Thwack! We had just gotten on the highway when a rock hit the windshield. I had rented the minivan the night before. Now, the Frequent Miler team was on our way to Colorado Springs for a working meeting with our blog hosting company, Boarding Area. Despite the cracked windshield, visibility was fine, so I kept driving. I decided to deal with the issue when returning the car at the end of the week. I had rented from Hertz, so we joked that they’d send me to jail. At least I’d remain free until Thursday night.
The experiment that wasn’t
When I originally booked the rental, I had added my Ink Business Preferred® for payment. Unlike the Sapphire Reserve® card, the Ink Business Preferred continues to offer 3X rewards for all travel purchases. It offers primary auto rental coverage, but in the U.S. that coverage is limited to rentals made for business/commercial purposes. I always wondered how they enforce that limitation, if at all. One bright side of this situation was that I would finally get to test this out! Or, so I thought…
I had a legitimate business purpose for the rental, so this was a perfect experiment. But… Hertz wasn’t perfect. Instead of charging the card I had entered for the booking, they charged the default card on my Hertz profile… My Sapphire Reserve card. If I had noticed this when returning the car, I could have changed it, but I didn’t. Boo.
Easy, but slow rental car return
Unlike Tim, who likes to crash his rental cars everywhere he goes, this was a first for me. I’ve never damaged a rental car before, so I didn’t know what to expect.
The return process was easy, but it took a very long time. I showed the attendant the crack in the windshield, and he took out a tablet to create an incident report. The app he used was extremely slow and buggy. He used it to enter information about the incident and to take photos of the damage. He had me enter personal information and sign it. The app crashed, and we had to do it all again. Luckily, I had returned the car the night before my flight home, so I wasn’t in a hurry.
There was one part of the process where I didn’t know the right answer. The app asked whether I wanted Hertz to pursue compensation from my insurance or if I’d do that myself. I think that the latter was the right answer, but I picked the former. The problem with that was that it asked for information about my insurance coverage and my insurance agency’s phone number. I wrote that my insurance was through my Chase credit card and entered the phone number found on the back of my card. This was just a waste of time on my part. Hertz later sent me the bill so I could pursue insurance compensation myself.
Easy peasy claim
Four weeks later…
I couldn’t file a claim until I received a repair estimate from Hertz. Nearly four weeks went by before I received the required claim information via email:
Good day Greg,
I am contacting you on behalf of Hertz Central Recovery. I have received a report regarding the damage to our Hertz/Dollar Thrifty vehicle. I will be handling the damage process.
The amount due for the damage is $746.92 USD. If you have opened an insurance claim, I will need the claim number and the insurance company/adjuster’s information.
Should you choose to handle the responsibility on your own, you may either remit a cheque to the address down below, or call us at 888-760-0123 to make a payment with a Visa, Mastercard or American Express.
*Please note that supporting documents will be sent to you upon request*
The claim number was at the top of the email, and the vehicle incident report was attached as a PDF. That was all I needed to file the claim with Chase.
When filing claims for coverage provided by Chase credit cards, there’s no need to call anyone. The entire process can be handled through a website designed for this: chasecardbenefits.com. The entire process probably took fewer than 15 minutes. I chose to have the benefit provider pay me rather than Hertz, and I paid Hertz separately.
Six days later…
Six days after filing the claim, I received a notification from Chase Card Benefits. The claim had been approved! Two days later, the $746.92 payment was deposited to my bank account.
Conclusion
I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to test the Ink Business Preferred card’s primary rental car coverage, but the rest of the process was smooth and easy:
- Hertz didn’t send me to jail!
- Returning the car and filing an incident report was slow but easy
- Filing the claim with Chase was quick and easy
- The claim was approved in full and paid out quickly
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Sounds like Hertz isn’t the same company it was back in the day (blame OJ?). Which companies do people recommend if you’re looking for honesty and efficiency?
This seems like a very burdensome way to manufacture spend.
I mean few additional minutes to an hour everytime you return a rental car isn’t that bad. Considering how many dents and dings I could get on the car, it could be easily scalable too.
There’s a fine line between insurance fraud and manufactured spend. I don’t know where it is.
I’ve had two occasions to deal with Chase’s primary rental coverage (CSP). The first, when Alamo wrongfully claimed $2500 damage on an overnight US rental. Chase Benefits was very helpful, but I wanted to oppose the claim on principle, and Alamo backed down because of my “loyal customer” status (it was the first — and last — time renting from Alamo). I notified Chase of the resolution, and that was that.
