02.04.26 Love & Money / Which Documents Should You Keep

Summary

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The Clark Howard Podcast - Episode Summary

Episode: 02.04.26 | Date: February 4, 2026
Main Topics: Love & Money; Which Documents Should You Keep

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Episode Overview

This episode, hosted by Clark Howard with co-host Krista, revolves around two core themes: navigating financial matters in relationships, especially in the context of Valentine’s Day, and practical advice on which important personal finance documents and records you should keep — and for how long. Clark also fields listeners’ questions, delivering actionable consumer advice and sharing real-life anecdotes for clarity and relatability.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Love & Money: Avoiding Financial Trouble in Relationships

• Valentine’s Day Context: Clark humorously shares how he shopped for his wife early at Dollar Tree for under $5, poking fun at his forgetfulness hiding gifts ([01:05]–[02:44]).
• Money as a Relationship Stressor:
  • Clark stresses that disputes over money, along with dishonesty and lack of communication about finances, are leading causes of relationship breakdowns.
  • He references his time doing TV specials with couples, emphasizing how silence and not sharing financial goals "undermines a marriage, a relationship."
• Clark's Advice on Financial Communication:
  • Start "low-voltage," scheduled conversations about your finances and goals as a couple—not just during crises.
  • Compromise is crucial: "Compromise is key. Not one person rolling over for what the other wants." ([06:04])
• Memorable Quote:
  • “Be romantic all year long, but don’t undermine that love that brought you together by having money mess it up.” — Clark Howard ([06:02])

Notable Segment:

• Money & Relationships Advice [03:00]–[07:09]

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2. Listener Q&A Highlights

a) Umbrella Insurance & Car Insurance Coverage ([07:12])

• Question: If you get umbrella insurance, can you reduce underlying car insurance?
• Clark: Usually, insurers require you to increase liability coverage to qualify for umbrella policies. Only in cases where you’re already over their required minimum might you reduce coverage — always check with your insurer ([07:24]).

b) Family Loans for Student Debt ([08:23])

• Listener Story: Barbara paid off her son-in-law’s high-interest student loan, setting a lower interest than the original and being repaid reliably.
• Clark’s Take: Cautions that lending to family often leads to problems, but Barbara’s worked well due to trust and responsible follow-through.
• Memorable Quote:
  • “You did something wonderful out of love. It didn’t hurt you at all. And it was an enormous help to your son-in-law.” — Clark Howard ([09:05])

c) Hotel Points Redemption & How Hotels Get Paid ([10:36])

• Clark explains:
  • Hotels are reimbursed by the parent chain with variable amounts depending on occupancy. At low occupancy, reimbursement covers just cleaning; high occupancy means near-full cash value.
  • Hyatt praised for best point redemption value.

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3. Which Documents To Keep (and For How Long)

Clark transitions to thorough guidance on record-keeping ([17:45]–[25:36]).

Key Advice Areas:

• Car Records:
  • Keep all maintenance/repair receipts, especially if you do your own work, to avoid warranty denial.
  • "If you can't produce records... they try to claim your warranty... is no longer valid." ([17:52])
  • Keep proof of loan payments, print or PDF pay-off letters for evidence if loans are sold.
• Insurance Policies:
  • Keep while active; discard old as soon as new is in place.
• Mortgage Records:
  • Important as servicing is frequently sold, sometimes with payment records lost in transit.
  • Keep own amortization schedule and payment proof, especially if making extra payments.
  • Keep paid-off mortgage records for the life of homeownership (or till after closing if you sell).
  • Keep “basis” documentation (e.g., improvements) for tax purposes.
• Tax Returns:
  • Returns and all documentation should be kept for six years.
  • “The IRS, if they ever allege you failed to file and you can’t prove you did — bad news.” ([22:49])
• Student Loan Payments:
  • Retain payment records until fully paid off and preferably for life due to persistent collection issues.
• Further Resources:
  • Full chart available at clark.com ([24:37]).

