Rental accident covered by Credit Card protection?

[Blue_Goose]

I'm about to find out I guess...wife was down in the Keys over February vacation with one of her sons...rented a compact but Thrifty gave her a Town and Country Mini Van...came out of a shop and discovered that some clown had clipped the rear bumper on the drivers side taking paint with it. Didn't look like much damage compared to some of other scrapes so other than getting a little ticked that they took off she didn't pay much attention to it


Of course when returning it to the dropoff the yard dude notices it and fills out a damage report. As usual whenever we rent a car we never choose the LDW due to everyone saying don't take it, your CC will cover it.

So we didn't hear anything for awhile until last Saturday...we get a bill from Thrifty for 187 dollars for damages to the van. Said they had to pull bumper to check for damage and then repaint...sounds low to me but....anyways decided to pay the bill as we just want it closed without involving insurance...while on the phone with the Thrifty agent she said we should be able to file a claim with CC company and be reimbursed...figured it was worth a shot


My wife called Capital One and the agent asked us some information regarding the incident etc...said she would send an email asking for some paperwork etc to file the claim


Now some of the information we are going to have to provide is our auto insurance....half of me thinks "ok standard procedure, they have to know we have insurance" while other half is thinking that our insurance is going to be involved which I DON'T want to happen....much cheaper to pay the 187 and not have a claim on the insurance


So basically I'm asking about people experiences with CC companies in getting reimbursed for damage they have have incurred with a rental vehicle....does your insurance company have to know? Even for something as minor as this?




Goose

 

[mstrjon32]

I rented a Buick LaCrosse with a Mastercard, oh two years ago? A rock hit the window and cracked it, and it cost whatever amount to get repaired (I don't even remember, but it was under my insurance deductible).

The way the coverage works, at least for Mastercard, is that they will cover the cost of the repair up what your insurance covers. At the time I had a $500 deductible on comprehensive, and the damage was under $500, so they covered all of it.

Let me tell you though, it was quite the procedure to get it taken care of. Months of mailing letters and paperwork, by the time it was all said and done I'm sorry I didn't just pay it out of pocket and be done with it. I did have to provide my insurance information even though no claim was filed against it.

Good luck!

 

[Blue_Goose]

Thanks for the info...500 deductible so this well under that. We have already paid off Thrifty so they are happy and all set. Now we are just trying to recover from Capital One


I don't mind mailing them the stuff they want, as I said we are just trying to recover what we paid so out only expense is the time we put into filing the claim.


I don't mind providing our insurance information, I just don't want a claim filed against our Insurance. For 187 dollars you think they will?


Goose

 

[Schmoe]

Not with a 500 deductible. Your insurance company won't even blink at that. I'd say go for it.

 

[eljefino]

They probably want to make sure you have some sort of liability coverage. (My owned-car policy covers rental cars for liability.) I went through this when:

1) my liability-only car was rear-ended
2) the responsible party's incurance paid my rental
3) I had to give the rental company my credit card anyway
4) the credit card had "insurance" but
5) the rental agency called my insurance, verified I was liability only, and billed the other insurance for LDW!

Now would be as good a time as any to make sure your credit card covers vans, mine excludes "trucks, 4x4s, luxury makes" etc.

 

[Blue_Goose]

Thanks guys...got claim form, guess all we can do is submit the info we have and try to provide what they are asking for and hope we can reclaim the 187.00 we paid.

Key thing here was I do not what our insurance involved. Even if they don't have a $$ stake in it can they count this as an incident as far as renewal time rates etc?




Goose

 

[mstrjon32]

You should be fine with the insurance. Depending on how long you've been a customer you might get "forgiveness" on your rate for the first claim, anyway. I had an accident about 5 years ago and my insurance paid a couple hundred bucks (I told those [censored] not to claim it, and I'd just write them a check, but no they had to screw me), but my rate never went up because apparently I was eligible for the accident forgiveness.

Just don't have any more accidents.