Hire car damaged, declared, but not charged for - what now?
Discussion
Here is an odd one.
Hired a car from Sixt for two days and turned down the glass excess waver (because I couldn't remember the last time I'd had to repair/replace a screen on any of my cars..... ). You can guess what happened next, picked up a stone chip dead centre in the drivers vision (25mm approx when you include the inevitable 'star crack') from a car flicking something up going the other way 10 mins before giving it back.
Duely decided that there was nothing to be done but declare it up front so told the agent; check in guy made me do an electronic signature on a pad declaring that as the only piece of damage. Was told that damage is refered to a dedicated team and I would be contacted within a week.
That was on Thurs 16th March.... I've not had a call or email since, and nothing has come off the card. When I contacted the branch they told me, again, that the damage team will be in touch and didn't seem to be concerned about the delay.
Should I be concerned here? Are they just slow? Could they have forgotten about it, or am I going to be stung 18 months from now when they remember?
I think tomorrow I might put in a call direct to the head office since local guys don't seem fussed...... curious to see if anyone else has had experiences like this. Not usually expecting to chase people to give them my money!
Hired a car from Sixt for two days and turned down the glass excess waver (because I couldn't remember the last time I'd had to repair/replace a screen on any of my cars..... ). You can guess what happened next, picked up a stone chip dead centre in the drivers vision (25mm approx when you include the inevitable 'star crack') from a car flicking something up going the other way 10 mins before giving it back.
Duely decided that there was nothing to be done but declare it up front so told the agent; check in guy made me do an electronic signature on a pad declaring that as the only piece of damage. Was told that damage is refered to a dedicated team and I would be contacted within a week.
That was on Thurs 16th March.... I've not had a call or email since, and nothing has come off the card. When I contacted the branch they told me, again, that the damage team will be in touch and didn't seem to be concerned about the delay.
Should I be concerned here? Are they just slow? Could they have forgotten about it, or am I going to be stung 18 months from now when they remember?
I think tomorrow I might put in a call direct to the head office since local guys don't seem fussed...... curious to see if anyone else has had experiences like this. Not usually expecting to chase people to give them my money!
Chucklehead said:
Your main concern should be that they get it repaired while it's just a repair job.. If they keep renting the car it would eventually crack, and then you're on the hook for the entire screen.
Rubbish, damage declared and proved at return of hire, no more liability exists.KevinCamaroSS said:
Chucklehead said:
Your main concern should be that they get it repaired while it's just a repair job.. If they keep renting the car it would eventually crack, and then you're on the hook for the entire screen.
Rubbish, damage declared and proved at return of hire, no more liability exists.Some insurers (AA and Co-op amongst others) don't charge an excess for windscreen repairs. You'd have to check Sixt's Ts & Cs in detail, but it may be that there was nothing to pay anyway. As with everyone else, I wouldn't waste any time chasing them for this, and probably wouldn't even have brought it up on returning the car.
Chucklehead said:
KevinCamaroSS said:
Chucklehead said:
Your main concern should be that they get it repaired while it's just a repair job.. If they keep renting the car it would eventually crack, and then you're on the hook for the entire screen.
Rubbish, damage declared and proved at return of hire, no more liability exists.spikyone said:
Some insurers (AA and Co-op amongst others) don't charge an excess for windscreen repairs. You'd have to check Sixt's Ts & Cs in detail, but it may be that there was nothing to pay anyway. As with everyone else, I wouldn't waste any time chasing them for this, and probably wouldn't even have brought it up on returning the car.
Rental companies don't insure their fleets this way. However, most negotiate their windscreen replacements with national suppliers, so as part of that agreement might have free repairs included.My only concern about not taking positive actions to chase this down would be one of the following:
1) They leave it too long and it goes from repair to replace.... who is liable? I have a picture of it when I handed over, but not entirely sure if this is enough to cover me.
2) "Loss of use" - e.g. if they have had it sitting around not repaired and not hired, can they add that to the costs?
T&C for Sixt isn't clear on either of the above.... counter argument for both is the concept under contract law of the obligation to mitigate losses
1) They leave it too long and it goes from repair to replace.... who is liable? I have a picture of it when I handed over, but not entirely sure if this is enough to cover me.
2) "Loss of use" - e.g. if they have had it sitting around not repaired and not hired, can they add that to the costs?
T&C for Sixt isn't clear on either of the above.... counter argument for both is the concept under contract law of the obligation to mitigate losses
Personally, I wouldn't chase it. If/as/when something happens you have an opportunity to react depending on what happens, but I wouldn't be volunteering.
A few years ago I had a hire car in Italian lakes. We got hit by a mega hailstorm and although I was parked under a tree the car had several dints in the roof. I had "insurance4carhire" to cover claims, and was expecting to have to do this. Returned the car and never heard another word. Perhaps they were just glad I wasn't parked in the square. Cars there had screens smashed, wing mirrors knocked off and humungous dints. never seen hail like it. 90% of the stones were the size of golf balls with a few the size of tangerines. Scary!
A few years ago I had a hire car in Italian lakes. We got hit by a mega hailstorm and although I was parked under a tree the car had several dints in the roof. I had "insurance4carhire" to cover claims, and was expecting to have to do this. Returned the car and never heard another word. Perhaps they were just glad I wasn't parked in the square. Cars there had screens smashed, wing mirrors knocked off and humungous dints. never seen hail like it. 90% of the stones were the size of golf balls with a few the size of tangerines. Scary!
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