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 disperse to the office. Possibly your car has been zinged 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 unethical! I use the chat sneaking over it is the nicest tete-a-tete I can suppose of to construe what some rental car companies do. Here are some very good tips to use when you are forced to advance a rental car.
1. First of all, make undeniable your auto policy will cover a rented vehicle. Know stuff are new policies out crack that have endorsements increased to them that alleviate the insurance carrier from " contractual " liability a. k. a. rental car agreements.
2. Make direct, and I niggardly make thorough, you insist on a pre - rental vehicle inspection construction being filled out and get a signed copy of it from a rental company employee ( and that employee ' s business select if possible ). This is normally a sheet that has a very simple sketch of a vehicle on it which the rental company will rush you through wrapping out. They will normally ask you to place an " muzzle " anywhere on the picture where you inspect damage on the vehicle.
3. During your pre - rental inspection of the vehicle, take your lifetime! Don ' t let them rush you and do not miss affair at all, no matter how inconsequential it seems. I have experienced rental company employees suggesting that certain damages don ' t need to be written down on the inspection model now they are too inadequate to irritation about. Do not presuppose it. Write down everything. In detail, here are some common areas people miss:
A. Windshield bread and cracks.
B. Stains or weeping in the interior upholstery.
C. Rock hard cash 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 reverse 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, thus 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 lined up if you do, make specific that the damage that is going on 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 pragmatic some batty claims made by rental companies. I won ' t autograph names, but some of the larger rental car companies are the worst about difficile 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 outline that I have empitic a hundred times or more...
1. The tenant rents a car ( doesn ' t penetrate any damage and mediocre just signed dump on a damage inspection system without alike knowing it or didn ' t cognizance the junior 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, compounded scratches on the rear bumper, and three gravy 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 stint the vehicle is in the shop, the rental company is " losing money " being they can ' t rent the vehicle out.
This is another $120. 00 of lost earning potential, and they might same undertaking to claim that the car since it has to be repaired will have suffered some inherent diminished amount. Oh, and don ' t neglect administrative fees seeing of the week they had to spend preparing the claim and allying, that ' s another $50. 00. They will slap whatever they can to make a upspring or two at your assessment.
4. The rental company ( if you didn ' t get the total waiver ) wherefore makes a claim against your insurance company for the damages ( now at over $1000. 00 ) virtue the $100. 00 it cost them to get the maraud appraised.
5. Your insurance company ( if sharp is no recommendation relieving them of contractual liability ), will have to " predispose " the claim.
6. During the entertainment matter, your insurance company is supposed to contact you to heed if they can find out what happened ( equable though no matter what happened you owe the damages seeing of the rental blame which says you do ).
7. For you have no conception what happened and hadn ' t scan this fantasy, so you don ' t have a archetype of a pre - rental marking configuration display all the damages were modern learned, your insurance company will likely make a gravy for around $500. 00, the evident cost of the liveliness associated with repairing the rental vehicle.
8. If you impart your insurance company that the damages were know stuff when you rented the car, and they debris to pay the rental company, so the rental company will get irrational that their caprice didn ' t work, and they will pop to collect the money promptly from you, and could uninterrupted lick to get it on your credit if you don ' t pay. If that happens to you, my advice is to look interest your legal remedies under the deceptive trade practices act or consult an attorney.
To consummate, by being " craven ", and being agreeable 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 lethargic on their rental vehicle or aptly pocketed the money ( and will do the same goods on the same vehicle over and over again ). All done at the equivalent of your claims history and insurance premiums. Did you know that calm if an accident is not your fault, it still counts against you if you have to use your own insurance? Most insurance companies designate a point system to the type and violence of a claim.
If you get run into two or three times within a moment or two ( through no fault of your own ), or if you are the victim of larceny or vandalism, you can wager that you will be flagged as a high risk thanks 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, trim if the accident is not your fault. Don ' t let a rental car company trick you, plight 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 " infinitesimal man ", be it a cramped business or an diacritic. If you project honesty and incorruptibility are a circumstance of the past, research me. I am utterly a horse of a colorful color, so evening my website and parcel out 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 favor of justice. Vindicate your case!