19 Rental Car Scams and Tricks to Watch Out for in 2027

Jump to a section:

1. The car you booked is mysteriously unavailable →
2. You declined the extras. You were charged anyway. →
3. The “peace of mind” package can quietly double your bill →
4. Your credit card covers you — if you can prove it →
5. Even with insurance, your card can still take a serious hit →
6. No credit card? Read the fine print twice →
7. The card isn’t in the main driver’s name →
8. The “free” additional driver who isn’t free →
9. The prepaid tank of gas that’s actually reasonably priced →
10. Let them refill the car, and pay for the privilege →
11. You returned it full. They charged you for gas anyway. →
12. The $5 toll that becomes a $65 bill →
13. That scratch was already there. Now it’s apparently yours. →
14. “Looks fine.” Then the bill arrives after you’ve left. →
15. The repair cost is only the start of the bill →
16. The AI scanner that finds damage no human saw →
17. You don’t smoke. So why is there a $450 smoking fee? →
18. The speeding ticket comes with an admin fee →
19. Returning the car early could actually cost you more →

1. The car you booked is mysteriously unavailable

You reserve an economy or compact car. At the counter, that class “isn’t available” — but a bigger, pricier vehicle is, if you’re willing to pay for the upgrade.

It’s an effective upsell precisely because of when it lands: you’re standing at a counter after a flight, with luggage, maybe kids, and somewhere to be. Walking away doesn’t feel realistic.

Here’s the uncomfortable part: unlike airlines, which have to compensate you for an oversold flight, there’s no standardized rule requiring a rental company to make you whole when your reserved class isn’t there.² Your reservation is really a reservation of a car category, not a specific vehicle, and the fine print usually says so.

What to do: Don’t assume you’re on the hook just because your class isn’t there. Ask directly what they can give you at the price you booked, before agreeing to anything extra. Counter staff aren’t the ones who caused the shortage, so a calm, specific ask (“What do you have at my rate?”) tends to get further than frustration. If the counter won’t budge, it’s worth checking what a competing desk at the same airport has — you’re not obligated to take the first upgrade offered.

2. You declined the extras. You were charged anyway.

Nineteen million dollars is what it cost Avis Budget Group to settle claims that customers were billed for extras they say they’d declined — or never heard of in the first place.

You decline the roadside protection, the fuel option, or some other add-on at the counter, and it shows up on your bill anyway. In 2025, Avis Budget and its Payless brand agreed to pay that $19 million to settle Bacon et al. v. Avis Budget Group, Inc., a class action alleging that customers who rented from Payless between January 2016 and November 2023 were charged for a Gas Service Option and Roadside Protection they had “specifically declined or [that were] never revealed” to them.³ Avis Budget didn’t admit wrongdoing — that’s standard for a settlement — but it did agree to build new sales processes requiring the customer’s affirmative consent before charging for add-ons, and payments to affected customers began going out in 2025 and 2026.

What to do: The number on the final agreement matters more than whatever was said out loud at the desk. Before you sign:

• Check the grand total, not just the daily rate.
• Look at every optional line item individually.
• Confirm anything you said no to is actually marked declined.
• Photograph the signed agreement before you drive off.

3. The “peace of mind” package can quietly double your bill

The desk offers a bundle — loss damage waiver, supplemental liability, roadside assistance, personal accident cover — often priced per day, often pitched as “peace of mind.” A cheap weekend rental can balloon once it’s added.

This isn’t inherently a scam. Avis, for instance, advertises its Loss Damage Waiver at “as low as $9 a day” (read: that’s a floor, not a typical price), and the coverage itself can be genuinely useful.⁴ The real problem is being sold it under time pressure, at a counter, without knowing what you already have. Consumer Reports found that only about 10% of its surveyed members actually bought the rental company’s own insurance. To illustrate the potential exposure of going without, it points to its members’ average rental rate of about $86 a day — two weeks of claimed loss of use at that rate could run past $1,200, before a cent of the actual repair is counted.⁵

What to do: Before you travel, check three things: what your personal auto policy covers on a rental, what your credit card’s rental benefits cover, and whether you’ve already bought separate rental insurance. Pay attention to what’s not covered — liability, your deductible, loss of use, certain countries, rental duration limits and excluded vehicle types, which can include some SUVs, vans and high-value vehicles depending on your card.

