Chase travel insurance benefits

If you’re traveling and facing unforeseen circumstances, you might be in luck if you carry a Chase credit card.

Chase cards are known as some of the best travel rewards credit cards, and it’s not only due to their high rewards rates and valuable perks. Chase offers significant protections to cardholders, including primary or secondary car rental insurance, trip cancellation coverage and more.

In this guide, we take a look at travel insurance benefits offered with Chase credit cards to see what’s covered and what isn’t.

Trip cancellation/interruption insurance and delay reimbursement

Chase’s trip cancellation insurance can cover your non-refundable travel expenses if your trip is canceled or interrupted. The policy covers the cardholder and their immediate family members, even if the cardholder isn’t traveling with them. Note that, in this case, the trip expenses still need to be charged on the cardholder’s eligible card.

Examples of what Chase’s travel insurance policy covers include:

• Accidental injury or sickness
• Severe weather that results in the cancellation or interruption of a trip
• Terrorist action or hijacking
• Jury duty or a court subpoena that can’t be rescheduled

Make sure to check your benefits guide to find out what your policy doesn’t cover. For instance, Chase travel insurance won’t reimburse you if you’re traveling against your doctor’s advice or have changed your plans due to financial circumstances.

Travel delay reimbursement, on the other hand, covers expenses like lodging and food if a trip booked with your eligible card is delayed by the common carrier (airline, ship, etc.) for more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay. Chase can pay up to $5000 per covered trip, with a maximum limit of $10,000 per occurrence. The 12-month maximum benefit amount is $20,000.

Note that you can only get reimbursed if you have paid for your travel arrangements with your eligible Chase card. It’s also important to remember that both cancellation and delay insurance policies are secondary. That means they kick in after you get reimbursement from your primary travel insurance.

Which Chase credit cards offer trip cancellation/interruption insurance or delay reimbursement?

Lost luggage reimbursement and baggage delay insurance

It can be extremely frustrating to have your baggage delayed, let alone lost. If you find it difficult to get fully reimbursed by an airline or another carrier, your Chase credit card travel insurance benefits can come in handy.

For instance, if your baggage is delayed, you can get reimbursement for essentials like clothes and toiletries. If it’s lost, the policy can cover the value of your belongings.

Note: Chase’s lost or delayed luggage coverage is secondary. You’ll need to file a claim with the carrier first to get reimbursed, and your Chase baggage insurance can cover the rest, up to a certain limit.

Premium cards, such as the Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, Ink Business Preferred and the Hyatt Credit Card offer the best protection for your luggage. They can cover the belongings in your baggage for up to $3,000 per person and reimburse you up to $100 a day for up to five days if your baggage is delayed.

Travel accident insurance

While we all travel hoping the worst won’t happen, it’s nice to have peace of mind knowing that you’re covered either way.

Travel accident insurance covers events such as accidental death and dismemberment, as well as a combined loss of speech, hearing or sight that happens during a covered trip. Chase breaks down this coverage into two benefit types: common carrier travel accident insurance and 24-hour travel accident insurance.

Common carrier insurance offers coverage for accidents occurring when entering, exiting or traveling on a plane, train, bus or other common carrier. Twenty-four hour insurance provides benefits for the entire trip’s length, up to 30 days. It kicks in on the departure date and ends on the return date printed on the tickets. You can only use one type of insurance at a time.

The majority of Chase credit cards offering this travel benefit pay up to $500,000 in common carrier insurance and $100,000 in 24-hour insurance.

Auto rental collision damage waiver

On a qualifying Chase card, an auto rental collision damage waiver can reimburse you for theft or damage from a collision to a rental vehicle. It covers the cardholder listed as the primary renter and authorized drivers.

Chase isn’t the only card issuer that provides car rental insurance on its cards, but it stands out for offering primary coverage. With primary coverage, you don’t have to file a claim with your primary insurance carrier before submitting a claim for reimbursement from Chase.

