Originally Posted by
Sean22mac
I rented a car from Avis in Germany on my American Express Gold Card. The vehicle was involved in an accident that was my fault.
I had rented an E Class sedan but when I was at the counter they were out of that category so they upgraded me to an Audi A8
I spoke with Amex this morning and they said if the vehicle has an MSRP over $85,000 CAD they will deny the claim. Audi is not on their exotic list but I think this car will exceed $85K MSRP
Any suggestions on what my options are or am I SOL?
Really sorry to hear about this Sean22mac. I'm the OP for this thread.
The German MSRP for the 2018 A8 is EUR90,600. But this includes the 19% VAT in Germany. Subtracting that gets you to EUR73386, which is about $111,000CAD. The Amex certificate of insurance notes that coverage is $85,000CAD where the rental agreement is signed, so the German price in euros is what would apply, so it looks like you may be stuck.
Aside from arguing with RSA (Amex's Canadian insurer), if you have a primary auto insurance coverage for your car in Canada, it might cover you for this damage. It would increase your premiums, but it could be worth it.
You can request that RSA re-consider the decision, if you think there's a mitigating factor. You can then appeal any decision to RSA's internal appeal committee. Failing that, you can then appeal to GIO Canada, which is the private obudsperson employed by Canadian insurers. Depending on the extent of the damage, you can also file a civil court claim, either Small Claims or other. But it sounds like the insurance certificate is clear here, although there may be some argument if you were upgraded at the last minute, I'm not sure.
EDIT: If you had a 2017 Audi A8, the german MSRP appears to have been 85000EUR. Also, the Amex Certificate of Insurance notes that its $85000CAD before all taxes, so if there are additional taxes in Germany built into the MSRP that I'm not aware of (or if I'm wrong on the 19% VAT and it's higher percentage), you could look into that.