Credit Card Issues Covering Car Damage

Many ( most?) credit cards that have the CDW coverage feature, usually EXCLUDE Italy. Are you sure your card has no such exclusion?

My husband, a long-time independent insurance agent, said "Always take the CDW." He knew the hassles involved in trying to get your credit card to pay. This doesn't help you, but it might help others who view this post.

The Points Guy people sometimes help resolve issues like this.
You might reach out to them.
And good luck.

Question here about full coverage.
We rented car in Crete. Paid for CDW full cover which was paid at the time of rental online which was several months ahead. When at rental counter, the people offered coverage. I said I had it. They knew nothing about it. Was a third party. You can see on various sites that this is the case.
So how hard would that be to reimburse, even though we bought it?
I make sure to take pictures all around the car, including any dings they note on their sheets. One time in Costa Rica I pulled those pictures up when retuning car and showed them the tail light had been cracked before we got got the car. That made for a no claim by them on the spot.

Re the comment about Italy, yes, the card benefit was to have included Italy. I called the United Mileage Plus Explorer card benefits team before traveling to confirm that Italy was covered and that we were not forfeiting our benefit by purchasing some insurance from Avis as part of the contract (Italy requires you to purchase a certain level of insurance from the car rental agency). And again the "customer service" reps this past week have acknowledged that Italy is included in the card's coverage.

Was the car damaged in your possession, or were the scratches already there? At least it was only 441 euros and not something in the thousands, repair costs that are easy to incur with seemingly minor damage.

What I am about to say may not help the OP, but it may help others contemplating renting a car abroad: your anecdote is just one of the many reasons I no longer rent cars in Europe, and even when I did, I never rented or drove a car in Italy....the stress and hassle factor is way too high for me. I have rented cars in France and Germany, but no longer do. Never had a single problem - no camera speeding tickets, no other violations, no car damage - but I leave the driving and hassle to others these days.

For anyone who does rent, your best bet is to take all the CDW and theft coverages offered when you rent, and just consider it part of the cost of your trip. Regardless, I would never trust any CC to actually cover this, no matter what they say they will do. I have heard too many stories like yours to trust them.

We were unaware of any damage to the car in our possession, but also can't say for sure it wasn't damaged. We had to return the car to Trieste and no one from Avis was on duty to check us in. The bill for damages arrived, in Italian, about a month later

I was always under that impression that purchasing CDW coverage in italy and Ireland was a government regulation--mandatory. Last time I rented in Italy, the CDW charges were very reasonable which made me think that the government was controlling the premium. (Where they get you on is charging for personal belongings theft insurance--a ripoff.) Irish CDW rental coverage was expensive.

This is a situation where everyone needs to take pictures of any rental car when it's picked up and when it's turned in. Rental agents often don't spot damages until later--even after another renter or more have rented the car. And then save your pictures for at least a year.

Everyone needs to go online and read your credit card's Terms and Conditions and also the rental company's Terms and Conditions. It's pretty eye opening. I once read Sixt's terms, and they refuse to even let you take a car rented in Germany to certain countries--like Croatia.

dvlsh, I had a similar problem with an Amex card's rental car insurance refusing to help me with a claim. It was supposed to be $0 deductible coverage (I paid a few bucks extra for it) but when I had some damage to a car (it was legitimate - I had a minor altercation with a curb that did not involve another car). I duly filled all of the claim forms and provided everything they asked for...but the Croatian car company refused to cooperate, and Amex's insurance company refused to help. (And what's their incentive to? The few claims they have to pay the better right?) I called many times. I called Amex directly and disputed the charge to my card. (Which Amex duly investigated: yes, it was a legitimate charge. No help with their insurance company.)

Needless to say, I'll never rely on a credit card's "rental car insurance" again. And I stopped using my Amex card after that as well.

We were unaware of any damage to the car in our possession, but also can't say for sure it wasn't damaged. We had to return the car to Trieste and no one from Avis was on duty to check us in. The bill for damages arrived, in Italian, about a month later

Wow, you got the full treatment. I wonder how many others have paid for the same damage on the car you rented? It is a racket...

I agree with others on taking photos before driving away of any damage, no matter how minimal, on the car. Check the roof and under carriage, too, and look carefully for cracks and chips in the glass, the headlamp covers and taillights. I do this thorough inspection and photos in the US for all rentals - during the pandemic with all the supply chain issues I have rented some high mileage cars in the US, and the amount of scratches and dents has been pretty bad, always concerns me that I will get stuck with them, but not yet. I also don't leave without showing any damage to an agent and asking him to note it in their records.

