What to do when rental car got damaged and I dont have insurance?
Saturday, April 17th, 2010 at
11:54 am
I rented a car from Enterprise and declined their insurance. I had credit card insurance. However I made a blunder of not initiating the rental in that credit card. While driving the rental car the tire blew out and the car hit the median and there is some extensive damage to the car. I am in deep trouble now as my credit car insurance will not work as I didnt initiate the car rental in that card. Is there any way that I can salvage this situation? Please help!!
Tagged with: blunder • Car Insurance • car rental • credit car • credit card insurance • deep trouble • Insurance • Rental Car • salvage
Filed under: Car Insurance
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Yes, you pay for the damage. For future reference, credit card insurance isn’t auto liaility insurance & it doesn’t alleviate your responsibility to have it…what would you do if you hit a pedestrian or another car?
Do you have personal car insurance. Check your insurance coverage, you may be covered for any car that you drive.
And you do not insure any of your own cars or home owners policy. I would be calling my insurance agent quickly. Or hire an attorney sue Enterprise for allowing you out in a defective car? That won’t work if they down load the Car computer and see that the car was traveling at a high rate of speed, The air bags deploy? then the computer recorded everything up to 4 minutes before the bags went off. Sounds like you pay to fix it out of pocket keep receipts and use it as a tax deduction. After 2,000 damage most rental cars companies wholesale the car at auction so it just keeps getting worse and worse doesn’t it. I worked on one that drove into high water last week The rental company declined repair and stuck the renter with the difference between what auction amount and another car would cost. New Motor $4,300 declined car probably sold at auction for $8,000 with 4,300 miles on it and a new unit would cost 21,000 so guess who’s insurance is paying out $13,000. That 20 dollar rental insurance is looking real good right now.
do you have car insurance? Talk to them.
If you have auto insurance on your own car it MIGHT cover the rental. My insurance automatically covers every vehicle that I drive as excess to the owner’s insurance so I’m fully insured on rentals in the US and Canada.
If you don’t have auto insurance yourself or if your policy does not extend to rental cars then your only option is to arrange to pay for the damage to the rental vehicle yourself. By rejecting the coverage with the rental agency and not using a credit card that provides the coverage you assume the entire risk yourself. Sorry, but there’s no way around that for the most part.
You MIGHT have a case to claim that the vehicle was not in safe operating condition (defective tire) and therefore the damage is due to the rental companies negligence. That would only apply if you did not do anything that could have damaged the tire in the first place such as hitting a pothole or curb.
I’d consult with a local attorney and see if there’s any to claim negligence on the rental company as a defense. Good luck, you’re going to need it!
First check with your insurance agent, you may have coverage for damage to rental vehicles. If you don’t, prepare to open your checkbook and make the rental company whole on the damage and perhaps the time they didn’t have the vehicle available for rental.
Sure…get two jobs and pay for the damages. You will HAVE to pay this. Enterprise doesn’t fool around with people like you and will slap a lawsuit on you by next weekend if you don’t come to some sort of agreement.