4. Your credit card covers you — if you can prove it

You’re renting overseas and plan to decline the company’s collision damage waiver because your credit card already covers you. At the counter, that plan runs into reality: the agent wants proof you don’t have, treats the card coverage as invalid, or simply won’t budge.

This is mostly an Americans-renting-abroad problem — we haven’t found evidence of a comparable pattern at US counters domestically. Ireland shows how it plays out. Europcar Ireland’s own current terms require a major credit card from the driver and list a standard damage excess of roughly €1,500 to €2,500 if you take the company’s own cover. Decline that cover because your card already protects you instead, and you can be asked to supply proof of that coverage — and the pre-authorization hold on your card can run to around €5,000 in its place.⁶ Having valid card coverage, in other words, isn’t necessarily the end of the conversation. You may still need the paperwork to back it up and enough available credit to get past the counter.

What to do, before you fly:

• Confirm your card covers the country you’re driving in. Exclusions vary by card, but Australia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica and New Zealand appear on the exclusion lists of some US credit-card rental policies.³²
• Check whether your coverage is primary or secondary — secondary only pays after your personal auto insurer does.
• Ask your card issuer for a letter or certificate of coverage, and carry a paper copy.
• Know how much available credit a hold like that could require, so it doesn’t derail your trip.

5. Even with insurance, your card can still take a serious hit

Buying the rental company’s own protection doesn’t necessarily shrink your security deposit. The hold on your card and the insurance decision are two separate things, even though the counter often presents them as one conversation.

Hertz’s current US terms describe holding your estimated charges plus up to $200 on a credit card, or up to $500 on a debit card, although the exact amount can vary by location and circumstance.⁷ The important point is that the security hold and the insurance you buy are separate things: having plenty of insurance doesn’t mean you won’t still need hundreds of dollars of available credit at the counter.

What to do: Before you decline — or buy — the rental company’s own waiver, ask specifically what the security hold will be either way, and whether your card’s available limit can absorb it and still leave room for the rest of your trip.

6. No credit card? Read the fine print twice

A debit card can get you into a car, but often on very different terms. Hertz’s current debit-card policy can mean a credit check, a card authorization up to $500, proof of a return flight, extra ID requirements, and restrictions on which vehicle classes you can book.⁸ Enterprise requires a ticketed return itinerary for an airport debit-card rental, and — like several major companies — limits who can be added as an authorized driver on that booking to a spouse or domestic partner, no one else.⁹ Budget runs credit checks at some locations and, for pay-at-counter debit rentals, has described holding estimated charges plus $200.¹⁰ A card being accepted to reserve a car online is no guarantee it’ll be accepted on the same terms to collect it.

Renting overseas sharpens this further: if you can’t meet the credit-card deposit requirement, some counters offer an “alternative” — but what looks to you like a smaller deposit can actually be a non-refundable charge or protection product, not a deposit at all.

The distinction that matters:

A deposit is money you expect back. A fee is money you’ve already spent.

Before agreeing to anything presented as an alternative to a deposit, ask directly: “Is this refundable?” Then check the paperwork says the same thing.

What to do: Call ahead and confirm exactly what your specific card type will and won’t allow at your specific pickup location — the rules vary by company and sometimes by branch, and what your reservation page says can differ from counter reality.

7. The card isn’t in the main driver’s name

Someone booked or paid on the reservation, but the card presented at pickup doesn’t match the person named as the primary renter. Hertz, for instance, is explicit that the payment card must be in the renter’s own name.¹¹ Depending on the company, a mismatch can mean changing who the “main driver” is on the agreement, adding a driver, starting a brand-new booking, paying more, or — worst case — not being able to collect the car at all.

What to do: Check the payment-card name requirements for your specific company before you travel, and make sure the person named as the lead renter shows up with a card in the exact name on the reservation. If two people are traveling and paying may be split or shared, decide before you arrive who the “main driver” actually is, and book it that way from the start.

8. The “free” additional driver who isn’t free

You assume your spouse, partner or travel companion can share the driving. Then an additional-driver fee shows up.

