure to sell more of them. I can only recommend you to know your options and not to fall for their tricks.

In the U.S. the insurance provided by Chase is secondary to your own car insurance (if you have one). That means, that for most of us that have a personal car insurance policy, Chase additional policy will never work.

However, when travelling abroad, collision damage waiver from your credit card can be very helpful. It works in most of the countries; the only territorial exclusions are the countries where such insurance is prohibited by law.

Chase Freedom

compare

Apply Now

intro purchase APR 0% for 15 months	regular APR15.49 - 24.24% (V)
intro BT APR 0% for 15 months	3% BT fee $5 min
rewards 1% or 5% on every $1	+$100

• 5% cashback on quarterly categories ($1,500 quarterly limit, then 1%)
• get $100 bonus after spending $500 on the card in the first 3 months
• get $25 on first added authorized card user

 

fair credit required

no annual fee

0% intro APR

5% cash back on quarterly categories

$100 intro bonus

read review

A cardholder should be a prime user of the vehicle; any additional authorized drivers that are mentioned in Rental Agreement are also covered.

Important Limitations:

The coverage cannot extend for more than 31 consecutive days.

The covered losses are:

• Physical damage;
• Theft of the vehicle;
• Loss-of-used, charged by rental company
• Towing expenses;

Excluded vehicles:

• Exotics
• Expensive (most luxury brands are not covered, however, selected models of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac and Lincoln are covered).
• Antique (20 years or older, or 10 years not in production).
• Only up to 8 people capacity passenger vans are covered.

Best Travel Credit Card Offers

compare

Apply Now

intro purchase APR 0% APR offer	regular APR*see offers
intro BT APR 0% BT APR offer	*see offers
rewards earn miles for your spending

excellent / good credit required

no annual fee

no foreign transaction fee

read review

If you get in trouble

If you were involved in an accident or your car was stolen, you need to fill out and sign an Auto rental Collision Damage Waiver Claim Form. This needs to be sent to the insurance company in less than 100 days from the event. In your mail, you also need to include the copies of rental documents, Accident Report Form, police report (if obtainable), 2 photos of the vehicle. See the full list of documents in the Official Chase Freedom guide to benefits

How long it takes to get paid?

Usually after 15 days after receiving all your documentation, the bank will pay your claim.