MM Question: Rental Car in another country and damage

[kwynn]

I can't remember the time I asked an actual MM question on here. I need the advice/help of some smart people, especially those of you who have traveled abroad. LONG story

Summary: Car rental was damaged while overseas, cost to repair was almost $1300 WITH insurance, should I bother filing with my Visa card or just accept it?

Story time: I went to Iceland and rented a car. If you Google "Iceland rental car insurance" or "Iceland rental car damage" - there are quite a few stories out there where people ended up owing big time. I was determined to avoid that. I did not avoid that.

My credit card offers rental car protection as primary when traveling abroad. I sort of knew this from a previous trip, but didn't think I would need it.

I rented a car online and the company I rented from included 4 types of insurance. These were free. Seemed good at the time. I went back to the website yesterday just to make sure I had this right - their website says this insurance is included in every rental there. They do not seem to have any cars without the insurance available. When I tried to uncheck the boxes for insurance today JUST to see, you are not able to. This insurance they include lowers your liability to roughly $1100 US. There is no $0 deductible insurance in Iceland - this was the top of the line insurance they offer. Plus it was included.

There was one optional insurance and according to my contract with them, I did not elect this (sand and ash insurance). Additionally, the windshield is not covered with any insurance in Iceland on the cars according to them, so that's 200 Euros more on top of any other insurances.

I drove the car very carefully. I would check it over at each stop and photographed the damage it already had when picking it up. I parked the car for the night and walked around it carefully checking it over (I'm paranoid and we were out driving in a storm), then we ran inside because it was freezing.

We returned to the car in the morning and the windshield was totally smashed in, GPS knocked down, hole in the windshield. Was it vandalism (crime is very rare in Iceland)? Had I somehow hit a rock the night before in the dark and not realized it since it was dark? (This is my anxiety talking because I'm always afraid of something like this -no way - because glass was all over the passenger seat where my sister's butt was - she would have been sprayed in the face/body with glass - you couldn't have missed it we realized when we got in and tried to drive the car to the rental place - undriveable) Finally realized there were chunks of snow and big pieces of ice on the car's hood and ground - ice had fallen from a roof on a condo and smashed the car it seems.

We got another car after hours and hours of waiting, all was well. Had a great trip!

In the end, I had to pay $1279. The windshield and the full damage deductible. I did it because we had a flight to catch and I didn't know what else to do. (If they didn't have the insurance included - the damage would have been double that and I would have had to pay it all right there and get it back from my credit card later, I guess - seems like a mess/nightmare and I'd have been close to maxing out my limit)

I contacted my credit card that night and they said if I elected or bought other insurance, I'm out of luck. Fine. I was still in Europe and didn't have my paperwork, so I dropped it because I knew I had some sort of insurance on it but I wasn't sure what. Someone who lives in Iceland told me to contact the condo board homeowner's insurance as you are responsible for falling ice there supposedly, I did, I've been denied but I can file an appeal. Text is in Icelandic, so not sure why I was denied - think it has something to do with the weather.

But I got to thinking today - I didn't *elect* the extra coverage. It wasn't optional, in my opinion - I mean, I guess I could have purposefully rented with a company that gave no coverage, perhaps, if that even exists there?

Visa says "To activate coverage, complete the entire rental transaction with your eligible Visa card and decline the collision damage waiver (CDW) coverage if offered by the rental company." And "What if the auto rental company insists that I purchase the auto rental company's auto insurance or collision damage waiver?

Call the Benefit Administrator at 1-800-847-2911 for help. If you are outside the United States, call one of our toll-free numbers." I should have done this. Didn't even think of it.

I called Visa Benefits and the rep told me they can't really tell me what to do.

So, do I have a case? Should I try to apply for the benefit? Appeal the homeowner's association insurance? Or just move on and be thankful (I am!) that the damage was only $1279?

My gut says at this point just move on and accept that, sometimes despite doing things carefully, you just get screwed. I am so glad we were not in the car or even next to the car/getting out when the ice fell. It looks like it could have killed someone, the weight and sharpness of it. So glad we weren't climbing in or out when it happened.

[lurknomore]

I can't really answer any of your questions. I can tell you that for $1300, it would be well worth my time to file the appeal with both Visa and the condo association. Can't be more than a couple of hours of your time. You may not get it back (it seems like you're ok with that). You may. IMO, its worth the time to try both avenues.

[scout8]

I would continue to try to fight it. In addition to what you mentioned, I would try pointing out to Visa that you didn't purchase any insurance that covered the windshield.

[VillainV]

So if people had been in the car and injured, would anyone have been at fault?!?!

I would fight this with the condo association and with Visa. You did not cause the damage.

[Deleted]

Jan 28, 2016 8:42:32 GMT -5 VillainV said:

So if people had been in the car and injured, would anyone have been at fault?!?!

I would fight this with the condo association and with Visa. You did not cause the damage.

Unfortunately, especially with rental cars, I don't think it matters who caused the damage. If someone had keyed the car, but she had no proof and couldn't go after who did it, she'd still be on the hook. Even if it were your own car, the insurance company isn't going to repair it for free even if you didn't key the car.

Anyway, kwynn, I know when I rented cars in Soutg Africa they always told me the windshield wasn't covered and fly had to get separate insurance for that. So I guess that must be pretty standard in some places (I haven't rented a car in the US in many years).

I would definitely follow up with visa, as it wouldn't hurt to appeal it with them.

[chimera]

You don't lose anything but a little bit of time filing with Visa. We've only had to do a cancelled trip with ours - (domestic and our flight was cancelled for weather) we got most of our money back. It didn't take much to fill out the form.

[steamboat185]

I would try Visa. We hit a giant jackrabbit a few years ago and caused several thousand in damages to a rental. It took a few phone calls, but visa covered the whole thing.

[kwynn]

Jan 28, 2016 8:42:32 GMT -5 VillainV said:

So if people had been in the car and injured, would anyone have been at fault?!?!

I would fight this with the condo association and with Visa. You did not cause the damage.

Iceland is a different culture - it seems to me to be a very easygoing, no worries, no suing place.

I wanted to call the police for the ice fall but no one really thought I should - I'd have made a report.

People don't even shovel or salt their sidewalks - so different than the states. And that's not a bad thing - would save SO much time. But it's like "if you slip, you slip" - it's not like here where the property owner is responsible for the walks.

The rest of the week, my sister and I kept pulling each other in when we got too close to the edge of buildings where giant ice was falling. My mom always told me an icicle can kill you!

If we had been injured, I guess there would be no need to sue - healthcare is free! I'd still be stuck paying for the car though.