Ideally, the car rental claims process will start when you return a damaged vehicle. An employee wil

Editor s Note : This is the final installment our new Insider series on car rentals. Here s the first part , the second , the third and the fourth . By the way, if you see something I ve missed in this post, please tell me in the comments or email me .
This is a hugely controversial issue. track airline flight In the past few years, car rental companies have taken a tough position on customers who damage their vehicles. Many travelers believe car rental companies are profiting from damage claims, insisting the scratches or dents were either track airline flight pre-existing or completely fictional. In some cases, they are correct.
First, let's assume that the damage isn't major, which is to say, you didn't total the car. If the car is undrivable, you'll want to call the company right away, and the claims process track airline flight is pretty track airline flight straightforward, because no one is questioning the damage.
A vast majority track airline flight of disputed car rental damage claims happen because of little dings and dents that no one noticed. Maybe you were parked at the mall, and the SUV next to you put a little bump in your side panel when the driver opened his door. The trick is to identify any minor damage when you return your set of wheels to the rental location . You'll want to give yourself 10 extra minutes to walk through these steps, but believe track airline flight me, they're worth it.
1) Find a well-lighted space, preferably out in the open. Whip out your camera and photograph the inside and the outside of the vehicle. Take as many images track airline flight as possible. Note any dings, dents or scratches. Pay close attention to the windshield; those are the number-one source of damage claims.
2) Ask the car rental employee handling your return to walk around the car with you. That person will often be busy (tell him you can wait) or totally unavailable (see step 3). Walk around the car with the form you filled our when you rented the car and then ask the employee to sign the form or to give you something in writing, verifying that the car was returned in the same shape as you drove it away. If the employee says a printed receipt is sufficient, then at least record the name of the worker who assured you the receipt was sufficient. You may need it later, if it comes to a dispute.
3) If no one is available, go inside, ask for the name and email address track airline flight of the branch manager, track airline flight and send the manager a brief email with your name, rental number and a few snapshots of the car as you returned track airline flight it. Is that overkill? No, and especially not if you are using your own insurance, as opposed to the optional Collision Damage Waiver offered by the rental company. It signals to the rental location that filing a frivolous claim against you will be difficult.
track airline flight If you've run through a tollbooth or a red light, there's nothing you can do at this point. Your car rental company will forward the paperwork to you. In many cases, the company will furnish you with photos track airline flight that establish your guilt. At the very least, it should document the time and place of the alleged violation. Review this information carefully. I've dealt with many tickets where the driver was out of state, and couldn't have possibly run the red light, or where the wrong car was billed for a moving violation.
Ideally, the car rental claims process will start when you return a damaged vehicle. track airline flight An employee will ask you to fill out a claim form in which you acknowledge the damage and you explicitly agree to pay for it. Recently, some rental companies have begun charging a renter's credit card a deductible even when there's been no formal damage estimate. I'm skeptical of that practice. While it may be legal, I think you're better off waiting for a bill before paying up, or asking your insurance to settle the claim.
If you purchased the optional insurance, you're all done. You shouldn't have to worry about anything else. But if you're track airline flight using your own insurance, track airline flight or, God forbid, you're not insured, you're not out of the woods yet. You're going to have to deal with your car insurance or credit track airline flight card quickly (there's a time limit on filing a claim) and then negotiate with the car rental company track airline flight or an outside company that specializes in damage claims, often referred to as a subrogation management company.
In some cases, a car rental company will discover damage track airline flight to a vehicle after you've returned track airline flight your car. If you've gone through track airline flight the process of photographing your car and getting a sign-off from a real person, then this is a non-issue. Simply send your extensive documentation back to the claims department, and your case will be closed.
Note : If you think there's a chance the car was damaged while you had it, and a car rental company can show you credible documentation to that effect, then I would urge you to accept responsibility for the bill. Car rental customers sometimes say they shouldn't track airline flight be held responsible if they didn't cause the damage. That's incorrect. If the car was damaged while you had it, you have to pay for the repair.