Memorable Segment:

• Detailed Record-Keeping Advice [17:45]–[25:36]

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4. More Listener Q&A: Rental Car Fees & Travel Insurance

a) Rental Car Hidden Fees ([25:36])

• Listener: Paulo expresses frustration at an $8.99/day roadside assistance fee tacked onto his Priceline car rental by a franchise.
• Clark’s Guidance:
  • These smaller-brand franchises can be “wild west” operations.
  • Clark recommends complaining to the parent company (Hertz, in this case) and, if needed, filing with the Better Business Bureau ([26:04]).
  • "Always state your case before you leave... politely and in person is your best bet." ([28:31])

b) Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance With Chase Sapphire Preferred ([29:44])

• Listener: Wants to know if card benefits are enough or if extra travel insurance is needed.
• Krista: For Chase Sapphire Preferred, coverage is up to $10,000 per traveler and $20,000 per trip ([31:15]).
• Clark: Encourages reading details in Chase’s portal to confirm if limits are adequate ([30:11]), noting it’s “so crazy generous of Chase.” ([31:19])

c) Car Rental Insurance via Costco Travel ([32:19])

• Listener: Finds $5/day Costco coverage cheaper than on-site rental insurance.
• Clark & Krista:
  • Stress importance of primary vs. secondary coverage — primary is preferable so your own auto or credit card insurance isn’t involved if there’s an issue.
  • Krista quickly checks: Costco's product is usually secondary in the U.S., so may not be worth even a low price ([34:43]).
• Memorable Quote:
  • "$5 a day for secondary is not a Costco kind of price, in my opinion." — Clark Howard ([35:00])

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Not one person rolling over for what the other wants. Compromising to get to goals that you can both be comfortable with.” — Clark ([06:01])
• “Never, never, not ever [co-sign on a loan for a partner].” — Clark ([10:23])
• “If you can’t produce records... [manufacturers] try to claim your warranty... is no longer valid.” — Clark ([17:53])
• “The IRS, if they ever allege you failed to file and you can’t prove you did — bad news.” ([22:49])
• On car rental junk fees: “It is a problem of long note in the car rental industry that some of the franchise owners don’t play right or fair with how they treat you.” ([28:31])

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• Valentine’s Day, Money & Relationships: [01:05]–[07:09]
• Umbrella Insurance Coverage: [07:12]–[08:23]
• Family Lending for Student Loans: [08:23]–[10:23]
• Hotel Rewards Points Mechanics: [10:36]–[13:25]
• Document-Keeping Advice: [17:45]–[25:36]
• Car Rental Fees Problem: [25:36]–[29:44]
• Chase Sapphire & Travel Insurance Discussion: [29:44]–[32:19]
• Costco Rental Car Insurance – Primary/Secondary Coverage: [32:19]–[35:36]

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Tone & Style

Clark’s tone is conversational, friendly, and down-to-earth, mixing practical financial wisdom with humor and personal anecdotes. He is candid, sometimes self-deprecating (especially about gift shopping), and always keen to empower listeners with actionable consumer knowledge.

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For more details and further charts on record-keeping, see:
🔗 Clark.com — Which documents to keep (and for how long)

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Transcript

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[Clark Howard]

I'm so glad you're with us here on the Clark Howard Show. Our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. In today's show, we're coming up on Valentine's Day, and I was early on this when Valentine's Day stuff went out on the shelves at Dollar Tree the first week of January. I already got all the stuff for Lane for Valentine's Day, so it cost me $4.75 or something for the stuff that I got her for Valentine's Day. Christy, you're looking at me like you could kill me.

[Krista]

I know. I'm just looking at me.

[Clark Howard]

What did you get too much? I'm not gonna say because what if somebody tells her? Then there's no surprise.

[Krista]

Okay.

[Clark Howard]

Okay. So here's the funniest thing about me. I'm sorry I'm diverting from what we're gonna talk about. Okay.

[Krista]

You can say it and just tell people not to tell her. And they won't.

[Clark Howard]

No, no. Okay, gotta hear this. So when I see something that's a deal, whatever it is that I know she'd like for a birthday or whatever, anniversary. So I. I'll see a deal. I buy something and then I hide it. But what's terrible? I'm so flaky.

