Dear Tripped Up,
In April 2024, my wife and I reserved a one-day car rental to travel from Lisbon to the Shrine of Fátima, about an hour north. We made the reservation through Enterprise, but it turned out to be with Guerin, a partner. I declined the optional collision damage waiver because my American Express card includes a similar waiver as a benefit if I pay with the card. At some point during the trip, the rear of the car was damaged — I’m not sure how — and Guerin charged me 1,205 euros, then worth just under $1,300. That May, I filed a claim with AMEX Assurance for reimbursement. Among the documents it requested was an “itemized repair estimate,” but despite my repeated requests, Guerin did not provide one. American Express closed my case in August, though I was told it could be reopened. I continued to try, but by November, I had given up on Guerin and started trying Enterprise in the United States. I called eight times, speaking to eight different representatives between Nov. 4 and Dec. 9, but no one ever got back to me. Can you help? Steven, Nashville
Dear Steven,
I know from painful experience that cajoling a foreign rental car agency to produce the documentation most U.S. credit card benefit programs require can be maddening. And we are not alone. Let’s add another example that landed in the Tripped Up inbox soon after yours. In March 2024, Troy from Philadelphia rented a vehicle from Europcar in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, declining the insurance as recommended by his Barclays-issued American Airlines Mastercard. He damaged the car to the tune of $1,671, which seemed to include both the repair and the agency’s “loss of use” while the car was out of service.
His claim was handled by Sedgwick, a third-party administrator, which asked him to provide an itemized repair estimate and, later, a fleet log to corroborate the dates the car was out of service. According to a trove of email exchanges he sent me, both he and Sedgwick staff pressured Europcar for months to provide the documents, to no avail.
I couldn’t quite figure out how to divide up the fault here: Does it lie with the insurance companies for requiring too much documentation, or the car rental agencies for failing to provide it? So I tried to contact everyone: Guerin, Enterprise and Amex (which owns AMEX Assurance) for your case, and Europcar, Barclays and Sedgwick for Troy’s.
Let’s start with you, Steven. Though Guerin never responded to my emails, Enterprise did. Michael Wilmering, a spokesman, emailed to let me know the company had now reached out to you to provide the requested itemized repair estimate, “which was not available upon his initial request,” he wrote. (I know you made far more than an “initial” request, but we’ll get to that later.)
“While international differences in insurance and repair documentation can create complexities, we are committed to doing our best to assist travelers in navigating these requirements,” he continued.
But as you alerted me, Amex came through first. Less than a day after I got in touch with the company, you forwarded me an email it sent you, approving your claim. A few days later, your account was credited $1,300. Apparently that “required” document was no longer required.
Elizabeth Crosta, a spokeswoman for Amex, would not comment on the record about your specific case or on AMEX Assurance’s document requirements. But the itemized repair estimate is the big sticking point in most of these cases. Rental car companies will happily tell you how much they’re charging you, but they’re far more reluctant to share how they reached that figure.
Troy’s case was slightly more complicated, because of the “loss of use” charge. Soon after I contacted Vincent Vevaud, a Europcar spokesman based in France, a different staff member emailed Troy and copied me. “I have investigated your comments with our management team in Mexico,” that employee wrote to him, “and they have confirmed that as the document has not been supplied, the loss of use charge has now been refunded.” Troy received a $1,319 refund, $352 short of what he paid. Mr. Vevaud confirmed via email that the document in question was the fleet log, which he said was maintained manually. “I imagine in this case, the person in charge forgot to do it,” he wrote. “It is quite rare, but we know it can happen in peak periods, with high volumes being managed on a daily basis.”
As for the outstanding $352, a Barclays spokeswoman said Troy had received a $304 credit back in 2024 to cover the damages, something he said had slipped his mind. That leaves a mysterious $48 gap, but he had also been credited 20,000 American Airlines miles for his troubles, which more than makes up for it.
I’m happy to have helped you both, but very unhappy this problem exists at all. The collision damage waiver benefit is a mainstay of credit cards, but is it actually any good for renting a car abroad?
It depends, of course, on how much time and energy you have to chase down documents and haggle with your credit card company. But beyond that, here are some further considerations.
First, I would also be far less worried about domestic rentals. I don’t recall a single complaint in the Tripped Up inbox about not getting reimbursed for damage incurred during a domestic rental. Presumably, companies here are more familiar with U.S. credit card documentation requirements. (Cue a flood of emails begging to differ.)
Second, check the fine print or call your card issuer before traveling abroad. Such benefits don’t work in every country. Also, verify whether your card offers primary or secondary insurance, and how it interacts with your own auto insurance, if you have a vehicle. Credit card benefits typically do not cover liability, though your own car insurance policy might.
Third, don’t underestimate the chances of an accident. How good are you at navigating narrow cobblestone streets in medieval villages? Or driving in the mind-bending alternative universe of left-side-of-the-road countries? Or deciphering signage in other languages?
The bottom line is: If you depend on a credit card benefit and something happens, you stand a decent chance of a long, frustrating delay before you are reimbursed for the damage you (or a Slovenian teenager or a Chilean truck driver or a Vietnamese light post) did to your car.
I used to tell people who were renting abroad that it was less risky to choose United States-based companies’ foreign partners, so you could at least turn as a last resort to an American intermediary.
But the Enterprise case shows this is imperfect advice. When I pressed Mr. Wilmering on his “initial request” remark, reminding him of those eight calls you made to customer service, he followed up.
“After looking into this more closely,” he wrote, “there was a lapse in communication between our teams internally.”
He apologized for the inconvenience, adding, “We are reviewing our internal processes to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Finally, there is one tactic that could help prevent these types of headaches when renting a car abroad — counterintuitive as it may seem to most seasoned travelers: If it’s not too expensive, consider just buying the rental agency’s damage protection.
If you need advice about a best-laid travel plan that went awry, send an email to [email protected].
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Seth Kugel is the columnist for “Tripped Up,” an advice column that helps readers navigate the often confusing world of travel.
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