I know this topic has been discussed to death, but I have a small spin on it. My wife and I will be staying at Buddy's in just over two weeks (the great news!) and will have a truck provided by them with the drive and dive package. My LDS took care of the reservations and payment.

Does anyone know how I could somehow "charge" the truck rental so we would be eligible for the Amex Premium insurance?

Thanks!
Shane

Shane, we have stayed at Buddy's many times and have been able to activate the Amex Premium Insurance each time. We put the charges from our travel agent for the entire package on our Amex card, and then call Amex and tell them that a portion of that charge is for truck rental and that we would like to be charged the $19.95 and activate the insurance. This usually takes a bit of time on the phone and repeated explanations as well as asking for a supervisor. They usually bounce you back and forth between the Premium Insurance phone line and the general Amex line, but with a bit of persistence and repeated explanation we have always been able to accomplish it. Hopefully you put your charges for the trip on your Amex card. Good luck.

FYI - We called for the AMX Premium Insurance and we were advised by AMX that we were not eligable...because we live in California? Has anyone else from California had this same experience/problem?

We live in California and just returned from Bonaire 2 weeks ago and used our Amex card and were fully covered. For it to be free you have to have a gold/platinum/black card and be part of the rewards program. You can purchase it otherwise for 19.95 per 30 days. Living in California has never been a factor. We have used it many times over in various countries. There are a few countries where it cannot be used but Bonaire is not one of them. I would call again and verify this, perhaps the person you spoke with gave you incorrect information. Hope this helps! (by the way, Mastercard platinum offers the same coverage for free too!)