[Krista]

Oh, gosh. You forget.

[Clark Howard]

No, I don't forget that I bought stuff. I don't remember where I put it.

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, pitiful.

[Krista]

Wow.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, well, so I have stored in my memory exactly where I had the four items I got her from. From $4.

[Krista]

Oh, you got them all from the dollar tree.

[Clark Howard]

Wow. It's been too much. Anyway, so we got Valentine's Day coming up, and you think about the romantic things would be cool to do, but there's something not romantic that undermines relationships and marriages more than any other thing. I'm going to talk about that right ahead. And also I had a podcast question two weeks ago, three weeks ago, somebody wanting to know how long to hold on to documents, what documents to hold on to. And I promised at that time that I would get around to doing that. And so we're going to do that, the second part of this podcast. All right, so what is it that we do that completely undermines a marriage, a relationship? It's how we handle money as a couple. And, you know, the things that go on where people will get into these ugly arguments about money and can undermine a marriage or relationship. You know what else does it? Lying about money, hiding money, not talking about things is so important because you don't want to wait till you built up resentment, anger, arguments. It starts with conversations and not when there's a crisis. I think about over the years, how many relationships disintegrate because of issues about money in that relationship. I did these series of specials on cable television, working with couples, doing interventions with couples who were crumbling as a couple because of spending problems or debt. And what was so clear in talking these couples was they were silent from each other about what their goals were, what was going on in their head. They weren't having low voltage, not when they were angry, conversations about where they were trying to go in their life and where they hope they went together in their lives financially. So here's what I ask you. You know, do the romantic things for Valentine's Day be romantic all year long, but don't undermine that love that brought you together by having money mess it up. You're not necessarily always going to agree on how money should be handled, but you got to compromise and you got to discuss. And it's not a conversation, it's an ongoing conversation that you have money so that you don't forget what brought you together in the first place, what created that bond of love between you by having money. Throw that away. So start today or sometime soon. Say, hey, what do you think? And pose things as questions, not as statements to the one you love. And try to get into a cycle where you talk regularly on a schedule, because if you try to do it spontaneously. It's never going to come around. Right. You schedule it like anything else. Like you would schedule an appointment at a doctor or something. You schedule a time low voltage to talk about goals, how you're doing. You got to have a roadmap. You don't know what you're trying to accomplish. How are you going to get there? And then remember, compromise, Compromise is key. Not one person rolling over for what the other wants. Compromising to get to goals that you can both be comfortable with. And you can get back to just enjoying each other instead of resenting stuff about money.

[Krista]

Okay, you ready for some questions?

[Clark Howard]

Sure.

[Krista]

This is from Josephine in Texas. My husband and I are going to get umbrella insurance. When we do, what can we cut back on or eliminate from our car insurance coverage and what do we need to keep on our car insurance coverage?

[Clark Howard]

Josephine, don't hate me. I'm just the messenger here. When you add an umbrella to your auto insurance policy or for the various types of insurance you have, if you're a homeowner and all that, the insurer that sells you the umbrella will require a level of underlying liability coverage on your auto policy. And if you own a home on your homeowner's policy. So believe it or not, you may have to be beef up coverages on auto or homeowners. All you have to ask is what is the required level liability insurance on auto? And if you already have a lot, you may be able to do what you said. You may be able to reduce the liability coverage in the auto insurance policy because you have the overlay of the umbrella and it'll just depend on the rules of the insurer you buy the umbrella from.

[Krista]

Barbara in New York says you want to help a relative pay down or pay off a student loan. Especially those loans with high interest rates compounded daily that the IRS only allows $2,500 in deductible interest. I took out a low interest 10 year home equity loan back then at 3% interest. My son in law was paying 8 and a quarter percent compounded daily which amounted to over $4,500 in yearly interest payments. So they were never getting ahead of it. I paid off the balance and charged 4% interest which he paid back automatically and a lot sooner than he would have never missed a payment. If you can afford it, you could also take assets from your portfolio to do something similar. I'd rather help them while I'm alive.