Finally, did you turn the car in after hours or on a day it was closed? I never do that; I always drop off at a time and place where someone is on duty. That is another hassle in Europe, the closings on certain days and in some instances hours during the day no one is at the facility to accept returns. We are lucky here in the US, especially for rentals from airports, that the hours for pickup and drop-off are very convenient, not so much in Europe I have found. They also can have rules for returns, like you need to return the car clean, especially the interior, otherwise there will be a charge.

Based on what I read on this forum, I would never rent a car in Italy. Chance of a ticket is significant.

As for renting in Europe, if I ever do rent again, it would be from a US rental car company. When I do rent, I rent from Budget and have never had an issue with them claiming damage.
When I do get a car that appears to have some wear and tear, I document the damage and take photos.

In Europe, we always take the full insurance as we don't want any headaches.

Here in the US, we used to decline the insurance until one incident when someone backed up onto of our vehicle. We had to pay the loss of use. Granted that was 20 years ago, but still it made us wary and we always took the full insurance after that until recently. Now we use the Amex Platinum Card insurance, so it is $25 per rental (not per day). We do video the entire vehicle slowly before leaving the lot as well as when we return it.

As for renting in Europe, if I ever do rent again, it would be from a US rental car company. When I do rent, I rent from Budget and have never had an issue with them claiming damage.

Although as I have stated on this forum that I haven't rented a car in Europe in nearly a decade, when I did rent in Europe I also used Budget or Hertz, assuming if I had any issues, I might haver a better chance at recourse, but I never did have any issues and don't know if that is true. In the very least, the web interface was the same as here at home, so easy to use.

I switched from European based rental firms after the one time I used Europcar and did not care for the experience - the car was fine, but I felt exposed or unclear on some of the issues regarding insurance. I once looked at Sixt and did not like the "rules" for renting, the vehicles offered, or how charges were assessed, gave them a pass.

FWIW, in the US I now use Enterprise whenever possible. I like that company a lot, their prices are always competitive, and their desk clerks are the best I have ever encountered anywhere (don't know if it is still true, but I was once told that to work behind the counter at Enterprise they only hired college grads). Also I have never had any issues with them.

The truth is I now limit my need for renting a vehicle to when there is no reasonable alternative (like public transport or Uber) for some of the same reasons I no longer rent in Europe - stress, hassle, etc - but I have more confidence in the process and the companies I deal with in the US at least.

Just for everyone’s information, renting in Europe from an American branded company is no protection at all. We once rented from Hertz in Italy. No damage claims, but they scammed us or tried to on several issues. The e-mail address on the documents didn’t work. No one ever answered the phone. When I complained to Hertz in the U.S., I was told that they are a different company.

I hate the scummy tactics that insurance agencies of all sorts used to make you give up and just pay out of pocket. Not all insurance agencies, but it seems like about 60% of them are sleazeballs.

The sort of runaround you got is not incompetence, but rather an indirectly designed industry tactic to not pay out. They make it too confusing and too much of a hassle, and they hire cheap labor that doesn't know how to solve problems. And then some percentage of people just give up figuring it's not worth it.

I despise being put through this wringer. I am generally a nice and sympathetic person.
But as I've become older, I've realized that the fast track through the morass they purposefully put between you and their contractual obligation, is to get angry and be an a*******. I feel bad for the underpaid cs who have to endure my wrath, but it gets me escalated to someone who will help.

In the end, they are trying to keep several hundred dollars of YOUR money. If they stole your wallet on the street they would go to jail. You wouldn't be polite. They are relying on your being polite as a tactic to steal from you.

So I say if they are stealing your hard earned money, go hard. It tends to work.

Also, FWIW and in my experience, the high level Chase cards (Sapphire, etc) are VERY good about paying out the insurances they promise. They hire service-oriented sub contractors and so far have treated me fairly and pleasantly when I've made a claim.

Also, FWIW and in my experience, the high level Chase cards (Sapphire, etc) are VERY good about paying out the insurances they promise. They hire service-oriented sub contractors and so far have treated me fairly and pleasantly when I've made a claim.

Good to hear about Chase since I got the Sapphire Preferred card recently anticipating returning to travel this year.

Have you had a claim with Chase for what is being discussed here, a car rental snafu / dispute over the CDW? Or any other travel claims?

Yes one rental car claim, one lost baggage. Both went glassy smooth.

Quick tip for Chase points, we use them mostly to buy business class seats USA to Europe so that we get better sleep on the way over and cut jet lag down by a couple days. But if you redeem them for hotels, Hyatt can be an outstanding value getting you up to $0.10 per point in room value.

In my experiences we’ve had very good luck with

https://feeservices.americanexpress.com/premium/car-rental-insurance-coverage/home.do

Also, renting through Gemut is the best. I had a discrepancy with a charge made to me after our rental. One email explaining the bill to gemut and they took care of everything. I didn’t even have to be involved.

