Rental car sustains minor damage. What should I do?

Ok, here’s the story: a couple of weeks ago, my car was involved in an accident. The accident was completely the fault of the other party involved, and was ruled as such. Fast forward to a few days ago; I’m talking to the faulted driver’s insurance company, and am informed that while my car is being fixed they will arrange for my use of a rental car. I go down and pick out the car; this is one of the major rental chains, no mom-and-pop shop. While there, they offer me the usual insurance, and being that it costs $15+ per day, and I figure its worth the risk, I decline to purchase it.

Anyway, last night I was out, and had left my car in a public lot. At the end of the night I return, get in the car, and drive home. Upon arriving, I check out the car – I’ve been nervous about someone dinging it and getting left holding the bag, so I check the exterior frequently. Sure enough, there is a very noticeable (about 8 inches long, and fairly wide) paint scrape on the front bumper. There is no structural damage, fortunately; I checked everything thoroughly, and there is no damage to anything but the plastic/fiberglass front bumper. The damage there seems to consist solely of the scraping, with no alteration in the shape of the bumper.

This brings us to now; I’m wondering what my best course of action is. I have a basic “full coverage” insurance policy from State Farm which covers the car that is currently being repaired. (Well, being that it is a financed car, I know that it has more than liability coverage, as collision is required here when financing a car). The deductable on this policy is $1000.

I have not filed a police report yet, though plan to if this is the proper course of action. Similarly, I have not yet discussed this with either my insurer, the insurer who is paying for the rental car, or the car rental company itself.

What, then, should I do to remedy this in the best (and cheapest to me) way possible? If I simply report the incident to the rental company, and they file a claim with my insurance company, will I be responsible for the cost up to $1000? I have an acquaintance who does fairly inexpensive paint work; would it be a good idea to have him do the bumper, and simply not tell the rental company about the incident? If the best thing to do is to go through insurance, who should I talk to first? If I do go through insurance, will this raise my rates – despite it not being my fault?

Ugh. Very irritating situation. Especially the fact that purchasing the “extended warranty”-equivalent would have saved me much hassle, yet I declined it, knowing that such policies are intended to turn a profit for the rental agency.

So, has anyone ever been in a similar situation? Anybody work for a rental car company, an insurer, a mechanic, or anthing else that might come into play here? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

When you rented the car, did you use a credit card to secure it? If so, your credit card company may have already provided insurance.

Your own insurance company may protect the car as part of your liability coverage. It could be safely argued that you damaged the car (by parking it in an unsafe place). This means you are liable for damage to a vehicle that is not yours. There is no deductible for liability claims.

So:

  1. Look at your credit card agreement;
  2. Talk to your own insurance agent. You can talk to him/her without making a claim. If you think the agent isn’t straight with you, read the policy yourself.

If your own car would be covered then the rental car should be covered. Credit card coverage is minimal and would only cover third party liability. That’s my experience.

It wasn’t secured with a credit card, anyway, so I doubt thats an option; I recently read that AmEx (the card I use) quit offering rental car insurance perks about a year ago (though the article was short on specifics), so it may not have mattered anyway.

Let me elaborate.

My State Farm agent explained that my auto liability coverage will pay the owner of any vehicle I damage (up to the coverage limits). This includes even instances where I damage someone else’s car by driving it. Of course, it does not cover activity involving a crime, such as stealing someone’s car.

I asked about this when I was renting a UHaul truck. Of course, the replacement cost of the truck exceeded my liability coverage. I figured that I was unlikely to have an event where the truck would be a total loss. If I had, UHaul’s pursuing me for to replace the truck would pale in comparison to having all of my stuff strewn across the highway.

Fortunately, I have never had to file a liability claim of any type, so I cannot say that I have tested my agent’s assertion.

Look inside the driver’s side door.

Find the paint code on the sticker.
Go to an auto paint store, & give the code to the counter guy.