[Clark Howard]

All right, first of all, Barbara, you win the mother in law.

[Krista]

Oh my God.

[Clark Howard]

Right here. Absolutely. Because there's always a dicey situation when you take on a financial responsibility for a loved one, a relative or if you just pay something for them and they promise they're going to pay you back. Man, have we heard a lot of stories where people did that and the person the money was lent to or taken care of by didn't honor their part of it. You did something wonderful out of love. It didn't hurt you at all. And it was an enormous help to your son in law. And I love, I can tell what kind of wonderful generous heart you have.

[Krista]

Yep. You definitely have to be able to trust that person. I mean it's a tale of caution as well. Like it's great and this is a wonderful story.

[Clark Howard]

But you hear both of us saying, I mean stuff because we are a bit traumatized about lending money to family because what we hear about is not a story with a happy ending like yours worked out great.

[Krista]

Especially when it comes to like co signing to.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, co signing.

[Krista]

Co signing on a car loan with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

Okay. When should you ever co sign on a vehicle loan for a boyfriend or girlfriend? The answer to that is never. Never, never, not ever.

[Krista]

Okay. Len in Georgia says when people trade points in for a hotel stay, how does the hotel get paid?

[Clark Howard]

Okay, this is fascinating and it's not exactly uniform across the industry, but is a general vibe about how it works. Have you ever noticed like if you're looking, if you abuse yourself and you collect points in the Marriott Bonvoy program and you see that your points are worth like a fraction of a penny it seems, and you notice that the rates are completely variable on points and then they'll have like saver awards on Bonvoy. And it works similarly on Hilton. Hyatt is every frequent traveler's friend for a hotel program because their redemptions for stays are so wonderfully good in terms of points that you have to use for a stay. But normally in the hotel business you see those variable point totals. So if a hotel is light on occupancy during a time you want to stay under their contract with the, with the company, you know, the big hotel brands, as a general rule, they are paid a minimal amount of money when the hotel is at lower occupancies, enough to cover the cleaning of the room and a little fee for that room being put into service. On the other hand, if occupancies go above certain thresholds, that's why you see the point totals required to pay for a night go up so much because then the hotel brand is is paying the hotel the amount of money that they would have earned from somebody essentially who was paying dollars for that room. So at one end, during, let's say you're in an area of very low time for that hotel or that area occupancy is very low, you're having to redeem very few points because the hotel is getting a really bad pay reimbursement for it. Again, when a hotel is really busy, you got to use a lot more points because the hotel is getting money substituting from the hotel brand what they would have gotten from you walking up and putting down your credit card to pay for that night. Coming up ahead, let's talk about stuff. You got paperwork, contracts. What do you keep, what do you ditch, and for how long do you keep it? And here's another thing. How should you keep those records?

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[Clark Howard]

We all have moments when we could have done better. Like cutting your own hair.

[Krista]

Yikes.

[Clark Howard]

Or forgetting sunscreen so now you look like a tomato.

[Apple Card Announcer]

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[Clark Howard]

Coulda done better. Same goes for where you invest. Level up and invest smarter with Schwab. Get Market insights, education and human help when you need it.

[Krista]

Learn [e-mail].

[Don McDonald]

You know what's funny about free financial advice? It's usually the most expensive kind. I'm Don McDonald from the Talking Real Money podcast. For over three decades, my co host Tom and I have been the antidote to the financial nonsense that fills the airwaves. We don't sell products. We don't have sponsors paying us to recommend their funds. We just tell you what has actually worked. Backed by decades of academic research, not some guru's gut feeling. Our listeners tell us we're like car talk for your money. Minus the car problems, with maybe even more bad jokes. You're already listening to a podcast right now, so finding us couldn't be easier. Just search for Talking Real Money or visit talkingrealmoney.com give us a few minutes. The worst that happens, you're mildly entertained. The best? You stop making your broker richer and start building actual wealth. Just search for Talking Real Money Talking Real Money is an educational podcast, hosts or affiliated with a registered investment advisor. For disclosures, visit talkingrealmoney.com Today's show is.

