Yup, I recently rented a car with an American Express Platinum card, which includes secondary coverage. I don't own a car, so I don't have auto insurance, and assumed vehicle to the damage would still be covered, I just wouldn't have liability coverage. But in order for the policy to pay out anything at all, you're required to have primary coverage.

So I ended up paying $300 or so for a scratched fender. Not the end of the world, and their estimate seemed fair, but I might buy the rental car insurance next time.

Wait, this is definitely news to me. I'm pretty sure secondary coverage becomes primary if you don't have personal insurance. I re-read the Amex terms and conditions and it says nothing about requiring primary coverage (https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/features-ben...).

Hmm, maybe I should resubmit the claim! Would be great if I'm wrong–the form required a primary insurance declaration and I gave up at that point.

EDIT: Thanks argonaut, that worked and the claim was able to go through! Proof of Cunningham's Law.

That was exactly my understanding and, I think, a general consensus on how secondary insurance works for Amex Platinum.

Next time, get the American Express Premium Car Rental Protection add-on as your primary? [1]

[1] https://feeservices.americanexpress.com/premium/car-rental-i...

Paying for the AMEX primary coverage is usually much cheaper than rental car coverage (since it's one-time instead of daily). Some Chase cards also offer primary coverage without a fee (but they are generally cards with significant annual fees).

This is a fantastic service. AmEx used to promote it reasonably heavily, but in the past few years I've rarely seen them mention it at all.

> They also don't cover damage to other cars, only to the rental vehicle itself.

But that's covered under the liability insurance, which is mandatory in most jurisdictions and included with base rental fees already. In the US it's mandatory, too, AFAIK, but the the default insurance will usually cover the minimum required by the state, so you may want to have a separate liability insurance after all with a higher coverage.

I think that's the case in most US states, but it isn't provided in California.