Thank you for the responses - I am getting onto the insurer this am and will report back.
AdMel , you said that rental car excess cover was of no consequence in the US, where it is useless.
This is probably going to be my biggest gripe though i do worry how i am going to notify Amex if an injury renders me unconscious and I cannot ring their call centre and report an accident.
Can you explain the problem with the car cover in the USA which is where I mainly rent cars? I have always tried to take CDW coverage to minimise my excess but paying Avis etc for that is quite expensive.
As
equus states below, with a couple of points of further clarification.
The problem is that "excess cover" is only any good if there is insurance with an excess. This is the case in (for example) Australia, where the standard car rental includes insurance - but with an excess of say $5,500. You can pay the car rental company to reduce this (at the $20-$30 per day type of figure), or use an "excess reduction" travel insurance (purchased or credit card), which will pay the excess, with the rental insurance picking up the rest.
In the US, there is NO included insurance, so insurance excess coverage is of no use. You either pay the car rental company for insurance, or have appropriate coverage.
You have mentioned using a Covermore policy - which you may need to check the terms of, as I believe it only covers excess, so if you are relying on this in the US without paying the car rental company for insurance, you are likely to be quite exposed.
A further example of all coverage not being equal, is that the Amex Platinum Charge Card (and Centurion I believe), actually includes "Loss Damage Waiver" cover - which is carefully worded to cover both a "deductible" (aka excess), or any amount you are liable for (up to AUD$70K). Subject to a raft of conditions, such as charging the hire to the car, being part of trip which starts in Australia, hire being no than 31 days, car being less than 20 years old, car worth less than AUD$70K and a raft more. Nevertheless, if all the conditions are met (and they are not that difficult), this coverage is usefull for US hirings.
To further clarify, when insurance is purchased from car hire companies in the US, there is no excess.
With regard to Amex Platinum Charge Card, although it covers LDW/Deductible, it does not provide third party property damage, third party injury cover or legal liability cover. This means that you will still need to purchase this in the US - known as various names by different car hire companies, including Additional Liability Insurnace (ALI), Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI) and others. Amex Plat Charge Card's included legal liability cover also specifically excludes cover when using a motorised vehicle, which would include a hire car, as do most, if not all, other credit card policies and bought travel insurance policies.
As discussed in numerous other threads on this forum, the best options for non-US residents, including Australians, when renting a car in the US are:
1. Hiring from the likes of Hertz, who often provide packaged rates including all insurances, often for less or only slightly more than the price for US residents excluding any insurance;
2. Booking through the UK based websites of the major car hire companies (e,.g. Avis, Dollar, Thrifty) which provide packaged rates including all insurances;
3. Booking through third party consolidators/aggregators/brokers, which also provide packaged rates including all insurances. Members on this forum recommend the likes of argus, driveaway holidays, netflights and others.
4. purchase a separate policy which specifically covers LDW and third party legal liability. There are a number of them available, usually from the UK, with cost starting at approx. AUD 100. Again, search this forum for further details.
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