Amex Platinum insurance – MASTER THREAD

The Amex website states:

Car Rental Benefits – Theft, Damage and Liability

– Up to £50,000 for theft or damage to vehicle (including any applicable excess)

– Up to £500,000 (Up to US$1 million in USA) for damage to another person or their property

Key exclusions and limitations

* Commercial vehicles, motor homes, caravans and trailers

* Cover applies only when rental agency allows refusal of their insurance

* An insured person must be named on the rental agreement

Therefore, you could be in trouble if you rented a very high value car (i.e. above £50000 value). You can get the full policy details by logging in at https://my-insurance.americanexpress.com/login

Yes, I always decline all, nothing to worry about.

I think it means commercial vehicles as in vans, etc.

Just checking as I’m sure many others here have done the same research…

My understanding of the Platinum travel insurance benefits is that these benefits need the trip to have been purchased with the card:

– Cancelling, postponing and abandoning
– Travel inconvenience
– Cutting short
– Purchase protection
– Refund protection

Other parts of the policy have no such constraint:

– Medical assistance
– Car rental benefits
– Personal belongings
– Legal assistance
– Travel/Personal accident
– Global assistance

So if my trip is all refundable and I don’t really care about claiming for a cancellation, I believe that the policy should be fit for purpose however I paid for my trip.

But it all seems to get murky if I used a different Amex card for the purchase (perhaps before I took out the Platinum card):

– “Card” means any Card or other Account access device issued to a Cardmember (or a Supplementary
Cardmember) for the purpose of accessing the Account.
– “Account” or “Card Account” means Your consumer and small business cards issued by American Express
in the UK, excluding corporate cards and any American Express cards issued by bank partners.
– “Cardmember” means any individual who holds a valid Account.
– “Supplementary Cardmember” means a person who has been nominated by the Cardmember to be issued
with an additional Card on the Account and is also covered by the insurance benefits included with the Card.
– “You/Your” means the Insured.
– “Insured” means (i) Cardmembers and their Families, (ii) Supplementary Cardmembers and their Families
and (iii) grandchildren of the Cardmember or a Supplementary Cardmember who are under the age of 25
and travelling with anyone insured under the Card Account.

I read this as meaning that I have one Account that is accessed by a range of Cards, and some of the cards may be used by Supplementary Cardmembers. So the Platinum insurance should cover me for the full range of benefits where the trip is paid:

– With my own BAPP card, as I am the Cardmember and it accesses my Account.
– With my wife’s supplementary BAPP card as she is Insured, qualifying her as a Supplementary Cardmember who can access the Account.
– With my wife’s own BAPP card which, while not part of my Account, qualifies as a Card that accesses the Account of a person (You/Your) who is Insured by virtue of having a Supplementary Card on my account.
– With my supplementary BAPP card on my wife’s account as an extension of the previous point.

However, most more distant cards wouldn’t work – such as if my adult son used his own Amex card to treat me to a trip abroad…which would be lovely if it actually happened.

Or am I reading too much into this?

I decided several years ago that other than car hire could not rely on Amex Plat insurance, particularly in regards to medical cover and ‘pre-existing conditions’.

I spoke with Amex for clarification, who passed me on to insurers, who could not really clarify. It went as far as a formal complaint with Amex as they could not clarify several items and confirm if I was covered.

Amex is now a little better with a list of covered conditions but still too ambiguous in some regards for certainty. Raised cholesterol, for example, I chose to take Statins; this could exclude cover in the event of a heart condition related claim.

I won’t take a chance on medical cover, so now, rely on a Nationwide packaged policy with an excellent list of conditions that can be defined and if need be covered for a small fee.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 1 month ago by .

Really helpful replies – thanks, all. @JDB that’s a good warning regarding a very common condition, although I’m happy to say that I’m not affected.

Carlos wrote:

Does the policy cover any trips made with an amex but before being a platinum member?

Do you mean trips booked rather than trips made? No insurance would cover a trip retrospectively!

oxforddoc wrote:

I had an interesting conversation trying to clarify this with AXA…

Essentially they claim that the Platinum travel insurance is only applicable where I am the main cardholder. So if I use a supplementary card (Amex) that my wife is the main cardholder of, the benefits don’t count. This is regardless of her being my supplementary cardholder and thus having her own platinum supp.

For her, she is only covered with the platinum card (apparently).

Asking for further clarification they repeated the above. I aim to reclarify as it sounds rather odd!

That sounds totally wrong to me, not how I understood it to work at all.

I am looking into this and have emailed Axa at this address to ask just this question.

help@axa-assistance.co.uk

Cunard, with whom I am sailing in April, have stringent requirements which I suspect are mostly covered. My one area of concern is the cover for Covid Related medical expenses. While triple jabbed and recovered, allegedly, I do know that Axa have refused claims when bookings were made at a time when travel was restricted.

I will post any reply I get from them

Well that was agonisingly bad!!!

The short answer is yes you are covered and I now have 2 insurance certificates which specifically state cruise travel and meet the requirements of Cunard.

It was however a painful experience with this being they first reply.
********

Thank you for your email . Please see below .there is a link at the bottom of this email where you can request a certificate .

• Sailing (within 20 Nautical Miles of the coastline) So if is going beyond this then no cover under policy.
• Sailing (Outside 20 Nautical Miles of the coastline)† †No Personal Liability or Personal Accident cover

Sports and Winter Sports Activities
You must accept and follow the supervision and tuition of experts qualified in the pursuit or activity in question and You must use all appropriate precautions, equipment and eye protection. Disregarding such advice and
precautions may invalidate any claim You make.
Under no circumstances will any claims arising from any unlisted activities (e.g. cliff jumping, quad biking, canyoning) be covered regardless of whether it is undertaken as part of an organised excursion or event. This policy
covers You when You are engaging in the following sports and activities on a non-competitive and non-professional basis provided Your participation is not the sole or main reason for Your Trip.
These activities are covered in addition to Your participation in usual holiday sports and activities including winter sports.
Please check this list, and the Winter Sports Activities list, before You book and commence each Trip. You should review this in conjunction with the full terms and conditions of Your insurance which are available by visiting

americanexpress.co.uk/insuranceportal

Kind Regards

*******

The intern had clearly been let loose on the email inbox and didn’t seem to understand the difference between cruising on QM2 and crewing an Americas cup entry!

It took 2 further email to get the required certificates.

I was reading the amex travel insurance doc to see what was covered.

How much do you think Amex pay in premiums to Chubb for their insurance cover?

Hiring from a Spanish company that does NOT accept Amex – I’m pretty sure this doesnt matter. But what is the case with the CDW cover. Their included cover is with a 1600 euro excess. or I can pay 19euros a day to reduce the excess to zero. Will my amex platinum cover this excess or should i pay the extra 19 euros each day? Thanks