Avis, for instance, lets a spouse or life partner drive at no charge (they still need a valid license and must be at least 25), and charges roughly $13 a day for anyone else — though even that figure isn’t fixed nationwide; in New York it’s closer to $3 a day.¹² Enterprise runs a similar spouse-exemption model with its own separate pricing.¹³ The point isn’t the exact numbers — it’s that additional-driver charges and exemptions vary significantly by company and by state, and what’s free at one counter can carry a real daily fee at another.

What to do: Never assume a partner, friend or family member is automatically covered — confirm it when you book, not at the counter. And keep in mind that letting someone unauthorized drive isn’t just a fee risk: if that person is in an accident, your coverage can be voided entirely.

9. The prepaid tank of gas that’s actually reasonably priced

You prepay for a full tank and are told you can return the car on empty, no refueling required.

The catch: you’ve bought that fuel whether you burn through it or not. Avis’s prepaid Fuel Service Option is priced comparably to local pump prices, but explicitly gives “no credit or refund… for unused fuel in the tank” if you don’t run it down.¹⁴

What to do: Prepaid fuel isn’t really a trick — it’s a convenience purchase. It can make sense if you genuinely expect to return on fumes, or know refueling nearby will be a hassle. Otherwise, do the arithmetic before assuming it saves money, because for most trips it doesn’t.

10. Let them refill the car, and pay for the privilege

You return below the required fuel level, and the company fills it for you instead. Here’s what that can cost: Avis currently advertises a flat EZFuel charge of $17.99 ($18.99 in California) if you return without refueling — waived only if you fill up yourself and bring a receipt.¹⁵ A flat fee like that has nothing to do with how much fuel is actually missing from the tank, which is exactly what makes it a worse deal than a gas-station fill in most cases.

What to do: Fill the tank yourself, at a station near the return location, shortly before you drop the car off — and keep the receipt or take a photo of it in case anyone asks.

11. You returned it full. They charged you for gas anyway.

Choose self-service fuel, return the tank full, and you’re supposed to be done with gas charges. According to an active class action, some Avis and Budget customers weren’t.

Livingston et al. v. Avis Budget Group, Inc., filed in April 2024, quotes Avis and Budget’s own promise that self-service customers who return full will “avoid any refueling service charge” — and alleges the companies charged the fee anyway, effectively making renters pay for gas twice.¹⁶ This is an allegation in an active lawsuit, not a proven finding, and Avis Budget hasn’t been found liable as of this writing — but it’s a documented, filed claim, not a rumor.

What to do: This is exactly what your return photos are for. Photograph the fuel gauge and the odometer at drop-off, and hang onto your gas station receipt and your return paperwork. If a fuel charge shows up that doesn’t match what you documented, you have what you need to dispute it immediately rather than trying to remember the details weeks later.

12. The $5 toll that becomes a $65 bill

The toll itself was $4.70. The bill was $64.70.

That’s the arithmetic in Sallee et al. v. Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, filed in 2014: the named plaintiffs’ electronic tolls came to exactly $4.70 across four toll crossings, and Dollar’s own notice assessed a $15 administrative fee per toll — four of them — adding $60 on top for a total bill of $64.70.¹⁷ That case is over a decade old, so we’re not claiming today’s fee structure matches it dollar for dollar. But the mechanic behind it — a flat administrative fee charged per toll, regardless of how small the toll was — is a pattern that’s shown up again since. Hertz’s current US terms still make you responsible for any tolls incurred during your rental, and state that if you don’t use its PlatePass toll service, unpaid tolls can come back to you with an administrative fee added on top of the toll authority’s highest, undiscounted rate.¹⁸ Separately, Avis agreed to a $45 million settlement in 2022 over claims it automatically enrolled customers in its own e-toll service and charged “convenience fees” regardless of whether they used a single toll.¹⁹

What to do, before you drive on toll roads:

• Ask whether the car has a toll transponder already active.
• Ask whether merely using it once triggers a daily or weekly service charge.
• Ask if fees apply per toll, per day, or per rental period.
• Find out if you’re allowed to pay tolls directly yourself instead.

13. That scratch was already there. Now it’s apparently yours.

You’re charged for a scratch, dent, wheel scuff or windshield chip that, as far as you’re concerned, was already on the car when you picked it up.

