Expert: Bennie719 - 4/27/2009

Question
Bennie,

Last summer I rented a car from a local rental car company while traveling in Iowa to see my family. Unfortunately, while driving home one evening a deer ran across the road hitting the vehicle and causing approximately $2000 in damages.

I turned the loss into my insurance company and they paid for the balance of my loss with the exception of my $500 deductible AND the administrative costs and the Loss of Use that the rental car company is claiming.

I understand that my insurance company will not pay these fees but I am disputing the validity of these losses with the car rental company and now the collection agency that they have reported me to due to my lack of payment.

I claim that the $50 administrative fee is just a result of doing business and that no additional personnel was hired to handle the loss and should not be justified. I have also requested on several different occasions that they provide me with their detailed vehicle logs for the 7 days which they are claiming Loss of Use. i have stated that once they are able to document and prove that they had to turn away business due to all of their remaining rental cars being rented out that I will pay their request in full. To date they have ignored my request and have since sent me to collections.

I feel that I am getting bullied around and being a former property adjuster myself we always made the insured's document their loss before payment was made so shouldn't they have to live up to the same standards? Is there anything I can do besides dispute their claim in writing or do I need to give in and make the payment?

Thanks for the help,
Troy

Answer
Hi Troy,
Since you are a former adjuster, you are quiet familiar with the legal wording of policies and contracts.

Read your rental contract.  I'm sure that the administration cost is
shown somewhere in the fine print.

The last time that I read a rental contract (many years ago), I understood it to mean that the company was entitled to payment for
loss of use while that particular vehicle was out of service, not that they lost business because all cars of that class had been rented and they had to turn away customers.

Check with your credit card company for reimbursement of all or part of your deductible.  All cards previously provided coverage, but over the past several years most companies have reduced or eliminated their perks while increasing their fees and interest.

I can see how you would like more proof from the rental company, but now that they have turned the matter over to a collection agency it
becomes a lot more serious.

The fact that it has been assigned to a collection agency will appear
as a black mark on your credit reports and if you continue the battle and lose you will be responsible for their attorney fees (it's in the rental contract) plus you will have to hire your own attorney in Iowa
to help you fight the battle in court.  If the collection agency files court action, it will be in Iowa, which was the location of the contract, car rental and accident.  I don't know if your presence would be required or if it could be handled by your attorney.

Although we both know that the situation is a total rip-off, (just another method to try to force you to purchase their "car damage waiver" coverage which costs more per day than the actual rental) the wording of their contract was approved by the state of Iowa and will be enforced there.

I hope that you find this information helpful.  Your feedback by rating my response will be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area