Does Chase Sapphire Cover Rental Car Insurance? Exclusions and Denials

Yes, Chase Sapphire does cover rental car insurance. Both the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve include an auto rental collision damage waiver that pays as primary coverage for theft of or damage to the rental vehicle, up to $60,000 on the Preferred and $75,000 on the Reserve.¹ To use it, you have to pay for the entire rental with your Sapphire card and decline the rental company’s own collision damage waiver at the counter. One important limit before you go further: the benefit covers the rental car itself, not your liability to anyone else.

What the Coverage Pays For

The benefit reimburses you for physical damage to the rental vehicle and for theft of the vehicle. It also covers valid loss-of-use charges the rental company bills you while the car is being repaired, administrative fees, and reasonable towing to the nearest qualified repair facility.¹ Diminished value, the depreciation a car suffers after an accident, is specifically excluded.²

Because the coverage is primary inside and outside the United States, you do not have to file with your personal auto insurer first.² One carve-out: New York residents who rent in the United States and carry personal auto insurance get the card benefit as secondary coverage only, meaning their own policy pays first.³

The Liability Gap You Need to Know About

This is the piece that catches people off guard. Sapphire rental coverage protects the rental car. It does not include any liability insurance, which means it will not pay for injuries to other people, damage to other vehicles, or damage to property outside the car.⁴

If you own a car, your personal auto policy’s liability coverage typically follows you into a rental. If you do not have personal auto insurance, you have two reasonable options: buy the rental company’s supplemental liability protection at the counter, which runs roughly $13 to $17 per day, or get a non-owner auto policy from an insurer like Geico before your trip.⁵

What You Have to Do at the Counter

Three conditions have to be met for the benefit to apply:

Charge the full rental to your Sapphire card, or pay for it with Chase Ultimate Rewards points.¹
Decline the rental company’s collision damage waiver or loss damage waiver. If you accept it, the card benefit is voided.⁶
Be listed as the primary renter on the rental agreement, whether you are the cardholder or an authorized user using your own card.¹

Coverage then extends to the primary cardholder, authorized users renting on their own card, and any additional drivers the rental agreement allows.³ If the rental counter wants proof of coverage, you can pull a letter of coverage from the Assurant self-service portal by entering your card number.⁴

Internationally, some rental agencies will not let you decline their CDW. When that happens, the Sapphire benefit automatically becomes secondary to the agency’s coverage.² Chase recommends calling before an international trip to confirm your destination is covered, since countries with very limited insurance markets can be excluded.¹ Unlike several competing cards, Chase does cover rentals in Ireland, Israel, and Jamaica.⁴

Preferred vs. Reserve: What’s Different

The two cards share the same basic structure, but there are a couple of meaningful differences:

The Preferred covers up to $60,000 per incident. The Reserve covers up to $75,000.¹
The Preferred excludes “certain expensive/exotic vehicles” and anything with an MSRP of $125,000 or more. Chase’s own education page says the Reserve does not have this exotic-vehicle exclusion, though some third-party sources report that brands like Ferrari, Bentley, Aston Martin, Bugatti, and Rolls Royce are excluded from both.⁴¹

If you are renting anything luxury, call the benefit administrator at 1-800-350-1697 to confirm coverage before you sign the rental agreement.

What’s Not Covered

Several vehicle types and rental setups fall outside the benefit no matter which Sapphire card you carry:

Antique vehicles, defined as cars over 20 years old or models that have not been manufactured for at least 10 years.³
Cargo vans, trucks other than pickup trucks, motorcycles, mopeds, motorbikes, limousines, RVs, and vehicles rented with a driver.³
Vans that seat more than 12 people including the driver.¹
Peer-to-peer and hourly rentals such as Turo and Zipcar, with no workaround available.¹
Any rental intended to last 31 consecutive days or longer.³

Pickup trucks are an exception to the truck exclusion and are covered, though damage to the interior bed is not covered unless it results from a qualifying event like theft or a collision.³

Electric vehicles are not categorically excluded. The exclusions turn on vehicle value and type, not powertrain. The Reserve has no stated limitations on EV rentals, including Teslas. The Preferred may not cover every high-value EV, but certain Tesla models do qualify.⁷

A few other situations also fall outside coverage: personal belongings stolen from inside the car, damage from lack of reasonable care such as leaving the car running and unattended, ordinary wear and tear, mechanical breakdowns, aftermarket modifications not installed by the manufacturer, and damage from war, terrorism, or confiscation by authorities.³

Why Claims Get Denied

Most denied claims trace back to a short list of preventable mistakes:

Accepting the rental company’s CDW. The moment you sign for it, the card benefit is gone.⁸
Renting a vehicle on the excluded list, like a motorcycle, RV, large van, or antique car.³
Booking a rental intended to run 31 days or longer.³
Damage from off-road driving or illegal activity.⁸
Missing the 100-day reporting window after an incident.³
Booking through Turo, Zipcar, or another peer-to-peer platform.¹

Inspect the vehicle for pre-existing damage before you drive off. Chase will not cover damage that was already there when your rental period began.⁶

How to File a Claim

If something happens to the car, there are three stages:

Report the incident within 100 days. Call the benefit administrator at 1-800-350-1362 for Preferred or 1-800-350-1697 for Reserve, or file online at chasecardbenefits.com.³
Pull together your documentation: initial and final rental agreements, repair estimate and itemized repair bill, at least two photographs of the damage, a police report if one exists, the rental company’s demand letter, and the card statement showing you paid for the rental with your Sapphire.³
Submit all supporting documents within 365 days of the incident.³

Expect to act as a go-between with the rental company. The benefit administrator may ask you to obtain specific repair documentation directly, since privacy rules often prevent the rental company from sending it on their own.⁹

The current Sapphire Preferred Guide to Benefits reflects terms in effect as of October 1, 2024.² Chase can update these terms, so check the most recent Guide to Benefits linked from your card’s benefits page before a trip.

1
Chase. Chase Sapphire Rental Car Insurance Guide
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Chase. Chase Sapphire Preferred Guide to Benefits
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Chase. Chase Sapphire Reserve Guide to Benefits
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CNBC Select. Chase Sapphire Rental Car Insurance
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Consumer Reports. Should You Buy Car Rental Insurance
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NerdWallet. Chase Sapphire Preferred Rental Car Insurance Guide
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AutoSlash. Does Credit Card Rental Car Insurance Cover EVs
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The Points Guy. Chase Sapphire Preferred Rental Car Insurance
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Destinations and Desserts. Chase Car Rental Insurance