Credit cards with complimentary domestic car rental excess insurance
If your next holiday includes plans to hire a car, you may consider buying rental car excess insurance from a car hire company. But some travellers may already be covered by their credit card provider. We take a look at which credit cards have complimentary domestic car rental excess insurance as a special feature.
Whether you’re driving somewhere familiar or headed off on an all new adventure, a road trip can be a fantastic holiday option – as long as you trust whoever’s in charge of the music. If you’re looking to hire a car, whether it’s for a road trip or some other purpose, then you’ll have the choise of purchasing car rental excess insurance from a hire company. Before you do, though, check your credit card if you have one. You could already be covered.
Here’s a quick summary of what rental car excess insurance is, a snapshot of some of the credit cards that offer it as part of travel insurance policies and some tips on how you can get it if you don’t currently have it.
What is car rental excess insurance?
Car rental excess insurance is designed to cover you for the excess you’d otherwise be required to pay in the event that your hire car is damaged or stolen. When you hire a car, some insurance cover is usually included in the fee. However, there would typically be a car insurance excess, which is the amount you pay out of pocket if you make an eligible claim under the hire company’s standard liability cover.
There may be the option for you to pay more on car insurance to the car hire company directly to lower the excess, even to $0. This is known as rental excess insurance. Keep in mind that these types of insurance policies only cover you for the excess amount you are liable for and are subject to a range of exclusions.
Another option is rental excess insurance offered through your credit card. If you are involved in an accident in a hire car, typically the excess will be charged to your credit card by the hire car company. If you have rental car excess insurance as a complimentary feature of your credit card, this charge would typically be reimbursed for an eligible claim.
Excesses on rental car damage can be quite expensive, and up to thousands of dollars in some cases, so it’s worth carefully considering any insurance policy that you take out, either directly or indirectly, if you are hiring a vehicle, and reading the fine print.
Learn more: Rental car insurance in Australia
Which credit cards include complimentary domestic rental car excess cover?
Canstar Research reviewed credit cards listed on our database, and found that there are a number of companies that do offer complimentary rental car excess cover with their cards.
The providers in the list below are sorted alphabetically by name. Bear in mind that some of these providers offer complimentary rental vehicle excess cover for overseas travel only.
It’s also important to remember that there are eligibility criteria that have to be met for this cover to kick in, which could include things such as charging all or part of travel costs to the card.
Before committing to any particular credit card, check upfront with your provider and read the Target Market Determination (TMD), Key Facts Sheet and other important policy documents so you understand details about any relevant car excess cover.
Credit card providers who offer complimentary rental vehicle excess cover
- American Express
- ANZ
- Bank of Melbourne (Overseas Only)
- BankSA (Overseas Only)
- Bendigo Bank
- Beyond Bank
- BOQ
- Commonwealth Bank (Overseas Only)
- Great Southern Bank (Overseas Only)
- Heritage Bank
- HSBC
- ING (Overseas Only)
- NAB
- Qudos Bank (Overseas Only)
- St.George Bank (Overseas Only)
- Suncorp Bank
- Westpac
Source: www.canstar.com.au – 23/11/2023. Based on personal credit cards on Canstar’s database that offer rental vehicle excess cover as complimentary insurance. To be eligible for insurance, you must take out hire car insurance when renting the vehicle from a registered hire car provider. Please see the individual card product documents for full terms and conditions of complimentary insurance policies
Do you need rental car excess insurance?
Whether or not you need rental car excess insurance comes down to your personal circumstances. However, rental car insurance excesses can be an unexpected expense that could have a major impact on the cost of your trip.
How much excess you would have to pay in the event of an accident should be detailed in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and terms and conditions provided by the hire car company. It’s a good idea to understand what costs you might be up for if you have an accident before deciding on a hire car company.
It is difficult to provide a general estimate of how much rental car excess insurance would cost the average hire car driver, as there are so many variables involved, such as the company issuing it, the person taking it out, and the location and risks associated with how the rental car is going to be used. So it’s difficult to compare policies unless you obtain a few quotes yourself. However, the price of rental car excess insurance is typically much less than the insurance excess would cost if you were to have an accident. And for some credit card holders, this type of insurance could also be complimentary (providing the card’s terms and conditions for the insurance are met).
So, if you’re interested in this type of insurance for a hire car in Australia, before you buy an insurance policy from a rental car agent, it could be a good idea to check with your credit card provider to see if you’re already covered.
If you’re in the market for a new credit card that offers hire car excess insurance, or if you just want to get a new insurance policy for your own car in Australia, you can compare your options with Canstar.
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The table below displays some of our referral partners’ rewards credit cards for Australian’s spending around $3000 per month and redeeming points for cash/vouchers. The results shown are sorted by highest Star Rating, then alphabetically by provider name. Consider the Target Market Determination (TMD) before making a purchase decision. Contact the product issuer directly for a copy of the TMD. Use Canstar’s credit cards comparison selector to view a wider range of credit cards. Canstar may earn a fee for referrals.
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Canstar is an information provider and in giving you product information Canstar is not making any suggestion or recommendation about a particular credit card product. If you decide to apply for a credit card, you will deal directly with a financial institution, and not with Canstar. Rates and product information should be confirmed with the relevant financial institution. For more information, read Canstar’s Financial Services and Credit Guide (FSCG), detailed disclosure, important notes and liability disclaimer. Products displayed above that are not “Sponsored or Promoted” are sorted as referenced in the introductory text and then alphabetically by company. Canstar may receive a fee for referral of leads from these products. See How We Get Paid for further information.
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This article was reviewed by our Editor-in-Chief Nina Rinella before it was updated, as part of our fact-checking process.
Alasdair Duncan is a Senior Finance Journalist at Canstar, specialising in home loans, property and lifestyle topics. He has written more than 200 articles for Canstar and his work is widely referenced by other publishers and media outlets, including Yahoo Finance, The New Daily, The Motley Fool and Sky News. He has featured as a guest author for property website homely.com.au.
In his more than 15 years working in the media, Alasdair has written for a broad range of publications. Before joining Canstar, he was a News Editor at Pedestrian.TV, part of Australia’s leading youth media group. His work has also appeared on ABC News, Junkee, Rolling Stone, Kotaku, the Sydney Star Observer and The Brag. He has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Journalism from the University of Queensland.
When he is not writing about finance for Canstar, Alasdair can probably be found at the beach with his two dogs or listening to podcasts about pop music. You can follow Alasdair on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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- Travel insurance
- Points never expire
- Airline lounge access more
- 0% currency conversion fee
- Fraud protection
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