Atmos Rewards Summit Card Primary Rental Car Coverage Benefit Explained

Link: Learn more about the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card

We recently saw the launch of the $395 annual fee Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card (review), which is the new premium personal credit card of Alaska & Hawaiian, coinciding with the introduction of the Atmos Rewards program.

There are lots of reasons to get this card, from a huge welcome bonus, to the ability to spend your way toward status, to the great perks, ranging from Global Companion Awards, to Alaska Lounge passes, to waived partner award booking fees, to free points sharing. It’s a card I’ve already applied for.

In this post, I’d like to talk about the rental car coverage offered by the Atmos Rewards Summit Card. I know many people have been curious whether the card offers this benefit, and if so, how it works. So let’s take a look at everything you need to know, as it’s very good news. Separately, I’ve covered the card’s travel protection, including for delayed flights, lost bags, and more.

Primary auto rental collision damage waiver basics

One thing that travelers should look for in a premium credit card is good rental car coverage, given how valuable this can be when things go wrong. Fortunately, the Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers primary auto rental collision damage waiver coverage, which is what travelers should be looking for.

To start, let me emphasize that you should always consult the cardholder benefits guide, since these benefits are subject to change. You can access that by logging into your account, going to the “Statements & Documents” section, and then clicking on “Your Cardholder Benefits Guide,” which will then populate a PDF.

Below is the relevant part of the cardmember guide (you can open this in a new window to view a higher resolution version).

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card is a Visa Infinite Card, so it offers the type of rental car coverage you’d expect to find on such a card. Again, consult the benefits guide, but here are some of the things that I think are worth emphasizing:

• This is auto rental collision damage waiver coverage, which reimburses you for damage caused by theft or collision (this doesn’t provide any sort of insurance for bodily injury, etc.)
• This is primary rental car coverage, rather than secondary coverage, meaning it’s not supplemental to other coverage you have (that’s a good thing)
• This applies for cars with an MSRP of up to $75,000, on rentals of up 15 consecutive days in your country of residence, and up to 31 days outside your country of residence
• Vehicle types not covered include expensive, exotic, and antique cars, cargo vans, vehicles with an open cargo bed, trucks, motorcycles, mopeds, motorbikes, limousines, and recreational vehicles
• You need to pay with your card to be covered, and only you as the primary renter plus any additional drivers permitted by the rental agreement are covered
• The benefit is available in the United States and most foreign countries, with the exception of
  Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland
• To file a claim, contact the benefits administrator at 866-848-3643

This might be the best card for foreign rental car spending

It’s great that the Atmos Rewards Summit Card has a rental collision damage waiver benefit, given what a useful perk this is for frequent travelers, since rental car agencies typically otherwise charge quite a bit for this protection.

But as I see it, there’s another thing that makes this card especially great for rental car spending. Specifically, the card offers 3x points on foreign purchases. So not only do you have great coverage when renting cars, but this is among the best return you’ll get on rental car spending abroad. You can even boost that to 3.3x points if you have an eligible Bank of America account, given the 10% points relationship bonus offered.

Bottom line

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers global primary rental car coverage, with the exception of rentals in a small number of countries. Of course you’ll always want to consult the cardmember agreement, but this is about as good as it gets. Best of all, the card even offers 3x points on foreign purchases, making this a pretty unbeatable card for spending abroad.

What do you make of the Atmos Rewards Summit Card rental car coverage?