Anyone had an accident or other damage with a rental car while in the US?

[U2_rocks!]

I'd love to hear your experiences! I'm from Barbados, so I don't have personal insurance that will cover me while driving in the US. I assume most of yu aren't covered by your own insurance either.

Those who took the CDW/LDW from the rental company: were you really able to just walk away, with no responsibility for the damages? Or was there a "catch" somewhere? Was there anything the CDW didn't cover? I know thrid party costs (injuries to others etc.) and personal injuries aren't covered.

Those who didn't take CDW/LDW but relied on credit card coverage: how did that go? Was there a deductible? Were you charged up front and then had to claim back from the credit card company? How long did that take? If the damage was significant, how could it fit on your credit card, or did they max out the limit and hold you liable for the rest? How was it all handled after you left the US?

I have a credit card that will cover damage to the car and reasonable loss of use and admin expenses. I am trying to decide if to risk using it rather than taking out the CDW/LDW. Our rental will be for 2 weeks next year, so you can imagine how the CDW adds up!!!

 

[susan1]

hi
i'll try and keep it short! we hired a car for our trip to orlando, we took out full gold insurance covered every single thing. 2nd weekof holiday we drove out to brooksville which is about 90 miles from orlando. we were crossing a 4 way junction/crossroad and a huge double cab pick up truck slammed into the side of us. the car was a complete write off, flattened to the ground almost, how we managed to actually walk away from it with no injury,and not needing hospital attention i will never know.police, fire and ambulance arrived and did their thing. they spoke to dh and gave him the paperwork saying no citation,ie it was not our fault,it would have been so easy to blame it onto britts looking the wrong way at the junction.
the fun started when we rang alamo for a replacement vehicle.they refused to give us one despite having complete and comprehensive insurance.we were stunned as were the local police. the officer in charge of the scene rang alamo headquarters and still they said no way. it was getting late, dark and cold by then so the police took us back to the station and fed and watered us, i have nothing but praise for the brooksville police they were magnifcent. we all had another go but no joy.in the end tired and aching and reaction setting in, also 90 miles from hotel we hired another car to get us home.
the next day we went to mco where we had hired the car from them and played hell.eventually after much humming and haahing they gave us another one. we were very upset at the way they treated strangers to their country, miles from home, having had a serious acident and they washed their hands of us at the time.
there was nothing to pay as we had full insurance i would go for that, heaven knows what would happen if you only had partial insurance

 

[U2_rocks!]

So you had taken out all the insurances that were offered by Alamo and didn't have to pay a thing for the accident, right? The issue was that they wanted you to fend for yourself with another vehicle - they didn't want to give you another one except for the stink you made?

Bummer. I'm not sure how to avoid that happening. I hope to hear from someone who used a different rental company and had a replacement vehicle cheerfully given!

 

[susan1]

yes thats right, not a very helpful post but shows what can happen. don't use alamo!

 

[mikki.young]

We had a minor accident with an Alamo car (broke a side window) and Alamo replaced the car with no problem at all. We did have to take it back to MCO but we were not too far from there. It was the first time we had hired a car. They told us as long as we had the police report then it was no problem to replace it. Can't believe they treated you so badly!

 

[alisonbestford]

Not had an accident in Orlando but the 'Autoeurope' rental car got damaged on our Italian trip

I'd taken annual insurance with www.insurance4carhire.co.uk.
My cc was swiped when we collected the car and the money, to cover the damage (£900!), was deducted when we dropped it off.

Had to wait for all the appropriate paperwork to come back from the bodyshop etc (took about a month) then the cheque arrived within the next couple of weeks

 

[U2_rocks!]

We had a minor accident with an Alamo car (broke a side window) and Alamo replaced the car with no problem at all. We did have to take it back to MCO but we were not too far from there. It was the first time we had hired a car. They told us as long as we had the police report then it was no problem to replace it. Can't believe they treated you so badly!

You had Alamo's insurance then, rather than your own or your credit card's? You owed nothing for the damage?

 

[susan1]

We had a minor accident with an Alamo car (broke a side window) and Alamo replaced the car with no problem at all. We did have to take it back to MCO but we were not too far from there. It was the first time we had hired a car. They told us as long as we had the police report then it was no problem to replace it. Can't believe they treated you so badly!

we could only think it was because it was a new car and a total write off,but it was only a basic compact nothing fancy.

 

[mikki.young]

You had Alamo's insurance then, rather than your own or your credit card's? You owed nothing for the damage?

Yes, I had CDW or whatever they called it then. No cost for the damage at all - in fact they even apologised for the inconvenience of replacing the car.

 

[bazzanoid]

I had full insurance CDW/LDW/UMP etc - clipped a kerb and immediately called Dollar to let them know as while it had no phsyical damage, it was a hefty knock and developed a slight tug to one side - knocked the tracking out a little. They asked where i was and asked if i could either go to a registered service centre or 'return to base' for it to be rectified - as i was only a mile from a service centre i went there and it was all done in under 10 minutes at no cost - if i didn't take the insurance it would have been the loss of about $50 for the job. But then realistically most US garages charge about $20 to do tracking alignments, so i would have paid for it meself and not told them