No rental car insurance

by Guest » Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:32 pm
Guest

Son's girlfriend rented him a rental car as he has a recent bankruptcy. They did not take the insurance as both thought they were covered under their respective vehicle insurance policies. He was listed as an additional driver. Son wrecked car on ice. Neither son nor girlfriend have coverage through their personal policies as both are on parents' policies which cover their personal vehicles but not them driving other vehicles.

Do we have any options? If not, do we have to pay for a new car or does rental agency have to accept our paying to get the car fixed (may or may not be reparable - haven't gotten that far yet.) Car was an '08 Maxima with 11,000 miles. Do we own the wrecked car after settling with the rental agency?

Total Comments: 7

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 01:05 am Post Subject:

I am not real sure why the rental company would rent a car to some one whose insurance would not cover the drivers and the car. That was not smart on their part at all. Usually they will be pretty strick on the insurance policy that will be in place to cover the vehicle, at least that is the way it is here in Pennsylvania.

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 01:37 am Post Subject:

There are a few policies that exclude providing collision coverage on rented vehicles but not many and even fewer under certain circumstances (some have clauses that only cover rentals when the a replacing listed vehicles removed from use for repairs/breakdown).

Have both renters filed a claim with the carriers and received a written letter stating that coverage will not be provided? If not... a claim has not been denied until the denial is in writing. If so, I'm wondering, what was the exact reason for denial (what was the exclusion)? Again, the claim should be turned into both renters policies.

Do you have to pay for repairs or another vehicle depends of course as to if the vehicle needs to be considered a total loss. Usually if the repair cost gets close (about 80%) to it's value, it will be considered a total loss (this is usually mandated by the state and if nothing else, requires a salvage title and the rental company cannot rent out a vehicle with a salvage title).

If the rental is a total loss, the rental company should bill you for the "fair market value" less the salvage value/recovery of the vehicle plus possible loss of use charges. Rental companies always try to bill for more then they are entitled. They may try to bill you for a brand new, replacement vehicle (giving you some song and dance about the rental only having 11k miles) but this is not owed. Once that vehicle was titled, it turned into a used vehicle and used vehicles are certainly worth less then new. The rental company will also try to charge you some huge Loss of Use (or revenue) charge. I usually pay Loss of Use to a rental company at $10-$15/day for a reasonable amount of time. They will also try to bill you an admin fee. This is simply not owed. The rental company has a duty to prove their loss. They don't get paid for this.

Unless both your daughter and her boyfriend have the same insurance, it's unlikely that both would have an exclusion as not to provide collision insurance on the rental. Unlikely but possible.

If you _really_ want to go out on a limb to find the _slightest_ possibility of coverage, why not ask your daughter's boyfriends carrier if they would extend liability coverage to your daughter for the damage to the vehicle as their insured borrowed "her" car and wrecked it. There is a 99.9999% chance that would be denied but you could ask... just to see if they can find an exclusion (I think it's excluded as the vehicle was furnished to the boyfriend for his "regular" use so his carrier would deny coverage under his liability... but is it _really_ available for his "regular" use if its a rental?). Again, that is going to get denied but hey, perhaps the adjuster will go brain dead that day and not be able to figured it out.

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 04:53 am Post Subject:

Hey tcope, what I cud understand form your answer that the OP stands a very slim chance to recover the damages form the insurers, huh. :roll:

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 05:09 am Post Subject:

Not entirely. Getting the boyfriends carrier to extend liability coverage would be a slim chance. Having either the daughter's or boyfriend's carrier offer coverage under the collision portion of the policy may or may not be a slim chance.

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 08:24 pm Post Subject:

HEllo, look at my website, all about car insurance there.

about-car-insurance.co.nr

John .F

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 08:39 pm Post Subject:

HEllo, look at my website, all about car insurance there.

Don't bother... just spam.

Quotes from spam website:
"The cheaper and slower your vehicle the lower your premiums are likely to be." The slower the vehicle, the lower the premium?

"By agreeing to pay a greater excess on each claim you can reduce your car insurance premiums." Excess? I think that's called a deductible.

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 09:10 am Post Subject:

" Excess? I think that's called a deductible.



Right, I think that the UK style of calling it, but nevermind that is indeed a spam.

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