advice on accident in rental car

Darkwandrer · #1 05-03-2009, 03:47 PM

with rental cars is it the responsibility of the renter or the rental company to provide insurance. an immediate response is greatly appreciated.

corsair74 · #2 05-03-2009, 03:59 PM

It can go either way. If you are using a major credit card, rental insurance is often included. If not you can purchase the insurance that the rental company provides.

In either case, you'll be held responsible if you don't have it and get into an accident.

AK74 · #3 05-03-2009, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkwandrer

with rental cars is it the responsibility of the renter or the rental company to provide insurance. an immediate response is greatly appreciated.

It depends. Majority of rent companies DO NOT provide an insurance and want you to buy it extra or to leave a huge deposit or passport.

There are very few companies that have all their cars insured and do not reqire customers to buy insurance.

Paying with CC you often get insurance automatically ( that does NNOT include liability in case if you hit and kill somebody... Only theft/collision/vandalism/

Ricardo900 · #4 05-03-2009, 06:12 PM

Also, you must check with your credit card, because some cards will not cover SUVs and luxury car rentals. If you decide to use your credit card and you get into an accident, you most likely will need a police report and the rental company will bill your credit card for the damages and you will have to try and get reimbursed.

cobraboy · #5 05-03-2009, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricardo900

Also, you must check with your credit card, because some cards will not cover SUVs and luxury car rentals. If you decide to use your credit card and you get into an accident, you most likely will need a police report and the rental company will bill your credit card for the damages and you will have to try and get reimbursed.

Great advice.

It may be worth having the car repaired yourself before returning it. I've heard of a $RD3000 repair being charged as a $US1000 or more repair. Some rental companies actually expect to make $$$ from a foreigner's fender bender.

And check to see if your cc covers international rentals.

Darkwandrer · #6 05-11-2009, 02:32 PM

Thanks for all the informative comments.

Freefallfatty · #7 05-11-2009, 05:36 PM

If you return the car damaged then your credit card will be charged, I take it they took a copy of your card before you drove off. If you didn't take out the extra cover, usually around $20 per day more, then your excess cover will be between $800 US and $1,200 US and they will charge you and not alot you can do about it.
People mentioned above about inclusive coverage on CC, I know nothing about that.

badpiece33 · #8 05-12-2009, 01:26 AM

All cars on the road are to be insured thats the law. Even if you don't buy the insurance the car has to be insured by the rental company or the car couldn't be on the road. If you rent from a small fly by night company they will try to take you for all they can on your card. If you rent from a reputable company such as Budget and Avis (from personal experience) handle accidents very professionally and didn't try to over charge me. My card was charged for the damage to vehicle and I submitted a claim to my credit card (visa), master card no longer covers rentals so i am told. Your card is charged and after Visa did their investigation copies of (accident report, drivers accident report,written estimate and copy of all repairs and pictures) they will mail you a check, process can take 2-3 months of back and forth emails and phone calls

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el santi · #9 05-12-2009, 03:13 AM

All rental cars on the road have to be insured...
you can decline payment to the rental company
at your own risk...
they all have a deductible,
unless you pay more for the full coverage...
And yes.. Most mayor credit cards include insurance for rental cars.

J D Sauser · #10 05-12-2009, 03:47 PM

ONLY formal rental companies (like Hertz, Budget, Alamo, etc) offer real insurance. Like in the US, insurance packages are OPTIONAL. IF you rented from such a company AND bought (paid for) total insurance (Liability AND collision), you should be pretty much worry free, even IF you were at fault.

As some already mentioned, SOME credit cards do offer some (limited) coverage in SOME regions. Good luck on sorting out how much they will pay, especially here where it can be difficult to find out the exact cost realistic cost of the repair. In anyway, unless you had above insurance deal with a formal company, YOU will leave money here and be left with trying to get some or all back from your Credit Card company.

Third and worse case scenario, you rented from some local "street" company, which usually don't even really OWN all or any of the vehicles the peddle to unsuspecting tourist. Mostly, they are independently owned by "associates" of such company and left to them for a limited amount of time in the hopes of making ends meet. They are most likely totally under insured, if at all, as the owner may actually be behind with payments. Usually, these companies will have you sign a contract which may more or less conspicuously contain an article about a HEFTY deductible you the renter would have to pay, in case of a loss or accident. USD 3000.oo is not unusual.
In case of anything more than minor, many of these "street" rental folks will not have a problem to try to get you for even more with the help of local law enforcement and even seek to prohibit you from leaving the country (immigration at the airport) or withhold your pass port.
If you have a minor to medium damage on a vehicle with such a "deal", you may be better advised to seek to repair the vehicle at your own cost BEFORE you show it for return.
Depending on where you would be, some here can direct you to a trustworthy shop (I can for Puerto Plata).

... J-D.