Car rental damages??

[NewDawn]

My parents are contemplating filing a Chapter 7 case and one of the questions they have is regarding car rental damages. They rented a car back on the week of Thanksgiving. About a week before Christmas, the rental car company called and said they they accidentally put diesel fuel in the car. My parents know without a shadow of a doubt that this did not happen. They have called the gas stations where they fueled at and the managers have said there were no incidents of contaminated gas around that timeframe.

They did receive a copy of the repair bill. It does not state a diagnosis or what the labor entailed nor how many hours were involved, but the total bill is $458.00. Could this charge be included in bankruptcy? They have notified their auto insurance agent who said he would fight the charges. What are they supposed to do in the meantime? They have closed their credit card that they used to pay the rental charges.

[JRScott]

How did they pay for fuel during the time of the rental?

If they have receipts clearly showing they purchased gas then it shouldn't be to hard to fight.

However yes it could be discharged in a bk.

[NoMoreCards]

Car/truck manufacturers have built in a deterrent from that happening with the diesel/gas issue. Diesel gas pump openings are much larger than that of gas. So even putting a diesel gas pump into a car's fuel fill spot is next to impossible.

Clearly something is not right here. But as another poster said, get the receipt for the fuel to send to the rental company.

Yes, this would be written off in a BK filing.

[DYLAN150]

NomoreCards: Yea, I rememeber trying to put in the wrong fuel and it wouldn't work, thank God. I don't know what I was thinking, just one of those days.

[NoMoreCards]

It is possible to put gas into Diesel fueled vehicle (small spicket & large opening), but not diesel into gas fueled vehicle (large spicket & small opening)

I drive both gas and diesels daily, so I watch this very carefully. :-)

[lovebirds]

Exactly! You have to be really determined to get diesel into your gas tank.

[iv65536]

Agreed - the diesel nozzle is larger that a gasoline nozzle, and gasoline-powered cars have fuel inlet restrictors. Among other things, I would ask them for a photo of the fuel inlet restrictor on this car. This way you can prove they're full of it, and then discharge 'em anyway. I'd mark it as disputed on the schedule, though.

[Meh]

This falls under your parents insurance liability coverage. This is basically between the rental company and your parents insurance company. If your parents insurance company feel you parents are at fault, they will pay the damages... if they don't (which it seems may be the case) then they will not pay out. The car rental company can't come after your parents directly when they had an active insurance policy at the time of the incident. I have worked in claims for many years and it would be impossible to prove your parents did anything wrong.