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The Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with an abundance of high-value benefits and features. Cardholders get a fantastic return on travel and dining, receive an industry-leading $300 travel credit which covers any travel expense and a complimentary Priority Pass Select membership. And that’s before factoring in the 60,000 point signup bonus.
Some of the Sapphire Reserve’s best features, however, are the least visible. Tucked away deep in the Sapphire Reserve Guide to Benefits is a suite of travel insurance and purchase protections that can add thousands of dollars to the value proposition of holding the card long term.
After reviewing the coverage options, you may learn that you've been spending money on coverage you didn't need, or that you've got coverage you never knew about!
Page Contents
- Chase Sapphire Reserve Travel Insurance Benefits
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver (Auto Rental CDW)
- Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption
- Lost Luggage
- Trip Delay Reimbursement
- Baggage Delay Insurance
- Travel Accident Insurance
- Emergency Evacuation and Transportation
- Emergency Medical and Dental
- Travel and Emergency Assistance Services
- Roadside Assistance
- Chase Sapphire Reserve Purchase Insurance Benefits
- Final Thoughts
Chase Sapphire Reserve Travel Insurance Benefits
Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver (Auto Rental CDW)
We rate the primary rental insurance offered on the Sapphire Reserve as one of the best available to U.S. cardholders. The terms and conditions feature no specific country exclusions, and cardholders receive primary cover at home in the U.S. in addition to overseas.
To ensure coverage when renting a car, you need to pay for the entire rental using your Sapphire Reserve and decline the rental company’s collision insurance. If you accept the rental company’s additional auto insurance, you won't be covered by the Sapphire Reserve. You can read all the details in our review of Chase’s Auto Rental CDW. Note: If you use Ultimate Rewards to pay for your rental you'll also receive coverage under the Auto Rental CDW benefit.
Be aware that the Auto Rental CDW isn’t liability insurance. You are only covered for damage and theft of the rental vehicle, not damage to other people's property, or if someone is injured.
Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption
A benefit we’ve covered in detail in previous posts, Trip Interruption and Trip Cancellation insurance covers the cardholder, cardholder’s spouse or partner, and immediate family members for trips greater than 1 mile from your primary residence for less than 60 days. The two policies are similar, but Trip Cancellation covers you before the trip, and Trip Interruption covers you from the moment you start traveling.
Coverage kicks in when a covered loss either interrupts travel, or prevents you from traveling, and results in the cancellation of travel arrangements. The coverage will reimburse you up to $10,000 for each trip.
Chase defines a covered trip as:
“Covered Trip means any pre-paid tour, trip or vacation when some portion of the cost for such travel arrangements less any redeemable frequent flyer miles, points, coupons or certificates, or other types of redeemable Rewards has been charged to your Account.”
Claims are limited to:
- Per occurrence – $20,000
- Per 12 months – $40,000
Tip: Immediate family members are covered if travel is charged to the Sapphire Reserve, even if the primary account holder is not present.
You can catch the extensive list of definitions and exclusions in the Sapphire Reserve Guide to Benefits, or head over to our post on the Chase Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Insurance.
Lost Luggage
The Sapphire Reserve’s Lost Luggage benefit covers the cardholder and immediate family members for up to $3,000 per person for a covered trip, including up to $500 for jewelry, watches, cameras, and other electronics.
The benefit reimburses the cost of repairing or replacing checked and carry-on baggage, and the personal property contained within due to loss or damage. Note that liability is limited to the cash value of the items (replacement value less depreciation) at the time of loss, and you must report the loss or damage to the carrier as soon as you exit the aircraft.
Trip Delay Reimbursement
One of the most valuable benefits on the Sapphire Reserve, Trip Delay Reimbursement covers what Chase deems ‘reasonable’ expenses.
“…including but not limited to meals, lodging, toiletries, medication and other personal use items that you encounter due to a Covered Hazard delay, as long as the services were not provided free of charge by the Common Carrier or any other party.”
Coverage kicks in after a delay of six hours (or a forced overnight), and you can claim up to $500 for each ticket purchased with your Sapphire Reserve. To qualify for reimbursement, the delay must not have been made public or have been communicated to you prior to departure.
