American Express Gold Card: secondary rental car insurance
What the American Express Gold Card's secondary rental car insurance covers as its issuer summarises it, which cards with dated benefits list the same thing for a lower fee, and whether the card's rewards pay its fee before the benefit is counted.
Read this first
This list comes from each issuer's benefit summary, read on the month shown beside each card. Summaries leave out the exclusions, the claim limits per year and the conditions — often that the whole trip or purchase has to go on the card — so read the card's full guide to benefits before you rely on one. 77 of the 118 cards in the catalogue have no benefits recorded here yet and are left out, so a card missing from this list may still have it.
What the summary says
Secondary rental car coverage, trip delay after 12 hours, and baggage insurance
The summary states no limit for it. That means none was written down, not that there is none — the guide to benefits has the figure.
Read from the issuer's benefit summary 2026-09.
Who it is worth it for
If secondary rental car insurance is the reason you are looking at the American Express Gold Card, the Capital One Quicksilver lists it too, with no annual fee — $325 a year less. 5 cards here carry it for a lower fee in all. What the difference buys is the rest of the American Express Gold Card: its rewards and the other benefits below. Compare the two summaries before deciding they are the same cover.
On rewards alone, the illustrative household spending $2,205 a month (the assumption, in full) earns about $1,153 a year on the American Express Gold Card, or $828 once its $325 fee is paid. So the rewards pay the fee before this benefit is counted: for somebody who spends like that household, the benefit comes on top.
Every card here with secondary rental car insurance
| Card | Annual fee | What the summary says | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| none | Secondary rental car coverage |
2026-09 | |
| none | Secondary rental car coverage |
2026-09 | |
| none | Secondary rental car coverage |
2026-09 | |
| $95 | Secondary rental car coverage |
2026-09 | |
| $250 | Secondary car rental loss and damage coverage |
2026-10 | |
American Express Gold Card (this card) |
$325 | Secondary rental car coverage |
2026-09 |
| $395 | Secondary rental car coverage |
2026-09 | |
| $895 | Secondary rental car coverage |
2026-09 |
The American Express Gold Card's other dated benefits
What the American Express Gold Card earns, category by category · Every card with secondary rental car insurance · How the data here is kept