American Express target offer: $100 for a car rental with TURO

For those who don’t know Turo yet: it is a car rental platform between individuals, like Airbnb with houses.

We have described how the TURO platform works in detail in this article, as well as our experience during a luxury car rental in Las Vegas.

American Express has sent an email to Cardmembers:

• <a class=”thirstylink” title=”The Platinum Card^MD from American Express
• The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express

… to inform them of a promotion where they can get $100 off their next car rental with Turo.

This offer is for those who received it by email, whether or not they have an account with Turo.

Since Turo is not a traditional car rental agency (like Review, Hertz…), your credit card insurance will not work to cover the damage/collision portion.

In fact, American Express reminds us of this in its promotional email:

Peer-to-peer car rentals booked at www.turo.com or through the Turo mobile app (the “Turo Platform”) cannot be covered by American Express Car Rental Theft and Damage Insurance offered by The Platinum Card. To receive this protection, you must purchase insurance through Turo or elsewhere.

However, American Express adds:

Car rentals provided by “commercial hosts” booked on the Turo platform may be eligible for insurance. For more information, see your certificate of insurance or call American Express at the number on the back of your Card.

Peer-to-peer (private) or commercial host rental… it’s hard to tell the difference on Turo.

We do not take chances and prefer to take the insurance offered by the platform.

That’s what we did for our Las Vegas rental, especially since the vehicle had a value of over CA$85,000, which is the value covered by our <a class=”thirstylink” title=“Platinum^MD card from American Express.

So this is a very nice offer for the holders of <a class=”thirstylink” title=”American Express Platinum^MD card and the American Express Platinum Corporate^MD card.

American Express cardholders are often pampered in promotional offers, especially those on the American Express Cobaltᵐᶜ card.

In addition to offering targeted card offers directly in the online account, American Express runs promotional campaigns like this one multiple times throughout the year!

Let’s recall for example the one from Birks (an offer of 100$ for 100$ of purchases)…

…or Toronto’s duty-free stores (a $200 offer for $200 in purchases…).

Enough to gradually pay back the annual fee… !