My experience with Amex Platinum’s new insurance provider

In January 2025, American Express moved from AXA to Europ Assistance to provide travel insurance benefits for holders of The Platinum Card.

It’s fair to say that this has not gone as well as it could. We have heard numerous reports from readers of Europ attempting to refuse payment for valid claims.

For example, car hire claims were being refused because the rental was not paid on an American Express card, even though this is not a requirement of the policy.

We damaged a rental car in Germany last month – not deliberately for the purposes of this article! – so I had a chance to put Europ to the test.

Europ Assistance makes it easy to submit a claim

The first thing I should say is that Europ has an efficient online portal for managing American Express Platinum insurance claims. You can find it here.

I had delayed filing my claim, even though it was for a chunky amount (€765), because I couldn’t face the hassle. It turns out, all credit to Europ Assistance, that there wasn’t any.

Obviously car rental claims are more ‘open and shut’ than a medical claim, but the process was still very simple.

Three documents were required. Helpfully Sixt had sent me the bill for the damage and the description / photo of the damage as two separate PDF files, which is how Europ requires you to upload them. Sixt had also emailed me a PDF of my original invoice. This meant that I had everything I needed.

The whole process was completed online. Completing the form took less than ten minutes. I was told that I would receive an initial response within five days.

A couple of oddities

The only issue is that I received an email from Europ a few minutes later saying that my claim was ‘saved but not submitted’. This made no sense because the tracker on the Europ website clearly showed my claim as ‘submitted’.

I suspect that the email was triggered in the few minutes when I left the half-completed claim form open in another window whilst I downloaded PDFs of the documents requested.

I had paid for my rental and the damage (which Sixt had sent me a payment link to pay – it didn’t automatically charge the same card) on The Platinum Card. However, during the claims process Europ Assistance asked for my bank account details because it is not allowed to pay claims back to an Amex card!

On the upside, this meant the Membership Rewards points earned from paying Sixt €765 were not going to be lost due to a later refund to my card.

On the downside, I was concerned that the 2.99% foreign exchange fee I had paid to Amex on the €765 would not be refunded. Was I on the hook – assuming no movement in FX rates – for a €23 loss even if my claim was paid in full?

Also on the downside, I would be on the hook for an FX fee from HSBC when I received money from Europ Assistance if it paid me back in Euro to my current account.

As a reminder, for car rental claims there is no requirement to have paid for the original rental or any damages with an Amex card, although I always do so because I believe it may speed up settlement of any claim.

What happened next?

I submitted my claim on 11th August.

Three days later I received an email asking for more documents:

• the original rental agreement

• proof of payment of the damages claim

It’s not clear why these documents were not asked for originally. I had the PDF of the rental agreement from Sixt, and handily the Amex website lets you create a PDF statement part-way through a billing period, so it was easy to get that. I submitted both documents on the same day.

The Amex statement showed the Sterling charge (£687.83) so Europ now knew what I had actually paid, including the 2.99% Amex FX fee. I was wondering if they would reimburse me based on the Euro claim or what I paid in Sterling.

The next day ….

Less than 24 hours after submitting the additional documents, I received the following:

“Dear Customer,

We are pleased to inform you that your refund request has been approved.

According to the conditions of your insurance, we will proceed with the payment of the following amount:

• REIMBURSEMENT AMOUNT: 687,83 GBP

• PAYMENT DETAILS: Vehicle damage

The amount will be credited to the indicated bank account within approximately 7 days.

We appreciate the trust you have placed in our company, and we send you our warmest regards.

Refunds Department”

The full amount, including the Amex 2.99% FX fee, was being refunded. I also got 688 Membership Rewards points on top!

Conclusion

Whilst I had a number of complaints from readers about Europ Assistance after they took over the handling of American Express claims, my own experience was totally positive.

My claim was approved in under four days and I will be fully reimbursed.

I accept that this is the plainest of plain vanilla claims – Amex guarantees to pay for car rental damage, I had some car rental damage, Amex paid me – but I can only judge by my own experience and this one worked out well.

PS. I should clarify the exact small print of the Amex car rental cover. It will pay out £50,000 for theft or damage to the vehicle, and £500,000 ($1 million in the US) for damage to another person or their property.

It does NOT apply to commercial vehicles, motor homes, caravans and trailers. The Platinum cardholder must be named on the rental agreement. You are covered for rentals in the UK as well as abroad. Full terms are in the Platinum insurance policy document.