Chase’s car rental insurance policy is also quite generous. With most of its cards, you can get reimbursed up to the cash value of the rental vehicle. And with Chase Sapphire Reserve benefits, the maximum coverage amount goes up to $75,000 — a level of car rental protection that’s hard to beat.

To activate coverage, use your eligible Chase credit card to pay for the rental and decline the rental’s company collision damage waiver.

Make sure to read your benefits guide to check what is and isn’t covered under your card’s policy. For example, certain types of vehicles (like luxury cars or passenger vans) are excluded from the coverage, as well as damage done to other cars.

Roadside dispatch and travel assistance

Besides travel insurance, many Chase credit cards also come with perks like roadside dispatch and travel and emergency assistance. Check your benefits guide to see if your card is eligible.

If you run into a problem while on a trip, you can call 1-888-320-9961 for medical and legal referrals and other types of assistance. The service is free, but you’ll have to pay for any third-party costs, such as doctor visits or transportation.

If you’re stranded on the side of the road and need help with a tire change or jumpstart, you can call Chase at 1-800-847-2869 for roadside dispatch. It charges a flat fee per service call and provides:

• Towing (up to five miles)
• Jumpstarting
• Tire changing (you must have a good spare)
• Lockout service
• Winching (within 100 feet of a paved road)
• Fuel delivery (up to five gallons — the fuel’s cost isn’t included)

Premium cards, including the Sapphire Reserve, United Explorer Card and United Club Infinite, qualify for roadside assistance, which offers more coverage than roadside dispatch. For the same services listed above, these qualifying cards cover the cost of up to $50 per service event and up to four events per year.

How to file a travel insurance claim with Chase

If any of the events described above apply to your situation, you can submit your claim online at the Chase claim center. You’ll be prompted to enter your card information, choose the type of claim and provide your personal information.

After that, you’ll need to provide details of your claim and documents to substantiate it. This is the most important and complicated step in the process. Check your benefits guide for required documentation to make sure you have everything you need.

Remember that if you’re using secondary coverage, you’ll have to provide proof that you’ve filed a claim with your primary insurance or carrier first. Once you have provided all the necessary proof and documents, you can submit your claim.

Which is the best Chase card for travel insurance benefits?

Many Chase cards offer significant travel protection, but the Chase Sapphire Reserve is superior, and very much worth it, in many ways — not only to other Chase cards, but to cards from other issuers as well. It offers primary car rental insurance, high amounts of coverage on all travel insurance benefits and extras like roadside assistance. On top of that, it comes with emergency evacuation and transportation, as well as emergency medical and dental benefits.

Emergency evacuation and transportation can cover you if you’re injured or fall ill during a trip that you paid for with your Chase Sapphire Reserve card, and it pays for medical services and transportation when you need to evacuate. The coverage amount is $100,000, and the insurance is secondary to other policies you may have.

With medical and dental benefits, you can be reimbursed for urgent medical expenses during your trip that are not covered by your primary medical insurance. It pays up to $2,500 for necessary medical services and $75 per day for a hotel stay if ordered by the physician (up to five days).

If you’re a frequent traveler who’s looking for the best travel insurance benefits available in the market, the Chase Sapphire Reserve might be a good option for you. The benefits paired with rewards can offset a high annual fee. However, if the fee seems too high, other Chase credit cards are worth looking into, as they also offer decent coverage to keep you safe on your travels.

Bottom line

Having a card with good travel insurance benefits can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars (and a lot of stress). Chase credit cards offer excellent travel insurance benefits, especially if you don’t mind paying a substantial annual fee.

Always take time to read your benefits guide to know exactly what your card is eligible for. If you’re looking for a new credit card, make sure to research what it offers, including travel benefits, so you can make an educated decision.

All information about the United Business Card has been collected independently by CreditCards.com. The issuer did not provide the content, nor is it responsible for its accuracy.