Holiday Car Hire Break-in not covered?

lucachris_2

Hi, I've just registered with this forum and found it very interesting that a number of people had almost the exact same experience I had with TRAVEL JIGSAW (CARHIRE3000) now renamed
RENTALCARS.COM. I too was advised to pay for all the extra insurance for damage waiver etc. The car was broken into outside our hotel in France and then told I wasn't covered. I had to personally pay for the damage to the car after an 'attempted theft'. They advised me to claim the excess payable from my travel insurance under Personal Liability, but they wouldn't pay out because I didn't cause the damage someone else did!! :mad:To be honest, I haven't furthered the complaint - as yet - that is. I did speak with consumer direct who seemed to support my issue with both insurance company, but I just haven't yet had the time to pursue it. I'm certain insurance companies are aware that most people don't have the time nor inclination and rely on this when they make it difficult for a comsumer to obtain redress for such things.
After all clearly the terms and conditions relating to these extra optional charges are misleading, otherwise we wouldn't all be caught out by them.
I also wonder why this particular company has:
a) changed their name, and
b) trade under different names at one time
To fragment any bad reviews maybe???
Has anyone had any luck yet with their complaints TRAVEL JIGSAW (CARHIRE3000) now renamed
RENTALCARS.COM. If so, please post details..

scattycat69 wrote: »

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.