Baggage Delay Insurance
If you made it to your destination but your bags didn’t, you might be eligible to claim for baggage delay. Covering the cardholder and immediate family members up to $100 per day for a maximum of 5 days when your bags are delayed for six or more hours, you can claim emergency purchases of essential items including clothing, toiletries, and one phone charger per claim. The list of purchases not included is extensive (including items like false teeth…) so be sure to read page 33 of the guide to benefits for more details.
Travel Accident Insurance
One of the more morbid, but very practical insurances included on the Sapphire Reserve. Travel Accident Insurance covers you for accidental death, dismemberment, and loss of speech, sight, and hearing benefits, on a 24-hour basis, while traveling on any motorized land, water, or air transport, operated by an organization licensed to carry passengers, as long as you charge the cost of the trip, minus any points and miles, to the Sapphire Reserve.
Coverage is for 30 days from the date of departure and ends at the beginning of the 31st day if your trip extends past 30 days. The cover provides a 24-Hour Loss of Life benefit of $100,000 and a Common Carrier Loss of Life benefit of up to $1,000,000. This is a complex and hard-to-understand policy and requires a thorough reading of the benefits guide to grasp the details. We recommend reviewing the policy with a licensed insurance professional if you have any doubts as to the validity of your coverage.
Emergency Evacuation and Transportation
Another complex benefit, covering the cardholder and immediate family for up to $100,000 towards emergency evacuation or transportation. You’re covered for “emergency evacuation and transportation if you are injured or become ill during your trip, and it results in a necessary emergency evacuation,” on trips of between 5-60 days a minimum of 100km from home.
The Benefits Administrator must make all the medical travel arrangements, and the evacuation must be pre-approved by the Benefits Administrator in consultation with a legally licensed Physician who certifies that emergency evacuation is warranted due to the severity of the injury or sickness.
Emergency Medical and Dental
You’re covered for up to $2,500 in emergency medical and dental expenses that would not otherwise be covered by your travel or health insurance. Claims are subject to a $50 deductible, and treatment must be received in the course of a trip lasting between 5-60 days, a minimum of 100 miles from home, paid for with your Sapphire Reserve or points earned with the card. If the treatment requires hospitalization, you'll also be eligible for a daily benefit of $75.00 per day, for up to 5 days
Travel and Emergency Assistance Services
If you need help and you’re not sure who to turn to, Chase Travel and Emergency Assistance provides a wide range of emergency services available 24/7, 365 days a year. Essentially a hotline allowing you to call (1-888-675-1461) and get advice, assistance, or referrals when you are in an unfamiliar place. This could provide help with translating terms and conditions, medical referrals, emergency assistance, or help to replace a lost airline ticket. Almost anything that can be accomplished over the phone.
Services include:
- Emergency Message Service
- Medical Referral Assistance
- Legal Referral Assistance
- Emergency Transportation Assistance
- Emergency Ticket Replacement
- Lost Luggage Locator Service
- Emergency Translation Service
- Prescription Assistance and Valuable Document Delivery Arrangements
- Pre-Trip Assistance
Roadside Assistance
Sapphire Reserve cardholders are covered for up to $50 per service callout, up to four times per year. Roadside emergencies can include such issues as a flat tire, dead battery, or mechanical breakdown. To use this service, call 1-866-860-7978 (Cross Country Motor Club).
Chase Sapphire Reserve Purchase Insurance Benefits
Purchase Protection
Purchase Protection covers eligible items purchased using your Sapphire Reserve, or UR points earned on the card, in the event of theft, damage or involuntary and accidental parting with the item within 120 days. You will be reimbursed up to the dollar amount required to repair or replace the item (provided it is under the $10K limit), whichever is less.
The Sapphire Reserve has a high claim value of up to $10,000 per item and a cap of $50,000 per year. Purchases made outside the U.S. are covered as long as you purchased them with your Sapphire Reserve card, and the purchase meets the T&C's. There is a long list of items not covered, so refer to page 6 of the guide to benefits.
You need to contact the Benefits Administrator within 90 days of the loss, damage, or theft, and you have 120 days to complete the claim.
Yes, a cracked screen is covered! Or, if you accidentally lose your phone in a taxi, that'd be covered as well!
