DustinT

Long time reader, first time poster.

I was in Salt Lake City, Utah in the last few days and when I came out from lunch a guy got in the back passenger seat and said 'I've got a knife. Drive.' I turned and looked at him and he repeated 'This is a carjacking, I've got a knife... DRIVE'. And sure enough, he had a knife in his hand. At that point, I realized he was too far away to reach me easily and I got out and ran to a nearby business. Fortunately the perp wanted my car more than he wanted me so he got in the front seat and drove off. I'm not sure about his state of mind, or whether he was sober or high or whatever. But apparently he was having trouble controlling the vehicle and immediately other people started calling 911 (per the cops). I don't have a lot of details yet while I wait for the police reports but somehow or the other he lost control and slide sideways into a electric power line and brought it down on the vehicle. Long story short, thanks to some incredible work the SLC PD apprehended and arrested him about a block away after he tried to run.

The vehicle was rented from National, on a company Visa card from Bank of America. The Police reported the vehicle stolen to National, and when it was wrecked, National sent a tow truck and recovered the vehicle. I know this because I was getting automated text messages from National with updates on the tow truck dispatch. I spoke to National a couple of hours after the accident and they said I don't need to file any paperwork or do anything at present. In a few days, they advised I will probably get a call for a statement from National.

Anyway, that's my story, feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer them. Do you all have any advice on whether I need to do anything, or am I ok to just hang back as the victim and let things work themselves out.

Thanks in advance.

bruceba

I would try to get a copy of the police report.

DustinT

Thanks Bruce. I have already submitted a request for the Police report, body cam footage, etc... but Utah gives a 10 day response time for that type of open records request so I'll be waiting a little while for this.

JBKettle

First, I'm glad you're physically unharmed.

Have you notified/contacted your employer? I don't know if it's contract-specific or not, but for us, any post-rental conversations about liability/damage bypass the renter and go straight to the company. (That may change in a theft vs. simple damage situation, but I thought I would at least point it out. Your company may also not want you to speak directly with National since National has already retrieved the vehicle.)

DustinT

Thanks for the insights. I have texted and called my manager several times and he, and the rest of my team, have been super supportive. So far I haven't gotten any instructions on what I should, or shouldn't do beyond talking to the Police and making sure National was aware of the carjacking.

I think I'll call my manager and see if I can't get some more clear instructions.

jimquan

Glad you're safe. You did the right thing getting out. Cars can be replaced.

This has not hit the SLC news outlets.

Your safety and state of mind are most important. Hope you will have no personal financial repercussions from this. It is worth noting the even employers that self insure for rental car damages sometimes make the employee responsible for a deductible. That's why I pay with a personal card with primary collision coverage then get reimbursed.

Jim

Segments

Check with your employer’s travel and EHS departments about reporting the event.

jmastron

Absolutely worth checking, but I suspect that's pretty uncommon at companies with "normal" travel policies. At my company, any damage on a business trip (but not a personal trip using the company rate as allowed) is fully covered by the company. A guy I know totaled his relocation-package rental car (considered business use) after an evening at the bar -- while he of course paid the fines/license suspension costs of the DUI, the car damage was fully paid by the company. It wasn't a comfortable conversation with the HR/relocation department folks though!

bchandler02

Agree, assuming you work for an employer with a decent sized travel or security team, they should take this and handle it, and that's it.
This is how it would work at my large company.

B-HQC

https://www.ksl.com/article/50151999...ays-police-say

pinniped

Damn. Glad you're okay. That's scary.

DustinT

ya... that sounds familiar.

thanks for the link.

RCyyz

Wow. That's a scary story! Glad you got away safe with nothing more than one heck of a scare.

Was there anything unusual about where you were for lunch? Or was the area just like Anywhere, USA and it was just your crappy luck this guy was there when you were getting into you rental?

DustinT

So far so good on this front. Just working through the process but I don't expect anything interesting to happen.

Often1

I would not say or do anything which is not expressly authorized and instructed by the employer. Period.

Chances are that, other than the possibility of law enforcement follow up for further facts, this is the end of it for you. The financial aspects of the matter should be handled by your employer both because you were on a business trip and because the rental was paid for by a business card.

No idea what type of business or what size, but most will have an umbrella which deals with any residual liability or they simply self-insure because this is not a routine occurrence.

You know your employer and we do not, but it generally pays to keep copies of everything, including texts (stick to emaiL) in one place and then turn all of into a file somewhere once the event is over.