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[Clark Howard]

So there are people who are unbelievably detailed about keeping records and end up with those transfer cases box after box after box over the years. Storing records that long ago they just don't need. And then there are other people who can't find anything because they don't keep anything or they don't file it. So what I try to do when I answer the question that was posed to me a few weeks ago that I'm now answering, is I try to hit a middle course where it's not too much burden for you to keep stuff and you don't end up with too much stuff you're keeping, but you keep things that are important. I want to start with cars. I never even used to talk about keeping records for cars, but today it's become more important because the average age of vehicles is much older and you could have warranty issues. You could have a variety of things that mean that keeping detailed records become more important, especially with the problems we've heard with some automakers that if you can't produce records of having done maintenance in the cycles recommended, they try to claim your warranty on the vehicle is no longer valid. And you could be hit with a big cost of a repair for something. So keeping records on a vehicle is all about your ownership cycle. You don't own one anymore, you're fine. But when you own it, you want to absolutely keep records. Let's say you do some of the maintenance on your vehicle yourself. There are a lot of people that like doing that. And you go to the auto parts store to buy stuff, you need to file that away. So if they say, well, you missed an oil change at so and so point, or you didn't do this or that, so we're not covering you under warranty. You want to keep those records. If you are someone who traditionally by rote, you go to have your maintenance done at the franchise dealer for that brand, then they will have the digital records of what's been done and things have been done when they're supposed to be. You want to keep solid records of payments. If you have a loan that you've made your payments, those can be done a number of different ways electronically. Whatever the problem here is, loans are sold and vehicle loans are not sold nearly as often as mortgages. But you want to keep good records. So if your loan sold, you know what the balance was supposed to be and Knowing the transfer of servicing for that auto loan, they could suddenly make phantoms of some of your payments that happened through the transaction cycle of servicing. Going from one lender to another, you want to keep those good records. And when you've paid off your loan, you want to have something you print out. I know that's weird. A lot of people don't have printers or that you do a PDF that you store that shows that you have completed your payments on that vehicle insurance policies of any kind, you keep them as long as those policies are active. Really simple. When you, let's say you move from one auto insurer to another, you can dump the records from the old auto insurer, you move from one homeowner's insurer to another, you can dump the old records, but the current ones you want to have, you need to know what your coverages are. All those things, your mortgage, this is one where they're sold a lot. Gosh, I remember we had somebody pose a question to us who said that their mortgage loan servicing had been sold five times. Five times. And let me tell you, when those mortgages move around, they lose track of the balance. Not always, but it happens more than you might imagine. And if you have not kept good records of your payments you've made and what the balance should be, and you just print out your. Your own simple AM schedule, amortization schedule, they're available free, you know, simply by doing a search for amortization schedule. Put in your interest rate, term of the loan when it started, and you'll see right there if you're ever making extra payments on a mortgage by paying additional principal, always keep your own up to date amortization schedule of what that balance should be so that you're not trusting a lender that's not trying to cheat you. I want to make it clear. I say a lot of trash talk about the banks, but this is not one where they're actively trying to cheat you. It is an issue of competence with the banks that they get the balances wrong. When loans move around on car loans and home loans, when you've paid off a mortgage, you want to keep the records that you paid off that mortgage, that one, gosh, I keep those forever. I don't know why, but I do. You at least want to keep it for as long as you have owned that home till you've closed on the sale of it and that everything's right at the closing table, then you could probably throw away those records. Any things you do that adjustments known as the basis of your home you need to keep. As long as you own your home, basis is what you're taxed on. If your home appreciates a great deal over the years, you don't just take what you paid for the home and what you sold it for. There are certain improvements you do to a home and especially things you do as you're getting it ready to sell that reduce the amount that you're exposed to that you would owe for tax. Tax returns. Keep your return and all documentation with it for six years, either digitally. Since most returns are now filed digitally, or if you still have paper, you keep paper of those returns and the documentation for six years. The reason is if the IRS alleges that you underpaid, they can come back and say, well, where's your proof you had this thing or that thing. You got to be able to prove it. And keeping your supporting documents is key. The actual return I file, I keep a digital or older ones. I have the paper going back way further than I need to. I mean back several decades. Because the irs, if they ever allege you failed to file and you can't prove you did, bad news. You know what else you need to keep solidly? Your student loan payment records. From when you get a student loan till it's done. Being paid for it drives me nuts. People who are being hassled by a debt collector saying that they owe for a loan that you know you long since paid off, you keep those student loan records for pretty much your whole life. And I've got more categories that are in a chart. You can see what you keep, what you don't, how long you keep. @clark.com on our list of which documents should you keep and for how long?

