Consolidated "Hertz Accident and Insurance" Thread
 

I searched for some discount coupons online and I rented a car from Hertz using that coupon (IBM). By default, a Loss and Damage Waiver ($13.50 a day) was added to the rental plan. To be on safe side I've also taken (LIS) a third party liability coverage ($13.95 a Day).

On the way to my destination, I met with an accident. I collided with the car in front of me which has stopped suddenly in a heavy traffic as there is very less reaction time for my car to stop even though I applied brakes. Major damage is to the bonnet of my car. There was a dent on the car in front of me.

A police report has been made. The police shared the insurance details with me and the other car driver. The car has been towed to a nearby lot.

The following day (Sunday) as the location from which I've rented the car was closed, I reported the incident to a Hertz representative at another Hertz location so that they could take care of the car and insurance.

The representative asked me for my IBM ID. I politely said I'm not an IBM employee, I just used an online coupon to get some discount on the rental car. The representative literally yelled at me for using the code without an eligibility to do so and said the Hertz might not cover any insurance in this case.

I told the employee that I've used the coupon unknowingly and I also said that the representative at the another who issued me the car has not asked me for an IBM ID nor acknowledged me with the information about the insurance.

I also told the employee that I've also purchased an extra (LIS) third party liability coverage which should work and cover the expenses. The representative kept on yelling the same information that I've no eligibility in renting the vehicle and just gave me a paper and asked me to report the accident and damages to the car.

The Employee said that the Hertz Corp will contact me regarding the accident, damage, insurance and stuff once the car is recovered from the towing company.

The employee said, for now, all the safety deposit will be taken away because of the accident and also charged me with an additional fee for reporting at a different hertz location. A total of $500 was charged from my credit card in just a matter of seconds.

Please help with the situation and let me know what would probably happen or what I can do in this situation.

Thanks,
Worried Guy. :( :confused:

If you used the IBM CDP when not entitled to use it, then the coverages that come with it will be invalidated

You are liable for the damage yourself rather than IBM

Do you have any other insurance that may cover the costs?

I cannot see how someone can accidently select the IBM CDP and use it unwittingly. It would either need to be explicitly added to a profile or explictly quoted in the reservation

The insurance cover is likely also discounted using that rate code. If you are not eligible for the rate code then the insurance may be invalidated. The fact that Hertz did not check your eligibility when you rented is irrelevant.

I am sure you knew full well that you were not eligible for the IBM rate but applied it anyway for a discount.

Sounds like you may be liable for the accident damages in full, since from the sounds of it you are 100% at fault in the accident. In future keep a larger gap to the car in front and make sure you are fully insured.

Third party liability insurance covers (as the name suggests) third parties. Assuming that isn't invalidated it should cover the damage to the other car. If it is also invalidated you would be liable for the damages (material and medical) for the other party as well.

I'd say that car is totaled.

Be glad you bought the third party insurance.

I suspect this will be a very expensive example of the dangers of booking a car using a CDP discount code without having entitlement to use it.

I would expect Hertz to assess the following charges:

• Cost to repair/replace the vehicle
• Cost of loss revenue to Hertz while their car was unrentable due to the accident
• Cost of towing to/from the lot where it was towed to
• Cost of car storage while car is at the lot it was towed to

I hope the person(s) in the car that the OP hit weren't injured (or claim injury) or this will become even more costly.

It sounds like that the OP isn't a US citizen, based on the language in their post. If this is the case, it adds complexity as to if there's any credit card or personal insurance available to help cover the costs above.

Finally, I think there's a good chance that Hertz could put the OP on their "do not rent" list.

Best of luck to the OP.

I am pretty sure that the LIS is the normal rate , since it is only required for personal rentals. For business rentals, IBM just covers it itself

A good example for all of those threads about how easy it is to defraud car rental companies with discount codes and how nobody checks ID's and the like.

When something goes wrong, they do.

It doesn't matter whether OP knew that he was committing a fraud. All that matters is that he did not know that he was eligible for the discount because he did not check the terms of the discount. If he had, he would have known that it was for IBM employees and that he was not an IBM employee.

So, to save a few dollars OP may wind up paying out of his own pocket for a new vehicle and, depending on whether the LIS policy is voided if there is fraud in any part of the transaction, he may pay for damage to the other vehicle and for any injuries to anybody else.

It is worth taking a look at what it costs to replace a bumper on a typical American vehicle and what a typical ER charges to set a broken wrist. Those two relatively minor matters are a good guage for those who look at risk.

I wouldn't be so sure about all of the above at this point unless you know something about the OP's transaction that hasn't been mentioned in this thread.

Some of this may even come down to how the car rental company employee handling the return dealt with documenting matters after the return, but that too is not all that clear in the OP.

Selecting some CDP can sometimes happen accidentally when online on shared computers, but it seems like the OP was looking online for multiple discount codes to attempt to use and get a better price.

If the OP's story is an accurate indication of what really happened to the OP, and if the OP returns after several weeks/months and after a year or so to share more with us then, then perhaps we'll get a much better idea of what actually transpired and if the purchased LDW insurance worked in the OP's favor or not.

The contract the renter signed would be what matters and I can assure you Hertz has a tight contract on discount codes and eligibility.

It wouldn't really matter what the person handling the return does; it will be sent over to their claims team (internal or external) and they will validate the entire rental, including any insurance options/liability options. IBM, almost guaranteed, will not pay for any damages as self insured either.

The only questionable part is the LIS, which the insured paid for, which would cover the other person's car and any medical issues to the other party. The OP did not purchase LDW, they purchased LIS which is for liability only and offers no protection to the rented car.

LDW @$13.50/day was added to the rental plan. Read the OP, as it's clear about this.

I agree that IBM won't be paying for the damages. What's not clear yet: whether or not OP will be paying for anything more either.

What's sort of amusing about the OP is that the tenses used for some verbs are mixed up.

Take this with a grain of salt being I am not an auto adjuster, but if I had to estimate costs, they would be as followed:

Repair of your vehicle: $5,000-$6,000 if not totaled as the engine could have been hit by looking at the bonnet
Repair of other vehicle: $1,000 for new bumper, paint and labor
Loss of use: $100 x 10 days = $1,000
Towing: $200

So in total, I would guess about $8,000 for the accident.

As I recall, the Hertz contract one gets when one rents the car specifically says something to the effect of "I certify that I am authorized to use discount code XYZ."

As for the liability insurance (LIS), Hertz's terms of the insurance say:

Now, the point of this section can certainly be debated. One could take the view that, by claiming the right to use a discount code he wasn't actually qualified for, the OP misrepresented himself to obtain the car. On the other hand, this could be read to deal with situations where the OP wouldn't have been able to rent a car at all without lying (i.e. provided a fake driver's license because he had a long history of DUIs and Hertz wouldn't have rented to him if they knew who he really was).

I would assume that Hertz will take the first position. Whether that's sustainable, I don't know.

LIS will cover the other car. File a claim with your CC company as well and hope that they will cover your car.