What happens when you damage a rental car?

[Pauline]

We always rent through AutoEurope when traveling in Europe. When we lived in the US, we used the AutoEurope US site and insured the car using our American Express credit card (they offer coverage for car rentals 30 days or less for certain countries), but took full insurance when renting in Italy (not covered).

We never claimed for damage with AMEX but I know people who did and were reimbursed anything they paid out to the local car rental company for damage. We got a few scratches in Italy on various trips, but it was always covered with the insurance we got through AutoEurope, so we paid nothing extra locally if there was damage.

Now that we live in the UK, we booked through the AutoEurope UK site and they only offer rental cars with insurance BUT there is a high deductible (1000+ Euro). I took out car rental excess insurance with www.insurance4carhire.com to cover that (recommended to me by @jonathan ). I pay yearly and it is only £50/year or so.

In the last few years we have twice damaged a rental car. Once in France someone scratched our car while we were parked. We reported it when we returned the car and were charged 800Euro (a crazy amount for a small scratch). I then claimed with insurance4carhire and was reimbursed.

On our recent trip to the Amalfi Coast a bus drove into the side of our car (it was stopped, we were passing, it started up then pulled out to pass not seeing that we were there) and did a lot of damage. I phoned the local company and they said if we could still drive it, we should contact the closest office (Sorrento) to arrange for a new car but if we could not drive it they would send a tow-truck. I called AutoEurope and they said the same thing. We could drive, so I arranged to exchange the car in Sorrento in a couple of days. That went well. They assessed the damage at 1300Euro (which seemed reasonable), which was below the 1600Euro deductible, we paid and they gave us a new car. When we got home I put in a claim with insurance4carhire and was reimbursed.

Anyone have any interesting car rental damage stories? Were you always covered by insurance?

The bus.

Our car. We found duct tape and attached the mirror with that, but I could not use the window.

 

[Pauline]

When we book the car with insurance, we don't take the option for excess coverage because we have our own insurance. But when we pick up the car, they try to sell us this insurance. When picking up a car recently in Bari they were very aggressive about trying to sell us this.

One time recently in Italy, I bought the excess coverage when booking (not sure why - I think it is very inexpensive) and when we picked up the car they told us this excess does not cover damage to the roof or underneath. What? I get all the insurances and still we are not completely covered?

 

[chiaro di Luna]

I always purchase the full insurance option for europe rentals with autoeurope.ca. My car insurance at home covers my rentals in north America but not europe and I've been told that my VISA or AMEX won't cover me in Italy, so don't take a chance. Never had damage, but was impressed with autoeurope recently solving a problem for me with my rental in Dijon. Would autoeurope help with insurance claims?

 

[artnbarb]

I've never asked Mastercard if they would cover rental car damage in Europe, but my biggest concern was that I would need a police report for even minor damage, like a parking lot ding. Or that I wouldn't get the 'correct' police report, or that it would be illegible, etc. For that reason we alway pay (through the nose) for the zero deductible or fully refundable deductible through AutoEurope. I wish we had an insurance option like insurance4carhire!

 

[Chris]

The one time we had substantial damage to a rental car in France, we had rented through AutoEurope using our American Express because it provided the supplemental insurance. American Express said they couldn't pay because Europcar wouldn't send them the information they needed to be able to pay. We appealed to AutoEurope for help, and Pauline appealed to AutoEurope on our behalf since she had a business relationship with them. AutoEurope got it all straightened out and we didn't have to pay a dime. I will always rent through AutoEurope because this is only one of the times they have saved me, and I would never never never deal directly with Europcar.

 

[Pauline]

AutoEurope told me on the phone to get a police report, so we went to the police office in Positano and they told us since no one was injured we did not need one. When we returned the car to Europcar they asked for all the information we got - number of bus, information from the driver - but did not require a police report.

Renting with the full insurance is certainly easier. AutoEurope.com used to require that you got full insurance for Italy (not sure if they still do) and we returned a few cars with scratches but they didn't care.

I rent with insurance now, because you have to through AutoEurope.co.uk and credit cards here don't cover you like they do in the US, but the deductible is huge. I was very pleased to find this rental excess insurance. In the US we either got the full insurance (many times we were renting over 30 days so had to get it) or used the AMEX insurance.