Accident - how does the process work?
 

Sadly for me, I recently had a bit of a losing argument with a guard rail in the snow in an Avis rental. Who knew a Dodge Challenger wouldn't enjoy snow?

Anyway, the entirely pleasant agent to whom I returned the car wasn't sure how damage claims work, so I wondered if anyone on here can give me an idiot's guide please.

I have filled out a brief accident report. I have photographed the damage. The rental was in the US (I'm from the UK) booked using the US site. I didnt pay for LDW.

I don't believe I'll have any insurance policy that will cover it.

Do Avis just send me a bill and I pay it? Or does a charge just appear on my credit card bill? I don't dispute the need for me to pay, as irrespective of the weather it's on me.

Sorry if these are foolish questions.

Thanks

Sorry to hear about your luck.

Do you have a personal vehicle with insurance? If so, you might well have that coverage in effect at least partially (loss of use for example is commonly excluded). How bad was the damage? If you whacked a guardrail that sounds moderately expensive. If you’re paying out of pocket I suppose it doesn’t matter but I think just about every insurer will want a police report. Double check your credit card to see if you have some coverage. Also, was this work related? Most larger employers have coverage for this. You may have not known any better and I agree it can be really stupid but many groups will look at you funny for not having a police report unless minor damage (they assume you were DUI). Now if this was in some snowstorm then they may just look at weather report at time of reported incident and be fine as well.

It it will probably take a few weeks for Avis to contact/bill as they’l need to do an estimate. How ever much you think the dollar amount in damage was caused, be prepared for a bill that’s double that.

One suggestion would be to try and make a reservation every week (for 1 week) at the location you returned the car to. Do this until they bill you and take screenshots of the vehicles available. Avis is notorious for hitting people with "loss of use" fees. However, if you can prove they were willing to rent a car every week at that location, you have proof they didn't actually lose money by being sold out and down one car because yours was in the shop.

In my one time being billed for an accident from Avis: They sent me a bill within approximately a month. They hit me for the $50 admin fee or whatever it was, plus the loss of use, plus the damages. The damage was surprisingly lower than I expected, and I sent it to AmEx, along with my proof of vehicles available at the site while "mine" was in the shop. AmEx handled it, paid the bill (minus loss of use, and the admin fee) and I never heard back from Avis. However, it was a bill due to Avis, not a credit card charge.

Thanks for the replies, both helpful. I reckon it will need a new front bumper, though thankfully it drove ok enough to make it another thirty miles to the airport. I'll check with my car insurance, but I'd be surprised given it's only valid in the UK.

Knew I should have rented a Volvo :)

I backed into a guard rail post in rural California in a Hertz car rented from LAX while trying to make a U-turn. The right rear quarter panel was dinged in pretty badly.

I drove the car back to LAX for my normally-scheduled return the following day.

I forget how long it was until I got the bill (this was around 2013), but it wasn't super short nor unreasonably long--I'm thinking somewhere around 6 weeks or so. It was a letter mailed by regular first-class mail from Viking Subrogation, a contractor Hertz uses to collect on damages. The bill was for approximately $600, surprisingly much less than I was expecting given the nature of the damage. I believe there was an estimate and some other supporting documentation enclosed. I can't recall if they had added any loss-of-use fees.

I had rented with my American Express Platinum with the Primary Car Rental Protection plan (primary coverage for $24.95 per rental). I emailed a scan of the letter and enclosures to American Express (I had already contacted American Express to open the claim and provided them with my receipt). I heard nothing more from Hertz or AmEx other than a note several weeks later that AmEx had paid my bill to Hertz's satisfaction. (I've since had another, much more minor, damage experience--a flat tire--on a rental I used a different card on, and that card has been less pleasant to deal with, demanding all kinds of documentation that Hertz wasn't willing to provide me. I never did get paid out on that claim by my credit card, but the dollar amount was low enough I just paid it out of pocket.)

Maybe there are some tidbits in that narrative you can pull out for your case, but here's what I think is worth noting: presuming that your credit card does not provide any type of rental coverage, you'll likely receive a similar demand letter and invoice as I did. You'll then have to either mail them a check (I expect they wouldn't accept a cheque drawn in UK funds, but some type of Western Union money order could work) or call them to provide credit card information. One thing they won't do is automatically charge your card: that's immediate grounds for them to lose a chargeback if you dispute the charge. (Rental car companies are not authorized by the Visa/MasterCard acceptance rules to charge for damages without the separate and express approval of the cardholder.)

How did you pay? Some credit cards may offer some coverage, but far from all of them do. But if you did pay with a credit card, it's worth also checking with your credit card company.

You said you didn't pay for LDW, but if you booked it on international site for a US rental, it could have already been included with your rate. Check back on your reservation/contract to see if it was included in the rate paid.

In Post #1 , the OP states that the rental was booked on the company's U.S. site.

Sorry missed it on my mobile.

I (almost) always book it on Avis US site (where I can stack coupon), there you need to pick your residency and when we pick Sweden LDW is always included in the rental.

@OP double check your rental agreement/booking.

Last time we rented from Hertz and we found some scratches and we told the gate agent about it. Her response was almost like this: you have LDW with no excess so they don't care.

Thank you for the replies. Alas, the agreement clearly says LDW declined. I always click on UK as residence when booking on the US site. Must be only certain countries include LDW as a matter of course.