Holiday Car Hire Break-in not covered?

scattycat69

I am posting this for a friend who went to Italy on holiday and hired a car through carhire3000.com (which is part of traveljigsaw.com). He took out the additional Damage Excess Refund 1 to the policy to cover the access in event of a claim.
Unfortunately someone broke into the hire car and tried to start it by breaking the steering column. This was reported to the police and Avis where the car had come from. But because he had not booked direct they picked the damaged car up, but he had to get back to the airport to pick up a replacement car. When he returned the replacement car he was advised that his credit card would be charged with the cost of the damage to the car (569.11 euros). The charge to his credit card was £518.89
He emailed carhire3000.com and sent all the documents to assist with the claim for the refund of the excess, bearing in mind he had taken out the damage excess refund 1 ontop of his policy.traveljigsaw.com have since contacted him to say that they would not be refunding the excess taken from his credit card as it was damage to the inside of the car, due to the attempted theft, which is not covered.

Does anyone have any advice on if this is correct or should he take this further to get the money back.

It does seem unfair that aswell as the normal insurance he took out an additional policy to cover the access.

huckster

If the Insurer is UK based, then they should follow the complaint process of the Insurer and go to the FOS if necessary. Without having sight of the policy terms, difficult to comment. Sounds a bit odd. If you pay for an excess waiver, can't see why this would not apply to a theft situation. I would not be happy.

vaio

policy wording says.......

Damage caused to the windows, windscreen, glass, interior, personal belongings, wheels and/or tyres, the roof or undercarriage
Where the driver is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol
Where the driver was not a named driver on the rental agreement
Towing charges or damage caused by the rental vehicle being towed by an unauthorised third party
Off road time as a result of damage
Where the vehicle has been driven negligently or without due car & attention, including driving off road & on un-tarmacked roads
Damage to contents or people in the vehicle
Theft of the vehicle

think you are going to struggle to get the money back.

mikey72

vaio wrote: »

policy wording says.......

Damage caused to the windows, windscreen, glass, interior, personal belongings, wheels and/or tyres, the roof or undercarriage
Where the driver is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol
Where the driver was not a named driver on the rental agreement
Towing charges or damage caused by the rental vehicle being towed by an unauthorised third party
Off road time as a result of damage
Where the vehicle has been driven negligently or without due car & attention, including driving off road & on un-tarmacked roads
Damage to contents or people in the vehicle
Theft of the vehicle

think you are going to struggle to get the money back.

Doesn't leave much to actually cover does it?

raskazz

vaio wrote: »

policy wording says.......

Damage caused to the windows, windscreen, glass, interior, personal belongings, wheels and/or tyres, the roof or undercarriage
Where the driver is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol
Where the driver was not a named driver on the rental agreement
Towing charges or damage caused by the rental vehicle being towed by an unauthorised third party
Off road time as a result of damage
Where the vehicle has been driven negligently or without due car & attention, including driving off road & on un-tarmacked roads
Damage to contents or people in the vehicle
Theft of the vehicle

think you are going to struggle to get the money back.

I think it's worth a complaint. That wording excludes theft of the vheicle - but the incident the OP describes was not theft of the vehicle, it was an attempted theft of the vehicle, and if damage was caused to the ignition etc I would argue that that element of the loss was not damage to the interior as such but damage to the mechanism integral to the vehicle.

vaio

mikey72 wrote: »

Doesn't leave much to actually cover does it?

What did you expect? They are insurance companies after all!

Seriously, it seems that most companies (inc Avis & Carhire 3000) offer two products, collision damage waiver and a separate theft damage waiver product.

vaio

raskazz wrote: »

I think it's worth a complaint. That wording excludes theft of the vheicle - but the incident the OP describes was not theft of the vehicle, it was an attempted theft of the vehicle.

but wouldn't the first exclusion (glass, interior etc) rule out a claim in any event?

huckster

It would appear they took out what they call damage excess refund product. This does not include theft or attempted theft.

They sell a separate cover for theft.

Theft Waiver
(TW) reduces the renter's liability in the event of theft or damages caused due to theft or attempted theft of the vehicle to an excess amount where applicable. Negligence connected with the theft of the vehicle may lead to the car hire company requiring the full amount for the cost of the vehicle.

scattycat69

Thanks for all the replies which have been interesting to see other people's point of view.

When he took out the policy he was offered the damage excess refund 1 but nothing for theft. Guess it's one of those situations that yo are wiser after the event.

He may go down the route as described by raskazz (thanks) and argue the damages was to the mechanism rather than the actual vehicle.

It all seems a bit unfair when you take out insurance to cover and assume you are covered for all eventualities (I know read the small print.... but who has the time or savvy to understand it all)

Thanks again to all the posts

scattycat69

Would it be worth taking to small claims court? Or would that just be laughable ?

Bill_Hoole

We rented a car for a short trip abroad.
As we wanted peace of mind we paid extra for extra insurance protection with aZero Excess waiver cover (this supposedly means that all theft and damage iscovered except the tyres, windows, underside and some interior parts of thecar) but you are covered fully for accidental damage & theft supposedly).When you receive your rental confirmation voucher you don`t get a reallydetailed set of terms and conditions - more about this later.

Whilst abroad our hire car was broken into and the stereo and some personalbelongings out of sight in the boot were taken.

All proper procedures as per the rental were followed and the theft reportedcorrectly to the police and rental agencies.
On return of the hire car at our departure airport we were told that we wouldhave no further costs to pay as it was all included under our Zero excesscover.

Imagine our surprise when we were charged £361 on our credit card for the theftof the radio.
When we queried this with Travel Jigsaw / Carhire 3000 / Rentalcars.com we weregiven lots of different reasons. The main one was that the small print (whichisn`t detailed enough) says that interior damage isn`t covered under the Zeroexcess policy. This was clearly theft. I was even informed in one e-mail thatthe damaged lock (clearly not inside the vehicle or underneath/part of awindow/tyre) was also included in the costs.

Basically the rental firm sell you extra Zero Excess insurance which appears tobe worthless as they shift the meaning and covered items around as they seefit.
I would advise anyone reading this to avoid hiring a car via the Travel Jigsawgroup who also go under the names of Carehire 3000 or Rentalcars.com.

Some other reviews regarding this company can be viewed online Just type in "Traveljigsaw complaints"into a Google search engine and see what rears it`s ugly head.

We only wish we had searched for other peoples experiences prior to renting acar via this company. We will certainly not be utilising their services everagain.