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Fixing collision damaged vehicles is a profit center. They'll bill your insurance for every tangentially related maintenance item they'd been putting off (the b

by hansvm 3y ago

Fixing collision damaged vehicles is a profit center. They'll bill your insurance for every tangentially related maintenance item they'd been putting off (the belt is _obviously_ squeeky because the collision loosened the tensioner, the brakes are worn down because the emergency stop was too aggressive, the windshield fluid won't come out because the shock knocked a wire loose in the electric pump, ...). The car comes out in better shape than it went in.

dmoy 3y ago
Does that still apply in the case of rental car companies that self insure?
- hansvm 3y ago
  In the US, you (and transitively your insurance) are liable as a driver if you cause damage. You can separately have a contract assigning that liability (e.g., the $20/day or so a rental company will often offer to waive basically all physical damage to the car at a $0 deductible). I assume it's that latter sort of thing you're referring to? I'm not sure how they handle cars damaged under those sorts of policies. I do know those policies are also wildly profitable (I've never come close to approaching eqv. $7300/yr for insurance, despite a horrible driving record when I was younger). Rental cars don't even crash 1.5x as often per mile, so a 5-20x multiple on your premium is noteworthy.
  - SoftTalker 3y ago
    If you rent cars frequently, consider getting a credit card that includes free collision damage waiver and loss-of-use coverage for rental cars. The coverage you buy from the rental company is a massive rip-off, that's why credit cards can offer it for free as a perquisite.
KennyBlanken 3y ago
That pales in comparison to the charges for lost income they claim they would have received from the car while it was out of service. 90% of their fleet at that location might sit unused for a week or more, and most of their rentals are steeply discounted from the standard rate - but that car you backed into a pole? Why, that one would have been earning them the standard rate, every day.
dboreham 3y ago
Counter-point: I rent cars fairly frequently and over the past 30 years I've had three damaged. Case 1 windshield hit by rock and cracked. Case 2 creased driver door via grey pillar in gray colored underground parking lot. Case 3 semi truck with those pointy front wheel nuts max-maxed my passenger door with them. In all three cases the outcome was positive. No excess charges or shenanigans. otoh Hertz have twice billed me for damage I definitely did not cause. In one case for a scratch on the front air dam that you had to lie down under the vehicle to see (which their agent in fact did when I returned the car). So now I use Avis.

by hansvm 3y ago

dmoy 3y ago

Does that still apply in the case of rental car companies that self insure?

hansvm 3y ago
In the US, you (and transitively your insurance) are liable as a driver if you cause damage. You can separately have a contract assigning that liability (e.g., the $20/day or so a rental company will often offer to waive basically all physical damage to the car at a $0 deductible). I assume it's that latter sort of thing you're referring to? I'm not sure how they handle cars damaged under those sorts of policies. I do know those policies are also wildly profitable (I've never come close to approaching eqv. $7300/yr for insurance, despite a horrible driving record when I was younger). Rental cars don't even crash 1.5x as often per mile, so a 5-20x multiple on your premium is noteworthy.
- SoftTalker 3y ago
  If you rent cars frequently, consider getting a credit card that includes free collision damage waiver and loss-of-use coverage for rental cars. The coverage you buy from the rental company is a massive rip-off, that's why credit cards can offer it for free as a perquisite.

KennyBlanken 3y ago

That pales in comparison to the charges for lost income they claim they would have received from the car while it was out of service. 90% of their fleet at that location might sit unused for a week or more, and most of their rentals are steeply discounted from the standard rate - but that car you backed into a pole? Why, that one would have been earning them the standard rate, every day.

dboreham 3y ago

Counter-point: I rent cars fairly frequently and over the past 30 years I've had three damaged. Case 1 windshield hit by rock and cracked. Case 2 creased driver door via grey pillar in gray colored underground parking lot. Case 3 semi truck with those pointy front wheel nuts max-maxed my passenger door with them. In all three cases the outcome was positive. No excess charges or shenanigans. otoh Hertz have twice billed me for damage I definitely did not cause. In one case for a scratch on the front air dam that you had to lie down under the vehicle to see (which their agent in fact did when I returned the car). So now I use Avis.