Use Visa for Your Car Rental in Australia, Not American Express
Apr 4th, 2007 by Nick
I was stunned to find out that Australia is one of five countries excluded for rental car insurance on my American Express card. I am going to be doing a fair amount of driving (at least two days at Ayers’ Rock, at least three in Tasmania, probably one or two in Melbourne), and I would have been very upset to find out that I was not covered.
Visa, however, does include Australia in its insurance coverage. (Here are the regulations.) A few things to remember for American residents visiting Australia:
- Your personal car insurance does not do anything in Australia;
- You must decline the CDW and LDW options on your rental car agreement;
- You have to pay for the entire rental with your Visa car. I would not mess around with anything utliizing a voucher or a prepaid rental, even if you used your Visa card;
- Your Visa only covers damage to the car, not your liability or damage to anything else. Check with your personal insurance agent before you leave about how to efficiently cover your liability. (When I pay the bill next month, I need to check and see that my $1M personal umbrella liability coverage is valid in Australia.)
- Rentals may only be up to thirty one (31) days; and
- The emergency number from Australia to call Visa should you get into an accident is (800) 125-440, or if that doesn’t work, you can call collect back to the USA at (410) 581-9994.
From reading the Visa site, it appears that any Visa card provides this benefit.
