You may have seen a few posts like the one on Doctor of Credit about Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve losing primary CDW coverage in NY if you have your own auto policy. This is true…. but it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
I first started researching this about a week ago, went down a rabbit hole, paused, and came back to it today after DoC posted. This is all because of the move from eClaimsline to Assurant for Chase’s card benefits.
All of the below changes affect New York State residents only. Why? I don’t know. But I’ll add color as I go below.
Here is what I found:
In this article
Primary Car Rental Collision Damage Waiver
First, this isn’t limited to the Sapphire cards. It also includes the Ritz Carlton card, the United cards, the Ink cards, and any Chase card with primary CDW coverage.
If you live in New York State and have your own car, by law you have car rental insurance. It doesn’t matter if you carry liability only – New York State law provides that your personal policy MUST extend CDW coverage to any auto rented for 30 days or less. Kind of odd, although less odd when you find out that in the “old days” New York State had a law saying a car rental company couldn’t get you for more than $100 in damages for any reason. Totaled car? Pay $100 and walk away. Crazy, right? Anyway, that’s in the past but the requirement for someone with their own auto coverage of any type to automatically be covered for a car rental is still law.
Now, I searched for HOURS and cannot find any law that says this coverage is mandated to be primary. I would love to see someone post a link to such a law because then I’d understand why Assurant is doing this. But on my own, I came up empty.
What this means: If you are a New York State resident and have your own auto policy, your Chase card coverage is excess – meaning secondary. You’ll have to file a claim with your own insurance carrier first and Chase will only pick up what they don’t. This only applies within the United States. (To be clear, the New York thing is based on where you reside legally – not where you rent, so a Nevada resident renting in New York is not subject to this and coverage remains primary).
If you do not have your own insurance, then coverage is still primary (because what else could it be?) but remember you still need your own liability insurance which you can buy from the car rental agency. i.e. you still need coverage for if you injure someone or destroy someone else’s property.
Here are all the Chase cards with primary car rental CDW benefits that are impacted by this change. (Hint – it’s every Chase card with Primary CDW as a benefit including business cards).
All Chase cards with Primary Collission Damage Waiver (CDW)
Purchase Protection
If you have a Chase card with purchase protection, your coverage period is 90 days from the date of purchase if you live in New York. From what I can tell, everyone else gets 120 days.
All Chase cards with purchase protection
Lost Luggage Reimbursement
For every state except New York: Your Checked and Carry–on Baggage each have a maximum benefit up to three thousand ($3,000.00) dollars per Covered Person per Trip.
Both include a sub–limit up to five hundred ($500.00) dollars for jewelry and watches and a sub–limit up to five hundred ($500.00) dollars for cameras and other electronic equipment per Covered Person per Trip. Additional restrictions apply.
New York State Residents: You are additionally limited to $2,000 per bag and $10,000 for all Covered Travelers per Trip.
Summary
How did I suss this all out? Well, if you go to the benefits pages on Chase and then click the ^ and ^^ buttons, you land on the New York State terms.
So it wasn’t that hard, but I needed to know that I needed to look…. And you probably didn’t know. And now you do 🙂
PS: I was able to find the updated language on all Chase card pages except the United family of cards. I thought there might be a possibility they weren’t affected, but I had MilesTalk group moderator Sarah send me her Guide to Benefits and sure enough – the language is in there too.
These changes are all in effect as of the switch over to Assurant on October 1st.
Thoughts?
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