Car rental from Hertz - Collision Damage Waiver

youth_leader

Hello, my daughter and her boyfriend flew in to Newcastle airport from Belfast just after Christmas, I said I would pay for her to hire a car. She was staying with friends in the next village to me.

She hired a car through Hertz at Newcastle airport. Unfortunately we had very bad snowfall a few days later and on her way to visit me the car skidded on the ice/snow and she hit a bank.

The car had to be towed back to Newcastle airport. She said the bumper had broken and seemed to be stuck on the tyre. I didn't see any photos. Her very good friend she was staying with had snow tyres on and managed to drive them to Newcastle for the train.

She has finally received a 'Hertz Damages Notification' email asking for £1745. I had said I would pay for the damage as I had offered to pay for the hire. Now I am older I have driving nerves and can't collect her from the airport.

"Dear customer, As the Collision Damage Waiver was purchased for this rental you are liable for the losses resulting from the damage to the vehicle up to the policy excess amount. This liability under the terms of your Rental Agreement with Hertz UK Ltd remains your responsiblity irrespective of liability for the incident in which this damage was sustained."

Is there anything she can do? Should she have paid the 'Super' Collision Damage Waiver to avoid this?

cpbackhouse

Sorry to hear about this.

Normally when I hire a car I take out a separate policy to cover claim excesses. It is always much cheaper than using the products offered by the hire company.
I've generally pick one of the ones listed here, which ever came out cheapest.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire/#excess

youth_leader

Thank you. It was all done in such a rush, she only had a few days here. In the past I would have collected them but I can't drive in the dark anymore, I just can't see well enough.

Woodstok2000

Unfortunately the excess is the bit your daughter (or you) need to pay, so there's not much you can do.

youth_leader

Thank you very much. I do have the details and will quietly pay it.

ROY47

Taken from your 1st post

Dear customer, As the Collision Damage Waiver was purchased for this rental

If that is correct saying it was purchased you shouldn't have to pay

Or does it say was not purchased and you've typed it wrong ?

I

WellKnownSid

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81938926#Comment_81938926

It must have been purchased otherwise the bill would have been a lot lot higher.

CDW generally reduces the cost of damage to the low thousands.

Super Mega Hyper whatever CDW will reduce it to zero / hundreds but it’s much cheaper to just buy a separate policy.

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81938926#Comment_81938926

No, the collision damage waiver was purchased, but it has an excess. The excess is what needs to be paid (rather than the full cost of the repair, which would have been due if the collision damage waiver had not been purchased).

youth_leader

@ROY47 - yes, they did purchase it but I've now had information from kind posters on here and see that they could have got cheaper, better insurance elsewhere.

There are some negative reviews on the web where people feel the Damage charges are excessive. I do not have the full documentation for the repair work and will not be challenging it. I told my daughter when it happened not to worry and I would pay it. She and her boyfriend have a very large mortgage and every penny is accounted for.

My daughter was terribly terribly upset when it happened but I am glad she and her boyfriend are still in one piece. Many of the windy country roads here are not gritted and now I've got rid of my 4x4 I won't go out if it icy.

Thank you.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81938926#Comment_81938926

In principle if you dont buy the waiver then you have no cover for any damage you do to the vehicle and so would have an uncapped liability. In practice cars on a B2C basis can't be hired without CDW in the UK but in other countries you can… in the US and Canada its relatively common for premium credit cards to cover damage to hire cars as a benefit. Even in the UK American Express Platinum and Centurion cards include this as part of the insurance package you get for "free"

The standard CDW typically will come with a significant deductible, it's not legally insurance so I personally wouldnt call it an excess but thats just me. Therefore step in the Super CDW or whatever other creative name the marketing team has come up with which is an add on product that will reduce the deductible or potentially remove it completely.

Given the OP had CDW not SCDW it's likely there was a deductible of potentially a couple of grand. Given the value they are being asked to pay it's likely the damage was below that of the deductible. Having bought SCDW this would likely have been smaller or zero or altneraively they could buy a hire car excess insurance policy from a third party which means they'd still be paying what they've been asked for but would likely be able to recover it from the insurance after.

Also worth noting that CDW and SCDW often excludes certain events like damage to the underside of the car from grounding or damage to the roof from going into a restricted height (obv more relevant for vans). The better excess insurance policies give at least reasonable cover for these too.

youth_leader

Thank you. If she visits again and hires a car I will make sure they take out a policy from one of the suggestions given above.