Without your own evidence, this comes down to your word against a check-in sheet you probably didn’t scrutinize. In a 2026 complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau, one Sixt renter said the damage they were billed for was already listed on their own signed rental agreement, and that they had timestamped pickup photos proving it — Sixt ultimately closed the claim.²⁰ It’s one renter’s documented account, not a court finding, but it shows exactly what timestamped photos are for: turning “that damage was already there” into “here’s evidence that damage was already there.”

What to do: Don’t just photograph the damage you notice — photograph the whole car. You genuinely can’t predict which undamaged panel you might later need to prove was undamaged. Get the wheels, rims and windshield in frame, not just the bodywork.

14. “Looks fine.” Then the bill arrives after you’ve left.

“Looks good. You’re all set.” A week later, Mike Robinson received a damage bill for more than $1,000.

In November 2025, the North Carolina renter returned a Sixt rental in Seattle to an agent who inspected and cleared the car with no issues noted. A week later, Sixt billed him for a rim, a new tire, a front-end alignment, and administrative and invoice fees. He had photos from pickup but hadn’t thought to photograph the car at return. Sixt maintained it stood behind the charge as valid, but closed Robinson’s claim after a local news investigation — which also turned up other Sixt customers nationwide reporting similar rim-damage charges.²¹

Pickup photos won’t help you prove what condition the car was in when you returned it. That’s why you need a second set of photos at drop-off — once you’ve walked away, you can’t go back and recreate them.

What to do, before you hand over the keys:

• Photograph every side of the car, the wheels, the windshield and the interior.
• Get the mileage and fuel gauge in frame.
• Get a written return receipt or condition confirmation if the location offers one — don’t rely on a verbal “you’re good.”

If nobody’s there to inspect the car with you, your photos are the entire record. That’s the exact gap Rental Car Proof is built to close — a return inspection you do yourself, timestamped and geotagged, whether or not anyone’s standing there to watch you do it. For the full walkthrough, see what photos to take when returning a rental car.

15. The repair cost is only the start of the bill

Sixt billed one renter $631.65 for alleged damage — then cancelled the claim itself. That was just one thread in a lawsuit that ended in an $11.07 million settlement.

When a damage claim does land, the repair cost is often just the starting line. Companies can layer on administrative or processing fees, loss-of-use charges (the daily rate they bill you while the car’s in the shop), and sometimes diminished-value charges (the drop in the car’s resale value after a repair) — all on top of what it actually cost to fix the car. The 2024 class action against Sixt (Calderon) alleged exactly this pattern at scale: beyond individual claims like the $631.65 one, the suit accused the company of adding diminished-value charges, inflated repair estimates and loss-of-use fees on top of the underlying damage, sometimes on cars that were never actually repaired. Sixt denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement.²² As item 3 mentioned, Consumer Reports illustrates the potential exposure this way: using its members’ average rental rate of about $86 a day, two weeks of claimed loss of use could exceed $1,200 before the repair itself is counted.⁵

What to do: If a damage claim arrives, don’t just look at the total — ask for an itemized breakdown. A repair estimate, a processing fee, and a loss-of-use charge are three different things, and you’re entitled to see all three broken out rather than accept one lump number.

16. The AI scanner that finds damage no human saw

An $80 dent. A $195 bill. No human ever looked at the car.

At some airport locations, Hertz now runs rental cars through automated inspection tunnels built with UVeye, a system that photographs every inch of the vehicle at pickup and return and flags differences — no human inspector required. As of mid-2025 it was live at around 10 US airports, with plans to expand further.²³ That $195-for-an-$80-dent example comes from an August 2025 letter Senator Richard Blumenthal sent Hertz, which also cited a customer billed $440 for what the letter called a minor scuff, and demanded Hertz explain its fee calculations, its accuracy rate against human inspection, and its rollout plans.²⁴ A separate, similar case: Hertz customer Adam Foley was billed $350 for two minor dents — $80 in estimated repair cost plus a $190 processing fee bolted on top, more than double the actual damage — which Hertz later waived.²³ In April 2026, Jack Schlossberg publicly called for the FTC to investigate the technology after collecting renter complaints about disputed AI-flagged charges.²⁵ For balance: Hertz’s own released figures say that of more than 675,000 scanned rentals, over 97% showed no billable damage at all — which the company points to as evidence the system mostly clears people, not catches them.²³

Both things can be true at once: the system may accurately clear the large majority of returns, and the disputed minority can still add up to real money and real frustration for the renters caught in it.