Extended Warranty Protection
Extended Warranty Protection extends the manufacturer’s U.S. repair warranty on items purchased with your account by one additional year on eligible warranties of 3 years or less, up to a maximum of $10,000 per claim, and a $50,000 maximum per account. You need to charge a portion of the purchase price to the Sapphire Reserve for the protection to kick in, or have purchased the item using Ultimate Rewards earned on the card. Again, there's an extensive list of exclusions that can be found in the benefits guide.
In many cases, this benefit can save you $20-$100 for an extended warranty on a single piece of electronics!
Return Protection
If you’re unhappy with an item purchased entirely using your Sapphire Reserve or points earned on the card, and the merchant won’t accept the return, Return Protection will reimburse you for the cost of the item within 90 days of the purchase date. Claims are limited to $500 per item, up to a maximum of $1,000 per year per account. Coverage is secondary to any store guarantees, and the Benefits Administrator must receive the purchase in like-new/good working condition.
Price Protection
As of August 26, 2018, Price Protection is no longer a benefit of this card.
Final Thoughts
Big-ticket benefits like travel credits and lounge access are what marketing teams use to advertise cards like the Sapphire Reserve, but there are plenty of benefits hiding under the hood that can provide thousands of dollars per year in additional value. Take time to familiarize yourself with the guide to benefits for the Sapphire Reserve, as these benefits can help turn an unfortunate delay or health problem while traveling into a positive experience, plus reduce your out-of-pocket expense when things go awry.
If you have experience using any of the benefits listed above, we’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
When I travel alone I keep a hard copy of the Guide to Benefits with my passport, usually locked in the safe in my accomodations. I also carry a statement in my wallet or backpack giving instructions on how to contact the benefits coordinator along with my credit card number and other identity details.
Does anyone have any experience on how the pre-approval for medical evacuation works for people who are traveling alone? I often travel alone and it seems that if I am in need of am emergency medical evacuation there could be a pretty high chance that I will not be able to contact the credit card benefit coordinator to get pre-approval and make arrangements for the evacuation. Thanks for any info you can share.
True. I had to file all kind of paperwork to get reimbursement, took about few months. Good thing I charged everything on my Reserve card for Europe trip together with my parents, when my dad passed away suddenly shortly before the trip.
Will the Sapphire reserve cover you for jewelry or watches that have been lost ?
I would double check the benefits guide. Jewelry is almost always an exclusion.
I booked for my parents visiting from India to USA for 6 months. At last minute, my father had an accident and he could not travel. The ticket was a non-refundable ticket. so i cancelling with no refund. i tried to file a claim with Chase. they said the trip duration must be less than 60 days. they said my case will not be covered. My annual fee payment of 450$ is of no use when they do not cover our emergency needs.
I have used both the CSP and CSR travel insurance and while you have to get your documents together they do indeed pay for the loss. One thing to note though is they do not pay for medical pre-existing conditions. If you have a lot of ongoing issues you might want to call their policy provider to get more clarity if that might be an issue. Also, it only covers prepaid items. I once had to purchase a ticket back home for a family medical emergency and it was not reimbursed since it was not prepaid. They said if it was a changed ticket it would have been reimbursed. I have not tested that theory but it is something to be aware of.
In addition I used CSP for price protection and was successful. It was pretty painless.
If you have pre-existing conditions you have a couple of options. Trip interruption insurance will offer coverage for pre-existing conditions has long as you take out the coverage within a certain time frame (usually the same time you make the final payment on your travel), or you can go the travel medical insurance route. The latter is actually the most cost effective. They cover what’s called “Acute Onset of a Pre-existing Condition” and offer higher benefit amounts than what you get with the credit cards. A 40 year old can get a $100,000 policy for a 3 week trip for under $50.
Sometimes Chase not not often
So many gimmicks like requiring submit claim to personal insurance then giving only cash value.
My experience is Chase benefits is a bunch incompetent idiots to deny the claim.
thanks for the article. have you compared the Sapphire insurance benefits to the Amex Platinum cards benefits?
We haven’t, but mostly because the Amex Platinum card insurance benefits are horrible. They’re not even in the same league.
