The Chase Sapphire Reserve is known for offering some of the best benefits out of any travel rewards credit card. Some of these perks relate to rental cars and can save you some serious cash. Here’s a look at all of the Chase Sapphire Reserve rental car benefits and discounts and how you can utilize them to save you some money on your travels.
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What are the Chase Sapphire Reserve car rental Benefits?
The Chase Sapphire Reserve comes with two key car rental benefits: primary rental car insurance and special perks with partners Silvercar, Avis, and National Car Rental.
Primary rental car coverage is great because it can prevent you from having to file a claim with your insurance company and save you money on your monthly premium. And the perks for the rental car partners can provide you with special deals, discounts, and even upgrades.
I’ll discuss both of these in detail.
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Primary rental car insurance
The Chase Sapphire Reserve comes with rental car insurance which is also referred to as “Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver.” For the Chase Sapphire Reserve (and Preferred), this coverage is primary.
This means you do not have to file a claim with any other source of insurance before you can receive coverage under this benefit, which also means you’ll likely be able to avoid fees and a potential spike in your monthly premium.
The insurance will cover claims that do not exceed the following limits:
- Claims up to $75,000
- Vehicle rental periods that do not exceed nor intend to exceed 31 consecutive days
This is one of the most comprehensive rental car coverage policies offered by any credit card out there. The one key thing to remember is that the card does not offer protection for liability coverage (so someone could still sue you if you ran into them). You can inquire with your insurance company or rental car company about liability coverage to make sure you’re covered for that.
You can find out more details for the Sapphire Reserve here.
Rental car perks with partners
The Sapphire Reserve offers rental car perks with three different rental car partners
- Silvercar
- Avis
- National Car Rental
Silvercar
Silvercar is an Audi-owned car rental service that’s really taken off over the past few years. It’s an app-enabled program that allows you to efficiently rent and pick up your vehicles. The only drawback is that it’s only available in limited cities, though most big cities offer the service.
With the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can get 30% off Silvercar rentals of at least two days when entering promo code VINFINITE at the time of booking.
This is a benefit offered to other Visa Infinite cards as well. So for example if you have the Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card you can also get this 30% discount.
Avis
Once you get your Sapphire Reserve enroll in Avis Preferred you’ll be able to save up to 30% on qualifying rentals. This is also a Visa Infinite cardholder benefit that will allow you to save up to 30% off Avis base rates when making a reservation with Avis Worldwide Discount (AWD) number S107100.
National Car Rental
The Sapphire Reserve will get you a 25% discount and you’ll also be able to receive Emerald Club Executive with contract ID 5030849.
Emerald Club Executive benefits include:
Priority Service
Get expedited services when renting in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Guaranteed Upgrades
You’re always guaranteed a free upgrade when you reserve using the Midsize rate (in US and Canada).
Drop & Go
With convenient email receipts, just drop off your car and go (if your car has not been damaged during the rental).
Executive Area Access
Choose any car (full size and above) in the Executive Area and only pay the mid size rate (in US and Canada).
Faster Free Rental Days
Earn 1 rental credit for every qualified car rental. Free Rental Day = 6 credits.
No Second Driver Fees (excluding rentals in Europe)
Never pay extra when family members and business associates do the driving.
3X on travel
The Chase Sapphire Reserve also earns 3X on all travel purchases, which includes rental car purchases.
Rental car purchases are only one type of travel purchase that qualifies, though.
Chase states that the following purchases are eligible to be considered travel:
Merchants in the travel category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages.
$300 travel credit
Just like the bonus category on travel, the annual $300 travel credit can be used on a lot of purchases including rental cars, so this is a great way to cover your rental car travel expenses.
Compared to the Platinum
The first big difference with the Amex Platinum Card is that it only offers secondary rental car coverage. You actually have to pay extra for primary rental car coverage if you hold an Amex card.
The Platinum Card also offers different perks for different rental car brands:
- Avis Preferred status
- Hertz Gold Plus Rewards
- National Emerald Club Executive status
Since the Avis Preferred and Hertz Gold are available to everyone and National Emerald Club Executive status is available with the Sapphire Reserve, there’s not a significant difference between the rental car perks offered by these cards. There may be some special discounts just for Platinum cardmembers so those are usually on par with the discounts you get as a Visa Infinite cardmember.
Overall, with the 25% and 30% discounts along with the Silvercar perks and primary rental car insurance, I think that the Reserve’s rental car perks are superior to the Platinum Card.
Read more about the the Amex Platinum rental car perks here.
Other Sapphire Reserve benefits
Don’t forget that these rental car perks are only some of the perks offered by the Sapphire Reserve. You can read more about other perks like the Priority Pass airport lounge access, Chase Travel Portal, Chase Shopping Portal, and other benefits here.
Final word
The Sapphire Reserve offers great rental car benefits. With primary rental car coverage, you can save money and sleep easier knowing that you’ve got primary coverage in the event of an accident. You can also get great 25% and 30% discounts when booking, so these are perks that you definitely want to take advantage of.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
Hi, I’m a chase reserve card holder and one thing I really dislike about the services on this card is the customer service doesn’t prove any actually information on the issues or questions… the package they offer isn’t 100% factual…so I wouldn’t rate this credit anything but an F … I sent an email to the ceo in charge of the chase credit department I haven’t heard anything but ( they don’t have a manager or supervisor available during any phone call complaints …