What to do: If you’re picking up at a location using this technology, your own timestamped photos matter more, not less — an automated system generating a bill from a photo comparison is exactly the kind of claim you want independent evidence to push back against.

17. You don’t smoke. So why is there a $450 smoking fee?

Nobody in the car smoked — according to both renters. Avis and Budget charged them $450 anyway, in two different cities, about a month apart in 2026.

The fee itself is a real, published policy, not a scam: Avis states its US fleet has been smoke-free since 2009 and that violations can carry a cleaning fee of up to $450.²⁶ The tricky part is how it’s enforced. Avis’s own policy acknowledges that inspection sometimes can’t be completed thoroughly at return — after-hours drop-offs, a rushed agent, no one available — in which case the car gets a closer look later, and if smoke is found, you’re notified by mail that the charge already hit your card, rather than told to your face at the counter.²⁶

In August 2026, Avis charged Tasha Huebner $450 based on grainy photos she said showed nothing more than water spots; the charge was reversed within minutes once she escalated to company executives.²⁷ In September 2026, a Chicago couple, Ray and Denise Oswald, got a clean e-receipt from Budget with no mention of odor at drop-off — then were charged $450 five days later based on a later inspection. Budget’s own photos reportedly showed nothing more identifiable than a cup holder and a floor mat. The fee was refunded after a consumer advocate got involved, with Avis Budget calling the experience “not typical.”²⁸

What to do: A photograph can’t capture a smell, which makes this one different from most other items here. If the car smells like smoke — or of anything else unusual — the moment you get in it, report it to the counter immediately, in writing if you can, before you drive off. That’s the one piece of evidence you genuinely cannot collect after the fact.

18. The speeding ticket comes with an admin fee

A camera catches you running a light, blowing through a toll, or overstaying a parking meter. The rental company gets the notice (it owns the car, after all), identifies you as the renter, and charges your card — commonly with an administrative or processing fee for handling it. Enterprise’s own published policies, for instance, explicitly provide for a violation or fine-administration charge on top of whatever the citation itself costs.²⁹

What to do: A charge from the rental company isn’t necessarily the fine itself — it’s very often just their fee for forwarding your details to the issuing authority, with the actual citation, and its payment, still to come separately. Check what any rental-company charge is actually for before assuming the matter’s closed, and don’t be surprised if a second notice — the real fine — turns up afterward from the city, county or toll authority directly.

19. Returning the car early could actually cost you more

Early: Bringing the car back ahead of schedule doesn’t automatically mean a cheaper bill. Avis, for one, notes that some rates carry a minimum charge that still applies even if you return the car early — so an early return could even leave you on a different, less favorable rate than the one you thought you’d locked in.³⁰

Late: Grace periods and penalty structures vary by company, so check yours specifically — but as an illustration, Enterprise and National both give US renters a 29-minute grace period past the scheduled return time before anything kicks in. Push past that at either company, and the penalties escalate in steps: return within about 2.5 hours late and you’re typically billed extra hourly charges; go later than that, and it can convert into a full additional day’s rental — sometimes with another day of whatever optional extras you added, too.³¹

Both problems are the same misconception wearing different clothes: the price doesn’t always move neatly in line with the number of hours you actually had the car.

What to do: If your plans shift, check the pricing consequence — in the app or by calling the branch — before you change your return time, not after.

