Subject: VISA insurance coverage for rental car accident |
Hello Ziners-
I've been waiting to see the final result of this, our first accident driving overseas in a rental car (which we do several times a year.) In late June we rented a car from Europcar in France through Auto Europe. As we always do, we had paid for the rental with a VISA card, which covers insurance. The rate we had gotten through Auto Europe included CDW as well. While exiting the tiny lane on which our house in France is located, my husband scraped a wall as he tried to avoid a glass bottle in the lane (it was the night of a big party in France, Nuit de Musique, and party-ers had left a bottle or two on the streets). We called Europcar to let them know, but didn't take the car in since it was a minor scrape. We also called the VISA emergency services number to let them know that we'd be filing a claim when we got home, and found out what information we had to get from the rental agency in France. After returning home we began the process of getting reimbursed for the charges which we knew would be on our next credit card bill. The whole deal took several phone calls, over several months, from us to Visa enhancement services, and from them to us. They were never able to get all the documentation (a damage report and detailed repair bill ) they needed from Europcar in France, who did not return their calls or emails (we had the same problem - were promised documentation that never came). The very good end result is that even though they did not receive from Europcar France what they requested, they reimbursed us fully for what Europcar had charged us. Yes, we were "out" the funds, which amounted to $807, for a few months - it was charged to our card on June 29, we paid the bill in full, and received the check today - but we are very happy to see that the entire amount was returned to us. So using the VISA for CDW certainly works! Happy travels- Anne in northern Virginia |