The second came after a rental in Italy. As many know, Italy has a terrible reputation for damage claims that magically appear if you don’t buy the extra “insurance” from the rental agency. I relied on Chase and didn’t purchase it. Long story about just how bad this rental was, but at the end, they “discovered” a tiny ding in the plastic area below the front bumper (not caused by me, but it was difficult to see in the photo taken of the black car in a dark garage).
They charged my card over $2,000 above the amount on the rental agreement, promised to send a copy of the charge to my email, but never did. When requests for copies of the transaction and for documentation supporting the claimed damage went unanswered, I both made a claim with Chase Benefits and contacted Chase for credit card services, who advised me to dispute the charges. Documentation was never received, so Chase Benefits kept their claim open as long as possible, but ultimately had to close it. The dispute was resolved favorably to me, and the charge was removed from my card.
Bottom line: I was glad to have Chase’s CDW protection in both cases, though it was never actually used.
My experience has been very different
I had a scratch on a bumper and had paid with my Ritz Catd
Claims are via the same website
It took over 3 months to resolve the issue
After filing claim I kept receiving automated requests for more information and so on
I have now decided to use Amex rental coverage
I thought the credit card used to reserve the rental and the one for final payment had to be the same in order for this coverage to take effect. I realize they’re both Chase cards, but wonder if you dodged something there.
also curious about this
$750 for a windshield crack?
I agree it seems high. I suspect the entire windshield had to be replaced, which increased the price. And I also suspect Hertz tacked on several hundred dollars, just to be a pain.
Right. I just had my windshield replaced (in Colorado) on my Honda CRV for less than $400 by Safelite.
same. Unfortunately have had to visit safelite several times in the last few years.
Knowing Hertz, it was $750 or jail time for Greg. The decision was easy.
$750 is pretty normal for a windshield replacement these days, especially if they also have to do calibration for the sensors in the windshield.
They also charge for loss-of-use of the car and, presumably, an administrative fee. As with other forms of insurance, I’d be surprised if the amount actually paid by the insurance company was the sticker price that Greg saw.
I rented a car in Dublin in 2024 to tour the beautiful Irish countryside. Little did I know driving on the other side was the least of my problems. The narrow rural roads with two way traffic nearly caused a nervous breakdown for my passengers. Alas the damage came when I parked too close to a sign post on the street and a car parked in front of me gave me two inches of clearance to get out of the parallel spot. I did but dented the rear wheel well. Hertz gave me a $4000+ bill. Chase paid it all, and the bonus to the whole affair came due to the fact Chase was using the old multipliers – I got more than 12,000 Chase UR points because Hertz charged my card. Now I guess I need to rent cars through the Chase portal to get the multiplier but I wonder if the damage would get the same.
The CSR has $75k of coverage and the CIP has $60k of coverage. I wonder what the likelihood is that a person would need that extra $15k of coverage. Or, reasonably, what dollar level of primary coverage would be acceptable?
As a second thought, if there was a trade-off, which is of greater importance 1) higher trip cancellation/interruption coverage or 2) higher primary CDW limit?
“But… Hertz wasn’t perfect.” Oof. Have we learned nothing? Hertz is near the last thing from ‘perfect.’ Yeah, CSR is still best for these claims.
I had actually used the CDW on the Chase Ink Preferred for a car rental I rented for a work-related conference. They do ask for proof that the car rental was rented for business/commercial purposes. It’s still an easy process though.
good to know! What kind of proof do they ask for?
Yes, Please let everyone know what was the “proof of business use” Chase required?
Can you get away with “business”?
I rented from Budget and 5 minutes before returning, as I was gassing up, some guy rammed into the plastic bumper, puncturing it. Had used my Sapphire Preferred. Filled out a form at the office describing the accident with the other guy’s personal information, turned it in, and never heard anything more about it. I wouldn’t rent a car from Hertz if it were free.
I haven’t rented from Hertz for years, but what was the reason to save a credit card in your profile?
I’m tempted to show the whatever the card that has the best coverage at the time of renting, then when returning without any incident, I’d ask them in person to charge to a different card.
You can’t create an account without a card
They haven’t sent you to jail **yet**.
A few years ago I side-swiped a pole with an SUV we were renting from Hertz. The estimate for repairs was about $4000. Used the Ritz-Carlton card for payment- has the same coverage as CSR. In a few weeks, all approved and covered, no problems. For auto rental coverage, Chase is the best.
If you rent from hertz, take screenshots of the checkout screen and any hidden drop downs. They are devious.