Originally Posted by
Mikey
I recently had a tire leaking during a rental. I called National and they said to take it to Firestone and they will direct bill National. They did not want to send a tow truck. I took the car in and the repair and direct bill went fine.
My question is this - why did National not send a tow truck and save me the effort and time? There was not a close Firestone, so it took 3 hours out of my vacation to get this fixed.
Is this their normal policy? Is it proper to ask compensation for lost time, or am I whining too much?
CDW pays for the damage. It does not pay for the hassle of dealing with damage. If you get in an accident 300 miles from town, CDW does not pay for an emergency helicopter airlift back to civilization so you can get on with your life. Nope; you're riding in the cab of the tow truck or waiting 12 hours for a car to be towed back to you. No compensation for that; you're lucky to even get that much.
Actually, CDW coverage usually excludes towing entirely. So if you get in an accident 300 miles from town and the car has to be towed 300 miles, you (or your insurance company) will still probably get a $1000 bill for the 300-mile tow. Yes, it's happened--I've seen it.
National is not going to spend $200 on a tow dispatch to fix a $15 tire leak. At least you were able to take it to the nearest Firestone and they didn't make you take it all the way back to a National office for a car swap.