Background:
While up in the Pacific Northwest, I was on the highway when suddenly *WHAM* something struck my windshield. Moving at 60+ mph in the evening, I did not see what it was that hit me. It could have been a rock in the road, or something from the overloaded truck driving just ahead of me. Whatever it was though, scared the living daylights out of me and did some serious damage to the windshield. Fortunately my view wasn't severely degraded, I wasn't distracted, and I kept full control of the car.
Starting the claim was pretty easy; call the number on the back to get started. Do this as soon as possible, my cc's give up to 30 days to initiate the claim. They will most likely direct you to a website to upload various documents to complete the claims process. In all honesty, the process is actually pretty easy and simple. You'll need receipts from your rental (including the departure and final receipt), some insurance documents, CC statements showing the charge for the rental, itemized list of repair charges, and pictures of the damage.
All in all it may take you a month or more to get all of these docs, depending on when the rental company gets the damage repaired. Not to worry though, most states allow up to 1 year to complete the claim, and I think in CA its even longer. And the repair charges will not/should not be charged to your card directly. In my situation, a 3rd party company - Viking Billing - was collecting on behalf of the rental company. This is where it gets interesting.
After the car was repaired (or quoted for repair) I received the final bill from the 3rd party company; I contacted them requesting the itemized list (both were needed for the benefit claim). At this point they asked if I wanted to pay the bill. I informed them that I would be working through the cc benefit claims, which they accepted.
About 2 weeks later, I was contacted via phone by the same company; they were looking for collection which I told them was still processing with the benefit claims. The agent asked if I wanted to pay the administrative fee, since the claim would not cover that anyways. I gently declined and stated I'd rather see what they decide before making any payments. This was the right decision.
Ultimately, my entire claim was approved: repairs, lost time fees, etc. Albeit the total amount paid by the cc benefit claim was less than what was charged. The reason is that your cc will negotiate to pay a lesser amount. (This was also the reason the claim took longer than the website noted for a response time on claims; 5 days became several weeks). Noticing the different amounts, I contacted the cc benefit department to find out if I would be liable for the difference; they confirmed that the billing company signs a wavier that they would not come after me for the difference.
Overall, it was a decent experience - smooth if only a bit lengthy. I would have liked to be kept more in the loop regarding the claim, especially after their self-imposed 5 day deadline. But I'm pleased with the outcome and all of my interactions were professional and courteous. The benefit worked liked it should have and I'm happy to keep using that card (Chase SW in case you're wondering).
Key lessons learned:
1) Don't pay anything; definitely not until everybody else has paid.
2) Keep all your rental paperwork until you've turned in the car and everything is fine.
3) The card benefits work! Take advantage of them!
And most importantly, be safe out there! You never know when the unexpected will happen.
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