[Krista]

All right, we'll go to questions. Paulo in Florida sent this one in. I booked a rental car through Priceline and was shocked to see an undisclosed added roadside assistance junk fee at 899 a day. It definitely was not on the Priceline quote nor at the time of pickup. The manager refused to waive it, only stating that it's in the fine print. Added to all contracts, adding that they're independently owned and there is no headquarters to contact and resolve this.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, first of all, the last part is a bit of hui. Now this is one of the third tier brands owned by one of the big three. Pretty much all car brands are owned except for sixth, which is its own family owned operation from Europe are owned by the biggest of all, which is Enterprise, which owns national and Alamo Avis which owns Budget. Hertz with Jones, Hertz, Dollar Thrifty, somebody else as well. And you start getting to some of the third tier brands of these companies and they are usually franchise, not company owned. Some of them are a bit wild west and how they behave to tell you that there's nobody you can complain to. You yes there is. And you complain to the parent company of this car rental agency which happens to be one that's owned by Hertz. Hertz has not had a great reputation of late. We've talked about that for years. I will not rent from Hertz or any of its brands. I'm not calling for a boycott. I'm just saying there's too many problems with the customer service equation. But you should complain to Hertz about the problem you had with one of their junior brands and see if they will do anything for you. There are no other organizations you can complain to except the Better Business Bureau may pay off in this case and you would file [e-mail] it's not against the individual franchisee, it's against the brand of the vehicle rental service that you're complaining to. But the junk fee thing is a terrible problem. I told a story two years ago about going to a funeral on the podcast. You may or may not have heard this or remember this story, but I rented funerals or last minute things, had a hard time finding an affordable rental car and I broke my rule and rented with one of the third level brands and there was a junk fee on it for gasoline even though I'd already filled the vehicle and they had marked, you know, that I paid full. They charged me $24.99 extra for a fuel convenience fee, whatever that was. Yeah, and it took me a while to get that money back, but I kept pushing levers until I got the money back. And just know it is a problem of long note in the car rental industry that some of the franchise owners don't play right or fair with how they treat you. And you always want to state your case before you leave that rental car area. When they give you your check in statement, you want to go right there and see if you can get it resolved in person. Don't act abusive, don't be aggressive. The person you're talking to, that frontline worker, it's not their fault that the owner of that franchise is dishonest and unethical. So you want to just be polite, state your case. And most often in travel, the best, most effective way to solve a problem is at the time it's happened.

[Krista]

Yes, but Paulo said that it was not on the quote or at the time of pickup paperwork.

[Clark Howard]

I hear that. And I'd be curious to see a contract that hides that in those long, long mice type terms of service.

[Krista]

All right. And in Illinois says my Chase Sapphire Preferred card has trip delay reimbursement and trip cancellation interruption insurance is one of its benefits. Do I still need to purchase separate travel insurance if I'm purchasing a tour, or would the card benefit cover a flight or tour cancellation I gave you?

[Clark Howard]

There's the name of the. Yeah, I see that for operator. Right. So in terms of using credit card trip cancellation, trip interruption insurance, you need to read the dollar limits. I don't know the dollar limit on the preferred on the reserve. I think it's $10,000 per trip. A lot of tours can outrun the dollar cap on a trip cancellation trip interruption policy, you also need to think through. And with you sign into the Chase portal, you look at the rules for the trip cancellation, trip interruption insurance, read what the limitations are to see if it's sufficient for the life circumstances you're concerned about that you might have to draw on.

