Recently I came across a very interesting article about a car hire insurance horror story from the US. A gentleman rented a Dodge Ram Dakota pickup from Enterprise car hire company and because he had a Business Visa Card that included rental car damage waiver protection he didn’t want the the extra $19.95-a-day damage insurance offered by Enterprise.
He wasn’t really happy with the pickup truck because it was too big for his very small parking space. Unfortunately when he was manouvering out of his parking space he crashed the rental car. He returned it back immediately and Enterprise told him they will call him with the estimate next they. He thought that there’s about $2,000 worth of repairs needed. Although he didn’t worry much because he had the rental car damage waiver protection by Visa. He called their customer service where he was informed that he doesn’t qualify for the coverage.
Why? Because certain cars and trucks are not included in rental car insurance coverage and anybody can find this piece of information on Visa’s website:
Excluded worldwide are: expensive, exotic, and antique automobiles; certain vans; vehicles that have an open cargo bed; trucks; motorcycles, mopeds, and motorbikes; limousines; and recreational vehicles.
The same applies for Mastercard:
Excluded: All trucks, pickups, full-size vans mounted on truck chassis, campers, off-road vehicles, and other recreational vehicles; trailers, motorbikes, motorcycles, and any other vehicle having fewer than four wheels; antique vehicles.
The gentleman in the story said:
I guess the moral of this story is that you should never assume your insurance policy covers you in all scenarios. Whether it’s auto, health, home or life insurance, make sure you know the ins and outs of your coverage. And even if you think you’ll never get into an accident, plan for it. Don’t be the $2,000 idiot I was and assume you’re covered.
Finally he got a bill for $3,700. He will definitely learn from his mistake.
