Car rental - Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) is covered by Visa Card

D_Dickenson

I'm looking at renting a campervan in New Zealand and I have come across this page on tripadvisor - http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g255104-c2516/New-Zealand:Rental.Vehicles.html

It claims if you pay for the rental by Visa card then the CDW is also automatically covered.

This page also says the same thing - http://kainr2.blogspot.com/2008/02/visa-credit-card-collision-damage.html However it is from an American point of view.

Does anyone know if this is true for UK Visa cards?

ferf1223

you need to check with your card issuer. I have a US credit card and it does have primary rental car insurance coverage on it so long as I book with and pay with the card...but not all credit cards in the US have this, so I have to assume not all UK credit cards would have this.

The other thing to consider is loss of use which is something rental car agencies can sting you for - and not all credit card coverage covers it...so basically if the car is out of use for 2 weeks while being repaired, even if your credit card covers the CDW, it might not cover the loss of use, so you may be out of pocket.

markandkate

Having hired a camper van in Australia I woul b e very surprised if your insurance does cover all the excess as there is more to the camper van than just a vehicle. We had to pay about £12 per day excess or leave a $2000 bond

dzug1

AFAIK NO UK issued visa card covers car rental CDW. Most if not all cards issued in North America do - which is why Americans often post on travel boards assuming that what goes for the USA goes worldwide.

It's really not worth checking with your UK card company - you can safely assume you are not covered. They probably won't even understand the question.

D_Dickenson

That's what I figured dzug - still you live in hope!