[Krista]

So the insurance is the same whether you have preferred or reserve.

[Clark Howard]

So it's the 10,000 cap. I said that's. That's amazing. On a card with an annual fee.

[Krista]

It'S a reimburse up to $10,000 per covered traveler and 20,000 per trip.

[Clark Howard]

That's so crazy generous of Chase. And you can read. Krista pulled it up. The terms and limitations are written. I'm looking at this. Don't they know this is an insurance product? I mean, it seems understandable in human English. Wow, that's such a shock. But anyway, we've talked about before for people who don't travel like maniacs, but you want to have a lot of the travel benefits. The Chase Sapphire Preferred, which is an annual fee of 95 or 99 whatever, is the best deal in the marketplace on a companion card for travel. For someone who doesn't want to pay all those huge annual fees for the big reward cards kind of thing, Sapphire Preferred is the best, I'd say, for a modest traveler.

[Krista]

Mike in Florida says, when I rent cars through Costco Travel, they offer insurance through a company. It is usually around $5 a day, which is always much cheaper than. Than what the agent at the rental car company will offer. Do you know anything about this insurer? I always get the insurance after hearing the horror stories on your podcast.

[Clark Howard]

So this is obviously a good deal because you buy the coverages from the Car rental agency, and It'll usually be 30 to $50 a day, and it costs them. I saw an analysis that for the insurers, the car rental companies, the cost is actually less than a dollar a day for them, what they charge you, the huge markups. And so if you're. If you don't want to take chances, you don't want to use one of the credit cards like we were just talking about for car rental coverage. The Costco product is very affordable. Five bucks a day. We had a question recently or a statement from somebody recently about the American Express coverage for people with certain American Express cards where you pay $20 flat rate for the course of a rental of a car. And these coverages work generally as primary coverage. And I've never had a complaint or a question before right now about the auto coverage available through Costco Travel. And, Mike, what I want you to do is I want you to make sure that the coverage is primary coverage and not secondary. The distinction that's so significant, you always want the coverage to feel comfortable to be primary because it means you don't have to involve your own auto insurer in a coordinated claim because it's really messy with your own insurer, the insurance product you have, or from a credit card, and then the car rental agency, and everybody's pointing fingers at each other. And you're the one in the squeeze play. Remember, primary car rental coverage is what counts. And thank you so much for joining us today. I hope you enjoyed today's show. Learn something that's helpful to you in your life today.

[Krista]

Yes, I just learned something. It's not primary. Generally, unless you're outside the U.S. it's secondary coverage.

[Clark Howard]

So reserve is primary.

[Krista]

No, this is. This is the Costco.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, the Costco secondary.

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

So that answers the question. That was quick, Krista.

[Krista]

And not quick enough.

[Clark Howard]

No. You talked about customer service. I was saying, hey, you need to go check to see if it's primary or secondary. If it's secondary not worth the money, it's not good enough. $5 a day for secondary is not a Costco kind of price, in my opinion. So that would not be enough for you to feel comfortable and satisfied with. So thank you for turning that. How did you do that so quickly?

[Krista]

I typed pretty fast.

[Clark Howard]

Wow. English major genius.

[Krista]

Oh, yeah.

[Clark Howard]

That's what it is, right?

[Krista]

Definitely.

[Clark Howard]

All right. Well, again, thank you so much for being with us. And I love that we gave that kind of service right away. And know that we serve you so many different ways every day. And I enjoy so much having the opportunity to share with you and learn with you. And Friday is when I get to learn again because we'll have our next Clark Stinks where we get to find out when I was thick in the head, just plain dumb. Whatever we learn from each other all together, none of us in life have all the answers. And anybody who thinks they have all the answers, let me tell you something. They don't. But I'll tell you what we're devoted to is you. And you being empowered with knowledge so you can save more, spend less, and avoid being ripped off. Or someone said in a post, why don't you say anymore? Never, never, never, not ever get ripped off. See, there you have it. I did it.