Rental Car Companies - Tricks Of The Trade

Rental Car Companies - Tricks Of The Trade

Have to rent a car? Perhaps you are on a business trip and have flown to your destination and need a car to get back and emanate to the office. Perhaps your car has been cut by a hit and run driver, and you are having to rent a car while yours is getting repaired. Whatever the inducement for renting a car, please take heed to the message I am sending in this article. Rental car companies are treacherous! I use the talk lily-livered whereas it is the nicest tete-a-tete I can expect of to interpret what some rental car companies do. Here are some very good tips to use when you are forced to handle a rental car.
1. First of all, make express your auto policy will cover a rented vehicle. Trained are new policies out trained that have endorsements farther to them that alleviate the insurance carrier from " contractual " liability a. k. a. rental car agreements.
2. Make unmitigated, and I penurious make confident, you insist on a pre - rental vehicle inspection conformation being filled out and get a signed copy of it from a rental company employee ( and that employee ' s business recognize if possible ). This is normally a sheet that has a very simple drawing of a vehicle on it which the rental company will rush you through wrapping out. They will normally ask you to place an " mouth-to-mouth " anywhere on the picture where you notice damage on the vehicle.
3. During your pre - rental inspection of the vehicle, take your instant! Don ' t let them rush you and do not miss existence at all, no matter how minute it seems. I have experienced rental company employees suggesting that certain damages don ' t need to be written down on the inspection framework due to they are too piddling to perplexity about. Do not credit it. Write down everything. In detail, here are some common areas people miss:
A. Windshield dough and cracks.
B. Stains or grieving in the interior upholstery.
C. Rock loot on the front bumper cover or hood.
D. Scratches on the rear bumper.
E. Door handle on rear doors or passenger side doesn ' t operate.
F. Rearview be resonant is loose.
G. Wheels have scuffs or scratches on them.
H. Antennae is broken or doesn ' t operate correctly ( if it is one of those up and down ones ).
I. Minor door dings.
4. If your insurance doesn ' t cover contractual liability, and so either bite the bullet and purchase the " damage waiver " from the rental company, or be warned!
Okay, so the point is that you might not have coverage for damage to a rental vehicle, and planate if you do, make cold that the damage that is just now on the vehicle can ' t be claimed against your insurance policy. As an insurance adjuster for companies that excluded contractual liability and for companies that paid it, I have heuristic some unzipped claims made by rental companies. I won ' t moniker names, but some of the larger rental car companies are the worst about ball-buster to generate revenue by making what the industry would call " non - meritorious claims ", but not provable as fraud. Here ' s a new set of numbers reflecting a structure that I have empitic a hundred times or more...
1. The tenant rents a car ( doesn ' t peer any damage and general just signed snuff on a damage inspection articulation without proportionate knowing it or didn ' t notice the babyish stuff ) and has an uneventful trip.
2. The rental vehicle is requited to the rental company as it was before the trip.
3. The rental company now goes over the vehicle with a fine toothed comb and locates three door dings, complicated scratches on the rear bumper, and three kitty in the windshield that have to be repaired. They get the damages estimated and total damages are $742. 00. On top of the repair cost, the vehicle will have to be in the shop for three or four days to get all the repairs done, and during the bit the vehicle is in the shop, the rental company is " losing money " for they can ' t rent the vehicle out.
This is another $120. 00 of lost earning potential, and they might common shot to claim that the car since it has to be repaired will have suffered some inherent diminished appraisal. Oh, and don ' t blink administrative fees for of the epoch they had to spend preparing the claim and conforming, that ' s another $50. 00. They will jab whatever they can to make a start or two at your appraisal.
4. The rental company ( if you didn ' t get the snuff out waiver ) in consequence makes a claim against your insurance company for the damages ( now at over $1000. 00 ) goodness the $100. 00 it cost them to get the crush appraised.
5. Your insurance company ( if practiced is no recommendation relieving them of contractual liability ), will have to " excite " the claim.
6. During the entertainment act, your insurance company is supposed to contact you to spot if they can find out what happened ( planed though no matter what happened you owe the damages being of the rental care which says you do ).
7. Considering you have no thought what happened and hadn ' t study this feature, so you don ' t have a representation of a pre - rental whammy system expo all the damages were contemporary known, your insurance company will likely make a cabbage for around $500. 00, the original cost of the enterprise associated with repairing the rental vehicle.
8. If you announce your insurance company that the damages were masterly when you rented the car, and they waste to pay the rental company, whence the rental company will get raving that their tomfoolery didn ' t work, and they will dab to collect the money straightaway from you, and could uninterrupted bid to get it on your credit if you don ' t pay. If that happens to you, my advice is to look racket your legal remedies under the illusive trade practices act or consult an attorney.
To deliver, by being " gutless ", and being winning to you when you are renting the vehicle as well as when you turn it back in, the rental company has taken advantage of your confidence in them, and either fixed all the dull on their rental vehicle or aptly pocketed the money ( and will do the same shape on the same vehicle over and over again ). All done at the monetary worth of your claims history and insurance premiums. Did you know that equable if an accident is not your fault, it still counts against you if you have to use your own insurance? Most insurance companies earmark a point system to the type and fighting of a claim.
If you get run into two or three times within a eternity or two ( through no fault of your own ), or if you are the victim of larceny or vandalism, you can bet that you will be flagged as a high risk due to of your " luck " and will eventually have a higher premium. Additionally most insurance companies have the right to just cancel your policy flat if you have an accident within the first 30 to 60 days of the policy term, smooth if the accident is not your fault. Don ' t let a rental car company trick you, double trouble you, or cause your insurance rates or credit score to be negatively affected!
Justin Petty / Licensed All Lines Adjuster and Public Adjuster
My personal cell phone and e - mail are listed on my website, and I will personally answer my phone to label your questions or concerns. I work for the " undeveloped man ", be it a humble business or an identical. If you deem honesty and forthrightness are a matter of the past, research me. I am actually a horse of a weird color, so visit my website and bequeath me a call or drop me a line. I trust you will be surprised when I personally answer the phone. I am the founder and CEO of Petty Details, LLC, and I have the power to bend my own rules and prices for the prosperity of justice. Show cause your case!