You can probably buy a spray can full.

Spray it over, let it dry, & say nothing.

It may work.

Bosda: I’m considering that, but aren’t the risks in doing this considerable? If it doesn’t look right, will I be in trouble legally for some sort of attempted fraud?

I like ** Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor**'s idea, also since you have access to your aquaintance who does car painting, I would consider that as well (most likely 1st)

Heck, is it that noticeable? I’d be inclined to ignore it. I’ve never noticed the return inspections to be very thorough.

I scraped a rented car in the UK (with them driving on the wrong side and all). On the way to return it I stopped by a hardware store and the only thing I found was a tiny can of paint of the type used for models. They didn’t even have a brush so I made one with paper from a magazine. I applied the paint and returned the car. I held my breath when the guy walked around it because if you looked closely you could see it. He said nothing and I was relieved.

If it is just a paint scrap your buddy who paints the car might be able to buff the bumper and remove the paint (from the other car) if he does have to paint it blending the paint so it looks back to normal should be no problem either.Go see your friend and let him give you a professional opinion. If there is no dent then mostlikely it is going to be an easy fix for him.

If he can restore the bumper to the condition it was in when you rented it… why let all the paper work people know about it?

I cannot say for certian but sounds like you might be out a case of beer for your buddy.

Best of luck
Osip

While the insurance company might cover it this wouldn’t be liability coverage. Your policy is likely to be transferable to a car rented to replace yours while it is in the shop. Of course, the damage you describe would probably be less then the deductable for a hit and run so that isn’t much help.

I would go the touch up route myself.

By the way, rental car insurance is very often close to a scam. I have seen contracts from reputable rental companies where the fine print would seem to exclude almost any imaginable accident. In many cases you are covered by your own insurance or credit card company anyway but they will almost never advise you of that.

Get your buddy to spray it. Even if they spot it (which they won’t) they have to prove that you did it, which you will of course deny angrily while threatening legal action. It was obviously a previous renter, how dare they accuse you of something like that. It’s just like refilling the mini bar at the hotel with the late night chocolates you couldn’t resist.

don’t ask: just curious - are yourself a liar, or do you merely counsel others to lie?

For who is already covered, see here.

Even if you are not covered, I would question whether you should take the insurance. At $15 a day, that is the equivalent of $5,500 a year just for collision insurance. You wouldn’t do that for your own car. If you don’t take the insurance, be very careful to check the car before you drive off, though.

Use the paint can and return the car at night, at whatever time they might be really busy. If the insurance company finds out, you’ll pay more in raised premiums than what the paint job would cost.

Bricker: just curious - if this happened to you, when you returned the car, would you call the car inspector over, point out the scrape, assure him that it happened while the car was in your care, and offer to pay whatever he believes it will cost to repair the damage? And refuse to leave until they guarantee that you’ll be billed for the damage? Maybe you could also tell him that you made some short stops in the car, thereby shortening the life of the brake pads, and offer to chip in for the cost of a brake job.

I think what some people in this thread are trying to do is find that middle ground between “liar” and “patsy!” After all, the rental company isn’t letting you use their car for free. When they set their rates, they’re certainly figuring that they have to cover a certain number of minor scrapes and dings.

The renter is now morally and legally obligated to point the damage out to the owner, rather than trying to cover it up.

If he had not been so careful in noticing the condition of the car paint before and after, he could have just returned it in and if the damage was spotted, claim he hadn’t noticed.

Perhaps his own car insurance might cover it.

The moral of the story is that no good deed goes unpunished. If you take more than ordinary care and spot something wrong only because of that increased attention, you can’t revert back to the lower standard.

I’d have to see the car first. It’s happened to me before twice, I just take some soap & water & clean it up, sometimes I have to scrub it a bit.

Let me see if I can take a picture of the scrape. Its not a little pockmark; if they don’t notice this, they aren’t doing their job. Thanks much for all the suggestions.