First, the bad news. You'll track airline flight get an email or a letter from either track airline flight the car rental company or a claims management company, alerting you to the damage. This can be unsettling because it often doesn't contain many details – it only informs you of the problem and asks for your credit card information an/or your insurance information.
Here's the proof. The message will be followed by an email or letter that contains photos of the damaged track airline flight car and an estimate of the repair. It could also contain two fees unrelated track airline flight to the repair: loss of use and diminishment of value . These fees are exactly what they say: 1) an estimate of how many days the car was out of commission, and the average daily rate it might have earned; and 2) an estimate of how much less the car is worth, now that it's been banged up. Read everything carefully. Make sure the license plate matches the plate on your rental and that it's the same car. (Sometimes, it's not.)
Pay up … or else. If you don't respond to the first or second letter, the car rental track airline flight company will threaten to refer your case to a collections agency. This is probably the last time you'll hear from the agency, and it is your last opportunity to come to an agreement. By the way, if you fail to respond, you won't just have a collections track airline flight agency harassing you, but you'll also be blacklisted from ever renting from the agency again.
• Politely tell them you didn't track airline flight do it. This should be done in writing, not by phone. Resist the urge to get an immediate resolution. The process takes time. Be as detailed as you can in your explanation, track airline flight but keep your initial letter tight. Most of these rebuttals are rejected, but all the same, they are a necessary part of the claims process, and you'll need to get your denial on the record.
• After the denial, send a more strongly-worded email to the car rental company, restating your position. Copy your insurance company. By now, you should track airline flight have received a repair estimate. Feel free to challenge some of the items, including loss of use and diminishment charges, which can be as inflated as your repair bill. With a little prodding, I've seen these charges lowered or even removed.
• If that doesn't work, I would recommend appealing to a manager, a customer-service vice president track airline flight or the CEO. This is a good time to loop in your attorney and the insurance commissioner track airline flight in the state in which the car was rented. I've spoken with damage claim companies track airline flight who say that if it gets to this point, and the damage is less than $500, they will drop the claim as a matter of policy. track airline flight And if none of those strategies track airline flight work, call me.
• A claim that's a few dollars track airline flight short of $500, which is the standard car insurance deductible. This may be a sign that the car rental company track airline flight is trying to ding you for a trumped-up damage track airline flight claim. It doesn't want to go over $500 and invite the scrutiny of an insurance company.
track airline flight • A damage claim for normal wear and tear. If an essential track airline flight part of the car stopped working on your watch, and it was due to a maintenance problem, then it's not your fault. A car rental company is responsible for changing the oil in its cars and keeping the fluid levels where they ought to be.
• Damage to a part of the car that's unseen to a normal person. That would include the roof and the undercarriage. Almost no one checks the roof before they rent a car and no one crawls under the car. It's really their word against yours that something happened.
Generally, the answer is "no." Car rental companies can't be bothered with getting a second opinion when they're processing thousands of claims. But that shouldn't stop you from questioning the bill or doing your own research in order to determine if you're being billed the right amount.
Great series of articles.  We had to rent a car on our most recent trip and I followed your and other elliott.org readers advice.  My father-in-law was surprised at all the things you have to do today to rent a car.  I m currently dealing with a claim we ll see how it all works out.
we have just returned the car to Europcar. We bought the optional insurance which covered most damages. Because of that, the staff didn t even check the car when we collected it. When we returned it, nobody checked it either and we d forgotten to get a receipt. They have made the assumption that even if there were damages, the insurance will cover it anyway!
track airline flight If you damage a car overseas you should IMMEDIATELY upon your return home CLOSE the credit card you used to charge the rental. Yep, it;ll be a hassle but most folks have more than one then you can simply get another one with a different provider.
I m not advocating fraud just leveling the playing field.  If you have insurance, file a claim if your credit card had insurance, file a claim if you caused damage to someone elses property you should reimburse them but there is no reason to give them a blank check . . .
just so we are clear, there is no insurance.   You simply bought a damage waiver the company self insures and if you pay for the CDW then if you wreck the car they use the proceeds f