a330boston

Yesterday, my car got rear ended, and my trunk got damaged (No injuries ). Fortunately I was just on my way back home from the gym.

This just got me wondering if this has happened to anyone on their way to the airport for a trip. If it does happen, is your trip automatically cancelled? (Vacation money, plans all out the window???)

Just wondering what to do in case this does happen.

pinniped

Automatically canceled for a minor non-injury fender-bender type of accident? No...

a330boston

So then what happens? Lets say your car is not in drivable condition after the accident.
You'd definitely have to call your insurance company, get the appropriate info from the driver of the car who hit you, talk to police, get the car towed etc.
But then how would you get to the airport in time for you flight?
Is there a way to get a replacement/rental car in just the right amount of time to make it to your flight after all this?

wrp96

pinniped

Obviously that's different - if you get into a serious wreck, then who knows... You're probably at least changing your outbound flight. (I'm still thinking of a wreck where the car was wrecked bad but somehow you personally were not injured.)

I'm not sure what the whole point of this exercise is.

skywardhunter

I'd imagine the biggest issue is actually where to tow your car, as the towing company will charge you daily storage, so you'd want to have a mechanic in mind, other than that, get each other's details, if the car is undrivable cops will probably come to you, right? Else let the other driver file the report, if that's possible, and they send you the case number etc, for insurance, have the car towed and get an Uber the rest of the way to the airport

Often1

Not just for this situation, but for any of the dozens of things which arise, decent travel insurance is relatively cheap and is one less matter to handle.

You can't count on the goodwill of an air carrier and you can't be assured that there is even a decent alternative to be had.

pinniped

Feels like you'd have better luck groveling for airline goodwill than you would trying to get a travel insurance company to ever pay you anything.

This may be good advice for people in some places where travel insurance is offered by the country's most prominent insurance companies and very well-regulated. Coming from Kansas, I don't even know who regulates it here and I know neither of the insurance companies I currently have a relationship with sell it.

FT seems to be half people recommending that you buy it and half stories about how people bought it but they could never get it to pay a claim for anything.

If I just wanted peace of mind while traveling, I'd probably buy a stuffed animal before I bought travel insurance. Neither one will pay me anything but at least the animal will be soft and cuddly.

MIT_SBM

Your scenario is so open ended ... How far are you from the airport when the accident occurred? Are there other travelers with you who can take care of arranging alternative transportation while you deal with the accident report and disposition of the damaged vehicle? Is there someone you know that can come assist in disposition of the damaged vehicle once you have taken care of the immediate matters? Is that person close enough in distance to reach you in time? Do you have any kind of special status or "connections" with the airline? Are your travel plans flexible? Are any reasonable alternative flights available?

To directly address your questions given the lack of information: Yes, it is possible to still get to the airport in time for your flight. But that depends on everything else going your way. That is, the police show up promptly, there are no serious injuries, the other driver/involved parties act reasonably so as not to cause a delay in collecting information for the accident report, you can afford alternative transportation, alternative transportation is available in a reasonable time frame for your plans, you have a means of contacting the alternative transportation provider, no other accidents or traffic delays occur, etc. If any one of those things doesn't go your way then you will probably not make it to the airport in time for the original departure flight.

Often1

The major carriers tend to offer commercial policies to large businesses. If you plug in a hypothetical trip scenario into any one of a number of search engines which provide quotes and provide a KS zip code, you will return at least 15 options and at least 3-4 of those will be from companies which aren't likely to go bust and offer the items most people care about.

I think that people on FT get wound up about whether travel insurance covers an extra soda when their flight is delayed. Rather, worry that you face a situation such as OP describes or you require medical evacuation back to the US. That is what I look for and I don't worry too much about whether a hotel room kicks in at a 4 or a 6-hour delay.

WorldLux

@a330boston: The moment you need a tow truck is the moment a call to the airline becomes necessary and where having a travel insurance will come in handy.

The few times I needed tow trucks, it took them between 1 and 1 1/2 hours for them to get there. And unless you're within walking distance, the tow truck driver may not even be able to drop you off at the airport. My most recent experience is that depending on who's paying for the towing, the driver has more or less rigid instruction and the driver may have to stick to the quickest route.

wds17

I would:
A) Leave the damaged car in nearest parkable area.
B) Hail an Uber to airport.
C) During Uber ride, call for tow and explain vehicle location and where you hid the keys. Request tow to preferred body shop. Call insurance and report crash.
D) Arrive on time.
E) Enjoy your trip.

catcher1

My dad suffered a serious heart event while on a cruise to Hawaii. He had purchased travel insurance which included medical emergency care coverage. I won't bore you with the details, but the total payout by the insurance company exceeded $100,000.

WorldLux

How are you going to do that if your car is no longer capable of driving?

MissJ

This is my experience. I was already at the destination because I was working, but bf was flying out to meet me so we could attend a wedding. He had the car towed to the shop where we knew we would have it fixed. He was about 5 hours late getting of the ground, but the airline was totally accommodating. He called as soon as it happened and they rebooked him to a later flight.

He rode to the shop in the tow truck and took an Uber back to the airport. Took a while because it was right in the middle of rush hour, but everything made out okay in the end.