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Credit Cards with Primary Car Rental Insurance

When choosing a credit card, one consideration is the car rental insurance coverage provided. Using a credit card with Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) insurance included means you can decline that (often very expensive!) coverage at the car rental counter.

Credit Cards with Included Primary CDW Insurance

In all cases, you’ll want to make sure that you reserve and pay for the car rental with your credit card with the coverage, decline the rental company’s CDW (but do take the liability coverage if you don’t have personal insurance – that’s important!) and you make sure that your rental meets all applicable terms of the provided insurance. For example, many credit card CDW coverages exclude cars over a certain value (or car types) and exclude various countries, such as Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, Jamaica, Australia, and Israel.

While a great many credit cards offer “secondary” insurance, which means they will cover the excess after you file a costly claim with your own car insurance provider, a handful of cards offer primary coverage. Primary car rental CDW insurance means that even if your rental car is damaged, the credit card will handle all covered costs (again, subject to their fine print!) without you having to involve your own insurance.

Also keep in mind that these will not cover extended rentals, generally over 28-30 days. They also do not cover non-passenger car vehicles (that means no pickup trucks or vans!).

Here are our top picks for credit cards with included and primary CDW car rental insurance coverage:

 

Personal Credit Cards Cards with Primary Car Rental CDW Coverage

Both of the premium Chase Sapphire cards include primary CDW. The main difference is that the Chase Sapphire Reserve covers a higher limit on the car value ($75,000 as of time of writing – confirm when applying). However, the Chase Sapphire Preferred has a much lower annual fee.

Note that if you don’t qualify for Chase cards, most American Express credit cards provide secondary rental coverage.

Business Credit Cards Cards with Primary Car Rental CDW Coverage

When using a Business credit card domestically for a car rental, please keep in mind the coverage is only primary if the car rental is for legitimate business purposes. Our top choices for this benefit alone are the Chase Ink Business Cash and Chase Ink Unlimited Business Credit Card because they don’t carry annual fees.

In all cases, the precise benefits for credit card provided CDW insurance varies from card to card. Always confirm before renting that the card’s provided benefits meet your needs.

The Bonus amounts listed below refer to the value of the bonus you can get for opening a new card and meeting the required minimum spend.

Advertiser Disclosure: Your Best Credit Cards has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Your Best Credit Cards and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Commissions do not affect or prioritize placement within our results and not all cards displayed earn us a commission. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone.

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12 Cards Available:

Credit card
Estimated Bonus Value :

$1,200

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dollar Annual Fee: $395

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Estimated Bonus Value :

$1,200

Offer: Earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within your first 3 months

Capital One Venture X Credit Card Earn Rate

  • 10X Capital One Miles on hotels and car rentals when booked via Capital One Travel
  • 5X Capital One Miles on airfare booked via Capital One Travel - which utilizes Hopper.
  • 2X Capital One Miles on everything else

Capital One Venture X Credit Card Benefits

Capital One launched this card with a laundry list of benefits which are very impressive. You'll quickly see that the annual fee is wiped out and then some by the benefits.

  • Up to a $300 credit annually for bookings made on Capital One Travel
  • 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary (equal to $100 towards travel)
  • Unlimited access to Capital One Lounges and also to 1,300+ Priority Pass lounges internationally + two guest passes (Effective January 1, 2023, Priority Pass non-lounge airport experiences (like dining, retail shopping and spa discounts) are not part of the Visa Infinite® benefit program for Venture X cardholders.)
  • Up to $100 in statement credits for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry
  • Complimentary Hertz President’s Circle status (top tier!) for primary cardholders, authorized users and account managers. The status is valid until Dec 31, 2024.
  • Primary Car Rental Collision/Damage Coverage
  • Authorized Users can be added for no fee and they also get their own Priority Pass membership.
  • Cardholders can earn up to 100,000 miles per year for referring friends, who can then experience the unparalleled benefits Venture X has to offer (up to 4 referrals per year; 25,000 miles awarded per referral)
  • No foreign transaction fees

You can transfer to several airline and hotel partners. See the full list of Capital One Miles transfer partners and transfer times.

If you used our Credit Cards Optimization Tool to find this card, please remember that the 10X and 5X bonus rates only apply to travel booked through the Capital One Travel Portal.

Offer: Earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within your first 3 months
Credit card

CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®

dollar Annual Fee: $0 Introductory Annual Fee for the first year, then $99

Estimated Bonus Value :

$975

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dollar Annual Fee: $99

Calculator
Estimated Bonus Value :

$975

Offer: 65,000 bonus AAdvantage® miles after spending $4,000 in your first 4 months

Review: Get a free checked bag and preferred boarding on American Airlines. The free checked bag is valid for for you and up to 4 travel companions. Earn a $99 companion certificate for domestic main cabin travel.

Earn AAdvantage miles at the rate of 2x for American Airlines, telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants, and gas stations, plus 1x for everything else.

Earn 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible AAdvantage(R) mile earned from purchases

NOTE: Our estimated rewards values assume all of your airline spend is with AA for the purposes of valuing your rewards for this card. If you spend across multiple airlines, your rewards will be lower as this card earns 2x on AA purchases only.

Offer: 65,000 bonus AAdvantage® miles after spending $4,000 in your first 4 months
Credit card

Capital One Spark Miles for Business

dollar Annual Fee: $0 Introductory Annual Fee for the first year, then $95

Estimated Bonus Value :

$800

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dollar Annual Fee: $95

Calculator
Estimated Bonus Value :

$800

Offer: Get 50,000 Capital One miles when you spend $4,500 in your first 3 months

This business card offers 2x on all purchases and 5X miles on hotel and rental car booked via Capital One Travel.

You can use your miles to get reimbursed for any travel purchase on your card or redeem your miles by booking a trip through Capital One Travel at a value of one cent per point for an effective 2% cash back on all purchases - or transfer them to a range of airlines and hotel partners.

It also has a $100 credit for Global Entry or PreCheck once every 5 years.

NOTES:

1) The bonus value for the early spend bonus on this card assumes you will transfer the points to miles. If you use as a rebate on travel spend, the early spend bonus value will be $500, exactly.

2) 5X on Hotels and Car Rentals applies only when you book via Capital One's own travel service. Otherwise, you will earn the standard 2X miles.

You can transfer to more than 18 airline and hotel partners. See the full list of Capital One Miles transfer partners and transfer times.

Offer: Get 50,000 Capital One miles when you spend $4,500 in your first 3 months

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