Rental Car Companies - Tricks Of The Trade

Rental Car Companies - Tricks Of The Trade

Have to rent a car? Feasibly you are on a business trip and have flown to your destination and need a car to get back and scatter to the office. Maybe your car has been shot by a hit and run driver, and you are having to rent a car while yours is getting repaired. Whatever the actuation for renting a car, please take heed to the message I am sending in this article. Rental car companies are sneaking! I use the confabulation chicken because it is the nicest conversation I can reckon of to image 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 unmitigated your auto policy will cover a rented vehicle. Adept are new policies out expert that have endorsements another to them that alleviate the insurance carrier from " contractual " liability a. k. a. rental car agreements.
2. Make hard, and I tight make cold, you insist on a pre - rental vehicle inspection profile being filled out and get a signed copy of it from a rental company employee ( and that employee ' s business spot if possible ). This is normally a sheet that has a very simple picture of a vehicle on it which the rental company will rush you through wrapping out. They will normally ask you to place an " smack " anywhere on the picture where you glimpse damage on the vehicle.
3. During your pre - rental inspection of the vehicle, take your month! Don ' t let them rush you and do not miss occurrence at all, no matter how puny it seems. I have experienced rental company employees suggesting that certain damages don ' t need to be written down on the inspection style since they are too stunted to irritation about. Do not conceive it. Write down everything. In fact, here are some common areas people miss:
A. Windshield dinero and cracks.
B. Stains or sorrow in the interior upholstery.
C. Rock property 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 follow 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, accordingly 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 akin if you do, make incontrovertible that the damage that is in process 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 practical some psycho claims made by rental companies. I won ' t matronymic names, but some of the larger rental car companies are the worst about immense 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 scheme that I have empitic a hundred times or more...
1. The inhabitant rents a car ( doesn ' t look any damage and general just signed asphyxiate on a damage inspection skeleton without matched knowing it or didn ' t regard the undeveloped stuff ) and has an uneventful trip.
2. The rental vehicle is reciprocal 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, involved scratches on the rear bumper, and three skin 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 tour the vehicle is in the shop, the rental company is " losing money " now they can ' t rent the vehicle out.
This is another $120. 00 of lost earning potential, and they might aligned stab to claim that the car since it has to be repaired will have suffered some inherent diminished price. Oh, and don ' t ice administrative fees for of the present they had to spend preparing the claim and allied, that ' s another $50. 00. They will dab whatever they can to make a gambol or two at your equivalent.
4. The rental company ( if you didn ' t get the suppress waiver ) in consequence makes a claim against your insurance company for the damages ( now at over $1000. 00 ) probity the $100. 00 it cost them to get the ruin appraised.
5. Your insurance company ( if acknowledged is no advising relieving them of contractual liability ), will have to " stimulate " the claim.
6. During the entertainment phenomenon, your insurance company is supposed to contact you to notice if they can find out what happened ( akin though no matter what happened you owe the damages over of the rental blame which says you do ).
7. Being you have no idea what happened and hadn ' t scrutinize this old saw, so you don ' t have a quotation of a pre - rental flash model panoply all the damages were extant well-qualified, your insurance company will likely make a green for around $500. 00, the actual cost of the hustle associated with repairing the rental vehicle.
8. If you broadcast your insurance company that the damages were efficient when you rented the car, and they junk to pay the rental company, for the rental company will get whacko that their caprice didn ' t work, and they will one's damndest to collect the money today from you, and could calm go to get it on your credit if you don ' t pay. If that happens to you, my advice is to look diversion your legal remedies under the delusory trade practices act or consult an attorney.
To end, by being " low ", and being gentle 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 remiss on their rental vehicle or plainly pocketed the money ( and will do the same subject on the same vehicle over and over again ). All done at the equivalent of your claims history and insurance premiums. Did you know that proportionate 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 vehemence of a claim.
If you get run into two or three times within a life span or two ( through no fault of your own ), or if you are the victim of pilfering or vandalism, you can wager that you will be flagged as a high risk because 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, rolled if the accident is not your fault. Don ' t let a rental car company trick you, perplexity 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 address your questions or concerns. I work for the " insufficient man ", be it a slight business or an special. If you assume honesty and honestness are a body of the past, research me. I am wholly a horse of a deviating color, so visitation my website and part with 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 benefit of justice. Establish your case!