Credit card trip insurance

Trip insurance refunds the price of a plane ticket in the event of sickness or death of an immediate family member. You can generally purchase it at the same time that you buy your plane tickets.

It turns out that my credit card provides the same trip insurance automatically.

The moral: Look at your cardholder benefits guide that is mailed to you every year or so. You never know what you might find.

Credit card insurance coverage for rental cars

As usual, last time I rented a car, in Michigan, the rental car agent explained that I should purchase the exorbitantly priced property damage insurance because 1) Michigan is a fully no-fault state and 2) liability for damage to the car would include rental costs while the car was being repaired. Despite having posted on this very topic, I had no idea whether I would be fully covered by my insurance for property damage if I was in a collision.

Shortly after that I received a benefits guide from one of my credit cards and I took a close look at its rental insurance coverage. It covers vehicles rented for 31 days or less with a value of $50,000 or less. There is no coverage unless you decline the Collision/Damage waiver offered.

And, yes, it covers "reasonable loss-of-use charges imposed by the vehicle rental company for the period of time that the rental vehicle is out of service."

So next time I rent a car I'll refuse the property damage insurance with confidence--that is, if I can remember which credit card I should be using.