Glad I had a credit card

[SMinGA2]

This past Saturday night while I was working (pizza delivery) another car made an illegal left turn and hit me. No one is hurt, and the car can be repaired so I'm grateful.

Anyhow - my insurance company works with Enterprise for direct billing on the rental car. Note: having an accident on Saturday evening is a major hassle. My insurance company could not make arrangements with Enterprise until Monday around 9:00am once someone was assigned to my claim. I can't be without a car...

I found that Avis is open from 11am-5pm, so I picked up a rental car. (Will be reimbursed by my insurance who will get the $ from the other party's insurance, I'm sure.) I swapped that out on Monday morning at 7:30 for a car at Enterprise. Since they could not yet get what they needed from my insurance company, I was able to take the car with a hold on my credit card. Now all the claim stuff has been handled, but I was able to get on my way (to work) without having to wait at Enterprise until all the red tape was worked out.

Now I'm waiting to hear about my car. I think its probably minor/mostly cosmetic but time will tell. Hubby is hoping its totaled out, so we can get a 'new car' but I don't want the hassle. Even with the insurance claim, if that were to happen, buying a 'new' car would be a major pain at this point.

I did lose some $ in income, 5 hours of work Saturday night & a few hours on Sunday. (Since it was an on the job accident, I had to have a workers comp drug screen done before I could return to work.) Would think it reasonable to expect to be compensated from the other party's insurance. Not talking big bucks - but easily $100-125.

[tobee43]

glad it all worked out for you.

all those car rental places take debit cards as well as credit. the only problem with a debit is some of the companies your rent from will put an additional $200 hold on your account. i found that out about two weeks ago when i rented a large 7 seater van. so i had to pull out the old credit car and put it on that, however, when i went to pay for the actual charges i put it on the debit car.

some insurance companies will cover the cost of the rental but others will not. if the other person was at fault it may be reasonable to request the reimburstment, but they may not pay it. what usually happens if it is in fact the other parties fault, your insurance company should go to bat for you and get any expenses paid for you.

best of luck and so glad it wasn't that "bad" of accident and you are ok

[pamkev]

So glad you were not hurt! What happen above is when we are done with everything is why we might think about a cc due to renting a car or holding a motel room then paying cash when we get there.

Pam

[SMinGA2]

Yes, a debit card could have been used. Its not the same though, having a few hundred of your own money - that is needed for groceries, gas, upcoming bills - held indefinitely.

I do have rental coverage on my policy - so even if its not a case of the other person clearly being at fault, I know I'm covered. Cannot go without a car! (In this case though, the other driver was cited & the police report says I could not have avoided it. Other insurance company has already accepted responsibility which makes it easier. Otherwise I'd have had to pay the deductible and then wait for insurance companies to fight it out to get my $ back.)

[SMinGA2]

Update... $3000+ in damage to my car, but cosmetic as I suspected. Hood, bumper, fender, grille, etc. all to be replaced. Due to get it back on the 27th. Fridays are awful for me. (Out of the house at 6:30am, work 2 jobs, home by 2am.) I'm hoping we can do the pickup/turnin of the rental on Saturday. If not - hubby will have to deal with it, but I'm not sure if that will work because his name is not on my car.

[ksgirl38]

Update... $3000+ in damage to my car, but cosmetic as I suspected. Hood, bumper, fender, grille, etc. all to be replaced. Due to get it back on the 27th. Fridays are awful for me. (Out of the house at 6:30am, work 2 jobs, home by 2am.) I'm hoping we can do the pickup/turnin of the rental on Saturday. If not - hubby will have to deal with it, but I'm not sure if that will work because his name is not on my car.

Wow, that's quite a bit. Glad you're okay. Hope the insurance company gets everything settled quickly and you get your car back soon.

[papie]

glad it all worked out for you.

all those car rental places take debit cards as well as credit. the only problem with a debit is some of the companies your rent from will put an additional $200 hold on your account. i found that out about two weeks ago when i rented a large 7 seater van. so i had to pull out the old credit car and put it on that, however, when i went to pay for the actual charges i put it on the debit car.

Just an FYI in case any others may need to rent a car in the future:

Enterprise is usually my choice for car rentals. Most of the neighborhood locations take debit cards with the $200 hold (my local will only hold $100 if I ask them). The airport locations can be sticklers about debit cards though and some of them won't accept them at all unless you have a roundtrip airline ticket.

Speaking of which, a lot of car rental companies will not put a hold on your debit card when you have a roundtrip airline ticket. However, if you don't have an airline ticket, some of them will hold as much as $600 AND do a credit check.