I had a total using a Budget car. When I went to the airport with the tow truck, I was refused a substitute car. The manager told me it was "policy" to not rent for 48 hours after an accident.

He also said I may have trouble in the future renting a car "depending on our investigation"

I was issued a ticket for failure to yield the right of way. No other accidents or tickets for many years.

My insurance is processing the claim. Everyone seems to be treating it as business as usual. My credit card presented at rental has not yet been charged the value of the car, as I have heard happens sometimes.

What is other's experience with Budget after accident?

I have a prepaid Priceline rental in March. How can I find out if I will be refused at the counter?

I got in a wreck in 1998 in a budget car. I was travelling on a major interstate late at night. I was doing the speed limit, and a tractor trailer behind verified that (he couldn't do over the speed limit and he kept pace with me). I was approaching a car in front of me, and was preparing to move into the passing lane. Very shortly after that, I realized that the car was WAY under the speed limit (estimated about 30 miles an hour... limit was 65). Unfortunately, there was a car blazing through my blind spot (saw him at the last second), so I hit the slow moving car since I couldn't get over and it was too late to slow down enough.

The damage to my rental car was not much besides a broken grill and a dented hood.

The other driver did not fare so well. He was an extremely old man, and he lost control of the car. It flipped and landed upside down. Luckily, he was not hurt, and he seemed more worried about me. I was visibly shook from the incident, not believing I would do something so stupid.

He did not receive a ticket for travelling significantly below the speed limit. I got a ticket for "failure to brake to avoid an accident" which carried a $25 fine. I got off lucky.

Brought the car back in, told 'em I was covered under my corporate aggreement and walked out.

Reminded me of a conversation I once had with a manager at BOS. My car had been scraped in the parking lot, and he was joking with me that I could slam a new rental into the wall every week, nothing they could... my corporate aggreement covered EVERYTHING.

Got 3,000 perfect drive points. It seems the cost of the repair (used Visa with CDW coverage) was captured by the computer as rental monies.

That's beautiful! Trash a car, have insurance pick it up, and select the new Bertha of your choice!

Excellent!