Nice benefit. I am seriously considering going the sapphire route. Although I enjoy using pts within a certain program. Feel that I pull more value out of it.
I had a positive experience with the trip cancellation benefit when my flight was cancelled last March. Amsterdam to ATL. They reimbursed me and my
Domestic partner for expenses occurred (hotel, food, transportation). It was a lot of paperwork but sucessful!
Great info, and book marked, thanks for all your hard work!
Another reason I’ll have to look into this card, at least for the first, bonus year.
Thanks! Been looking for a go to card for travel/insurance benefits and appreciate the article.
Super helpful — I listed CSR as my insurance for an upcoming rental this weekend. Thank you for this guide!
Great benefits review!! Thanks!!
Great write up!
Thanks for the detailed info!
Good reference for CSR card holders.
Good to know the added benefits for using the card
These are really useful! Might be worth that astronomical annual fee.
great benefits with this card
I wish I was below 5/24 to get this card.
After reading this posting, I may have to apply for this card.
This is a really concise summary, thanks for putting it together.
Some great benefits in there which I didn’t about, thanks!
Yes, we know we know, it’s great. 🙂
Wow great benefits. May have to go for it. Nice work on the write up.
Thanks for this info. You have explained this convoluted area quite well.
Thanks for the info. I recently used this card on a rental in Germany and am in the process of submitting a claim. I will report back with the results.
Thanks for providing these details. I tend to overlook these benefits when comparing cards.
As do many of us, but sometimes there’s true value to be had in these features.
Howie, happy New Year to you and all your readers. Sorry if this topic was covered in a previous post, but what can you use the Ultimate Rewards points for?
Steve, thank you! What can you use Ultimate Rewards points for? Oh man, lots of stuff — start here: https://awardwallet.com/blog/different-ways-to-redeem-ultimate-rewards/
Good piece. Definitely bookmarking this article. Thanks.
This card is such a good deal that I might choose to upgrade my Sapphire Preferred despite the much-greater annual fee. I think Chase’snew rules make it almost impossible for me to get another bonus anyway unless I cancel the Sapphire Preferred and go without that card for a period of time. (Which I don’t wish to do). Have you covered this in a blog post?
Yes, indeed. https://awardwallet.com/blog/updated-terms-approvals-signup-bonuses-sapphire-credit-cards/
An impressive array of protection benefits!
This is such a great card, lots of benefits, exactly what I like to see.
This card actually seems like the high annual fee is worth it, especially if you use the $300 travel credit. $150 a year for PP membership, 3x points, and all these benefits on top is not bad.
Exactly why I love it.
If you time it right you can get the $300 travel credit twice before you get charged the first annual fee.
That only works the first year into the second, if you’re cancelling the card. If you keep the card open, you end up with $300 each year. And the year you cancel an opportunity for for an extra $300.
The $150 net cost of the card, though, is well worth it if you use the benefits. If you don’t do any traveling, the $300 travel credit and the access to the PP Lounge are not of value to you. But if you use the travel benefits, then the extras that are listed in the article, are well worth the $150.
The benefits guide was a little intimidating and I haven’t read it completely since I got the card almost a year ago! Thanks for breaking it down in smaller chunks for us! Love this card so far!
I’ve found that reading these guides with your favorite adult beverage works out well 🙂
Always good to have all of this info in one place. Many thx!
Thanks
These insurance benefits are a major reason NOT to use miles for a ticket. Use miles for an upgrade, but don’t lose the insurance due to the fact that you went cheap for a miles ticket!
NO!!!!! Using miles for upgrades can *sometimes* work out: https://awardwallet.com/blog/upgrade-airline-tickets-miles/ — but it is more of an exception than the rule.
Keep using your miles, just pay the taxes/fees with this card and you’ll receive coverage!
That’s a great tip. I didn’t know that just paying the fees got you covered as well.
This benefits could easily be worth a lot more than lounge access.
EXACTLY! I agree 100%
Wow, these benefits are amazing. Almost hard to believe. I wonder how problematic actually filing a claim and exercising the coverage is.
It actually isn’t that hard. You need to simply have your documentation in order, which for any of us that collect points and miles shouldn’t be too hard to do!