Originally Posted by amanwalksintoabar...

I'm wondering how best to respond to something that's taken me completely by surprise.

I rented a vehicle for about a week from Budget at Newark airport in late December 2010, returning it on 1/1/11. This morning I received two letters from the Claims Unit claiming well over $1000 for damage to the car.

The pictures enclosed appear to show a crack in the front bumper and a scuff along it. I am pretty sure I'm not responsible for this - it's possible that someone may have backed into the car when it was parked, but if so I certainly didn't notice (I did a walk-around when I returned it, as I always do, and the attendant didn't mention it either). In any case, the amount claimed seems rather excessive, and I'm at a loss as to why Budget waited 4 months to contact me.

Normally this wouldn't worry me: as I booked through the UK site, LDW was automatically included in my rate. This is shown on the rental slip I signed at the counter (I have a copy, and Budget have also sent a copy with this letter indicating the same). I wouldn't be too annoyed if I just had to pay the excess and forget about everything else.

However one of the letters claims I breached the rental agreement by either allowing someone else to drive the car (which I didn't) or by "failing to provide CCRG with an accident or incident report or failing to cooperate fully with the investigation of the same". I don't know what a CCRG is, but I did indeed not provide an incident report because, well, I didn't know there had been an incident. I can only assume that this alleged breach has invalidated my insurance and thus rendered me liable for the full amount.

As I live in the UK, I don't have further insurance through either my credit card or any car insurance policy, so I'm at a bit of a loose end as to just what the hell to do now. I think it unfair for me to pay the full amount when I don't think I'm responsible, and I paid for insurance anyway. On the other hand, I can't really respond to legal proceedings in the US and don't really want my credit history damaged in case I refuse to pay.

Apologies for the length of this post, but any suggestions would be much appreciated!