Do you know what happens when a rental car gets stolen?
What happens when a rental car gets stolen? This is the question Sanera Maharaj of Durban had to ask herself after bad luck had hit her the second time after her rental car (a VW Polo Vivo) was stolen. For Maharaj the answer was obvious, or so she thought.
Maharaj’s bad luck began a week earlier when she crashed her car. Her insurance policy included car hire in an event like this, and she was directed to First Car, where she was told her liability in the event of damage to or theft of the car would be R3 000.
So, after the VW Polo was stolen she returned to the car rental company with the keys and was invoiced for R3 000, a sum she had expected to pay. However, what she didn’t expect is that a week later she had gotten an invoice of R121 000 – the full value of the car.
“I was told that I was negligent in that I didn’t return the car keys,” she told Consumer Watch.
Maharaj, who is a part-time student, said she had not been warned that if she parked the rental car overnight in a residential street she would be liable in full for the loss if it was stolen.
Responding, First Car Rental’s head of marketing, Melissa Storey, said “the absence of” the car keys always raised suspicion when a rental car was reported stolen by the renter, but in Maharaj’s case “it seems that it was a miscommunication due to too many parties being involved” and the key was eventually found.
However, even though Maharaj had returned the keys, the company had concluded that she had been negligent in parking the car where she did.
“Our terms state that we require the renter to safely secure our vehicle, and that the theft loss waiver does not cover driver negligence,” Storey said.
It is important to note that car rental companies’ vehicles are not insured. The companies “self insure”, with their customers being made to pay “theft/loss waivers”, not to be confused with an insurance excess.
There are the ”obvious” things you can’t do while driving a rental, which will end up with you paying, such as drink-driving. However, here are also some ”not-so-obvious” things which cancel the waiver (things the renter is not aware of, but should be): driving on “unsuitable” roads; driving through a “dust storm”, water or pothole damage, all undercarriage damage and failing to report damage or loss within a stipulated time.
The moral of the story is to always be sure to read the fine print and make absolutely sure what the ”terms and conditions” of certain car rental companies are.
(Source: IOL Motoring)