rental car insurance

(I have posted the story in
http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/yifan/amex.html
There you can find the 6 page of Amex contract and the letter I just received from Amex.)

It is a true story. One of these cases that you wish that never happens.
I rented a car for a summer trip down to Florida from the Budget Car Rental Company. I rented the car using American Express Credit card. I called the American Express Customer Service before the trip and I was told the the "Lost and Damage" would be covered by Amex. I tried to find detailed information online and all she could find was a webpage that promises a carefree trip with a rental car.

I had an accident with the car. No second car was involved. The accident happened in June 2004. Recently I received a letter from Amex. I am shocked to know that there are such high amount of money that is not covered by Amex!

Since I don't have any legal experience, I am not sure whether Budget Car Rental company is asking for too much money, or Amex is not covering enough. If I have known that the Amex doesn't cover all the Loss and Damage as Master card does, I would have used Master card to rent the car. (I know people who have totalled their rental car and their Master card covered everything.)

After knowing that I need to pay $4500 by myself, I went online searching for Amex rental car loss and damage contract and couldn't find any. Fortunately, a customer service person from Amex was friendly enough to mail me the entire American Express Cardmember Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance Plan.

And there it is! Indeed the plan stated on page 4 that "loss of use" and "diminishment of value" are not covered! I hope you would learn from my mistake and be more careful when you use Amex to rent a car.

If you still want to listen to me ranting here is why I am pissed of Budget Car Rental Company:

I rented the car from Knoxville for one week which costed me originally around $200. As I had the accident on my way back home I had to drop the car in Panama City at the airport. The Budget person there charged me over $800 because he claimed it to be a one-way rental. And he wanted to charge me another $125 for a new one-way rental contract if I wanted to have a new car to go home. In the end I took the Greyhound bus to get home.

After I got home I called Budget center service. They refounded me the money that was overcharged. But they didn't pay back the Greyhound fee.