University contracts with rental vehicle agencies include commercial vehicles as well as cars. Refer to the information below when renting a car for official university business.

Review rental guidelines and agreements

Agreements and discounts can be used by employees, students, and non-employees renting a vehicle for official University business.  

In most cases, the traveler should decline all insurance. Damage Waiver (DW) insurance is provided at no cost to all travelers on official University business when renting with CU rates from contracted rental agencies in the U.S. This relieves CU renters and authorized drivers from financial responsibility for loss of, or damage to, the rental vehicle. 

  • Some countries require the traveler to purchase additional rental vehicle insurance; this cost is allowable if the requirement for insurance is documented.  
  • Limited, secondary insurance coverage is provided by Visa when using your US Bank Travel Card, when certain terms and conditions are met.   If you have additional questions regarding this coverage, contact 1.800.VISA.911 
  • Insurance coverage allows for companion drivers. This means that if your spouse accompanies you on a University road trip, your spouse can drive the vehicle with no additional fees and with full coverage during the business portion of the trip. No insurance coverage is in place during personal travel that is combined with business. 
  • CU contracts eliminate additional fees for young drivers. Rental car companies traditionally charge additional fees for young renters (drivers under 25 years of age). On CU business, this fee is waived for drivers aged 18-25years old (varies by agency and vehicle type). 

Agreements

The University has agreements with several car rental companies. Agreements include insurance coverage for any individuals 18 and older renting a standard vehicle for official university business.  The minimum age requirement for passenger van rental is 21 or 25 depending on the agency, and the CU agreements do not waive the requirement on passenger van rentals. 

Leisure Rentals 

Employees are eligible to receive discounts for leisure rentals. Leisure codes can be accessed in Concur under the rental car tab. Leisure rentals using the CU discount do not allow for young drivers (18 - 21 or 25, depending on the rental agency) and they do not include insurance coverage.  

Enroll in reward programs

If you opt to enroll in one or more of the following car rental rewards programs, be sure to add the rewards numbers to your Concur profile to ensure all trips are automatically applied.

Reserve a vehicle

Beginning September 1, 2023, all car reservations for official university business must be made in Concur. This includes rentals for non-employee guest travelers.  

If your reservation type requires you to reserve directly through a branch office (for passenger van rentals, for example), you can access the university pricing by using the loyalty number found in your preferred car rental program profile. If you are not enrolled, information on enrollment can be found under Enroll in Rewards program on this page. It is important you only enroll using the instructions on this page to ensure the University’s corporate discount is attached to your profile.   

If you are an existing Enterprise/National program member, any reservations made with the agency will first require manual account modification by an Enterprise/National representative. Send update requests to PSC Travel psctravel@cu.edu. Once this account modification is made, the employee will be able to make direct reservations with our discount pricing applied. No action is required to update existing enrollments for Hertz or Avis/Budget.  

To reserve online               

  1. Access Concur via your campus portal
  2. Under Trip Search, select the car rental tab and enter search criteria
  3. Make a vehicle selection 
  4. Review vehicle information and click Reserve Car and Continue
  5. Confirm your reservation by reviewing your travel details, then click Next
  6. Enter your 8-digit SpeedType and identify if the trip is grant funded, then click Next
  7. Finalize your reservation by reviewing details, then click Confirm Bookings

Pick up rental vehicle and retain receipt

  1. Provide your Travel Card or personal credit card as payment
  2. Confirm that CU agreement and rate has been applied, which includes Damage Waiver (DW) insurance.
    If the type of vehicle being rented is not covered by the CU agreement (such as some vans, trucks, and SUVs), you may purchase collision damage coverage and submit that expense upon conclusion of the trip. For insurance on commercial vehicles, see Commercial Vehicle Rental.
  3. Retain itemized receipts and proof of payment for car rental costs and rental car gas expenses over $75. If e-receipts are available from the rental car agency, paper receipts need not be attached to the expense report.

Claim expenses

Upon conclusion of the trip, submit expenses as follows:

  • Concur is used to reconcile Travel Card charges and to request reimbursement for University travel and non-travel-related expenses by employees, Regents, non-employees, and students.
  • The Non-Employee Reimbursement-International (NRI) paper form is used to request reimbursement for non-employees/students who are non-U.S. persons or who live at non-U.S. addresses.

Traveler’s costs cannot be reimbursed until after the trip is completed.

Agency proof of insurance coverage

If you’re involved in an accident

As with any accident, be sure to contact the authorities, if appropriate. Collect contact and insurance information from the driver of the other vehicle.

File an affidavit/ accident claim with the car rental agency.

If you have any issues receiving a resolution with any of the CU partner car rental agencies, contact PSC Travel at psctravel@cu.edu.