It sounds like the OP has had a bad experience, and I'm sorry to hear about that. The world is imperfect and things do go sideways, and yes, there are scammers out there in all kinds of businesses. That said, I wanted to put in a few words to balance out what otherwise appears to be a hate-fest on car rental companies, lest anyone be scared away from ever renting or driving in Europe.

Millions of foreign tourists rent and drive cars across Europe every single day. Almost all of them have a positive, or at least a non-eventful experience. It's always disappointing to hear when anyone has a bad time with car rentals (true at home or abroad) but that does not mean that everyone's out to cheat you, or that you will very likely fall victim to some scam (as long as you make smart choices and apply some common-sense). I've rented cars all over Europe for decades, from lots of different companies, and I've never had anything approaching a bad experience (other than occasional basic bad customer service, surly and rude employees, and other minor annoyances that one can encounter with any service anywhere). I follow some simple rules and they have never let me down.

(FWIW, I've always used a credit card to cover the CDW, every time, and will continue to. I have never had to make a claim. I've saved many thousands of dollars over the years.)

First, always, ALWAYS go over the car, carefully, slowly and methodically, with a fine tooth comb, in the presence of an agency employee, checking for damage, scratches, scrapes, dings, chips, ANYTHING. Point to every tiny cosmetic flaw, say something out loud as you do so "scratch here...little dent there..." so the employee hears you each time (they should note the same spot on their own paperwork), they should acknowledge each item you point to. Do this as your travel partner writes down the details on paper (they'll usually give you a printed sheet showing all sides of the car to do this). As you do this take pictures - LOTS of pictures showing every detail. You are sending a very clear message to the rental company: this customer has inspected the car very thoroughly, they have fully documented it's condition, so if there is some (cough) "difference of opinion" after the rental, the customer is very well prepared to contest any false claim.

Take good care of the car while you're driving it (just as you would hope someone else would take care of yours if you let them use it). Don't beat it up "like a rented mule" because it's not yours and once you drop the keys and fly away it's not your problem. If you have driven a long, hard way with it through rough roads (I do that occasionally, though always carefully), if it's covered with smashed bugs, dirt or mud (been there, done that), WASH THE CAR before you return it. That'll only cost you a few bucks and take a few minutes, but this accomplishes two important things: 1) Once it's clean, that will allow YOU to do the final inspection and document that there are no new flaws that they can charge you for; 2) It shows the car owner that you took good care of their $20,000 investment.

Return the car, and try your best to do that with a little time to spare (not rushing for your flight), during a time when the agency is OPEN. Often (not always) one of the employees will check you in and go over the car's condition with you. Sometimes that's not an option (you have a 4 am flight check-in), that's when the next step becomes 100 times more critical: Repeat your inspection (same as when you got the car), take pictures showing the same (no damage) condition, take notes - this is your proof. If you skip this step, you are defenseless against any after-the-fact claims of damage. Keep your photos and your notes about the car's condition, just in case anything comes up...but since they saw you brought your A Game, they're probably not going to try anything on you.

Continued...

Continued from previous…

A few other tips/suggestions/corrections:

Keep your records (receipts, notes, documentation and photos) organized. Keep them for up to a whole year, just in case you get a surprise months after you trip.

Remember: you used a credit card to pay for the rental. That gives you at least some protection against blatantly fraudulent charges. You can not (and should not) simply dispute charges for real things you bought with the card (people try to do this all the time and the card companies hate it) but it does give you some recourse in case you are clearly cheated.

Rather than just renting a car via a self-service website (where everything is on you), consider renting through a full-service agency that will go to bat for you in case any issues come up, before, during or even long after your rental. Personally, I always get my cars through gemut.com; it typically costs no more than DIY but if there’s any hassle, then you have them in your corner to deal with things. I have never had to invoke this option, but I was once mistakenly cc’ed on another customer’s dispute (other customer had a similar name, they mistakenly looped me in to their email conversation…it was illuminating, seeing what the customer had said and failed to do, and how gemut was trying to negotiate with the rental agency on their behalf). YMMV, but I’m a satisfied customer and will use them again anytime I need a car in Europe.

To correct a point upthread: You get absolutely no protection of any kind by renting from “Avis” (or any other familiar name international corporation) overseas. It’s just a logo. Each local rental agency is owned separately, they are in effect all local small businesses.

If an issue does surface, deal with it promptly. Don’t let six months go by quietly waiting and hoping the wheels are turning. Keep your cool, be polite and professional, but take action and follow up promptly. Have your documentation and your story organized, clear and ready.

I know some folks don’t like renting cars or driving overseas, that’s fine and it’s their choice. Using public transportation is often the best choice and in many places it works beautifully. In other places, having your own wheels is a better choice, and a car can open up vast options that would be extremely slow, difficult or just impossible without having one.

Happy motoring!

I also recommend using Gemut.com. The customer service is outstanding.