Sources

1. Zubie — The 2024–25 Consumer Rental Car Behavior Report (Oct. 31, 2024) — nationwide US survey, 2,016 respondents, ±3% margin of error; 56% of respondents said they’d been surprised by a disconnect between advertised rental price and final bill. ←
2. Your Mileage May Vary — “What To Do When A Rental Car Company Is Out Of Cars” (Apr. 4, 2026). ←
3. Bacon et al. v. Avis Budget Group, Inc. et al. — official Payless Rental Settlement site and ClassAction.org settlement summary. $19 million settlement; Avis Budget did not admit wrongdoing. ←
4. Avis — “Loss Damage Waiver”. ←
5. Consumer Reports — “Should You Buy Insurance When You Rent a Car?” — CR member-survey average daily rental rate (~$86), used to illustrate potential loss-of-use exposure; this is not itself an average loss-of-use fee and not a claim about what any rental company actually charges per day. Cited in items 3 and 15. ← ←
6. Europcar Ireland — current terms / app terms — major-credit-card requirement, €1,500–€2,500 standard vehicle excess and €5,000 pre-authorization when waiving CDW. ←
7. Hertz — US Terms and Conditions and Forms of Payment — authorization-hold structure and payment requirements. ←
8. Hertz — Credit/Debit Cards — debit-card requirements, holds, return-travel proof, identification and vehicle restrictions. ←
9. Enterprise — Accepted Rental Car Payment Methods — airport debit-card requirements and restrictions on additional drivers. ←
10. Budget — “What Do You Need to Rent a Car?” — debit-card credit checks and authorization-hold structure. ←
11. Hertz — Forms of Payment — payment card must be in the renter’s own name. ←
12. Avis — “Can I Add Another Driver to My Car Rental?” — additional-driver fees and exemptions. ←
13. Enterprise — “Can I Add Another Driver to My Rental Car?” — spouse/domestic-partner exemption and other additional-driver fees. ←
14. Avis — Fuel Service Option terms — prepaid fuel pricing varies by location and unused fuel receives no credit or refund. ←
15. Avis — EZFuel and Fuel Service Charge terms — flat EZFuel charge and receipt requirement. Avis’s published page contains more than one stated flat-fee figure, so check the live terms before relying on a specific amount. ←
16. Livingston et al. v. Avis Budget Group, Inc. et al., No. 2:24-cv-05203 (filed Apr. 17, 2024) — ClassAction.org case summary and complaint access. Allegations only; not an adjudicated finding. ←
17. Sallee et al. v. Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. et al., No. 4:14-cv-00250 (N.D. Okla.) — Justia court opinion documenting four tolls totaling $4.70 plus four $15 administrative fees. ←
18. Hertz — US Terms and Conditions — toll responsibility and PlatePass administrative-fee structure; see also Hertz PlatePass information. ←
19. Mendez v. Avis Budget Group Inc., et al., No. 2:11-cv-06537 (D.N.J.) — $45 million e-Toll settlement summary. Defendants denied the allegations. ←
20. Better Business Bureau — Sixt Rent a Car complaints (2026) — individual renter account involving alleged pre-existing rim damage and timestamped pickup evidence. A consumer complaint, not a court finding. ←
21. WRAL — “Fake damage claims plague rental car customers: NC man faced with $1,500 charge after return” (Nov. 20, updated Nov. 22, 2025). ←
22. Philippe Calderon et al. v. Sixt Rent A Car, LLC, No. 0:19-cv-62408-AHS — official settlement website. Sixt denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement. ←
23. CBS News — “Behind the controversial AI tech used to inspect rental vehicles for damages” (Aug. 26, 2025). ← ← ←
24. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal — letter/demand for answers from Hertz about AI rental-car inspections (Aug. 26–27, 2025). ←
25. Carscoops — “Hertz Says Its AI Catches Damages, JFK’s Grandson Says It’s Catching Renters” (Apr. 26, 2026) — reporting on Jack Schlossberg’s call for FTC scrutiny and Hertz’s response. ←
26. Avis — Smoking Policy — smoke-free fleet, inspection process and cleaning fee of up to $450. ← ←
27. Elliott Advocacy — “Avis said she smoked in her rental car, but she had an alibi” (Aug. 18, 2026). ←
28. Elliott Advocacy — “Help! Budget says I smoked in my car—but these photos prove nothing!” (Sept. 8, 2026). ←
29. Enterprise — “How Can I Tell If I Generated a Toll or Violation in My Rental Car?” — Enterprise says its standard administrative fee still applies when liability for a violation or toll is transferred to the renter. ←
30. Avis — Reservations FAQ — minimum-charge conditions, rate effects and prepaid early-return rules. ←
31. Enterprise — “What Happens If I Return My Rental Car Late?” and National — “Does National Have a Grace Period for Returning a Car Late?” — 29-minute grace period and subsequent hourly/full-day charging structure. ←
32. American Express — Premium Car Rental Protection FAQ — this US card product excludes rentals in Australia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica and New Zealand. Other Amex rental-car benefits can have different exclusions; for example, the Amex Gold Card’s standard Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance lists Australia, Italy and New Zealand. Exclusions vary by card and benefit. ←