Using cheap car rental how to defend yourself from alleged claims of damage

An increasing number of people who take a rented vehicle out on the public roads are discovering a problem when they return home. Having left the vehicle in what they believed was the same condition as when they drove it away, a bill for repairs then arrives (often with an additional administrative fee to boost the total). Not surprisingly, most renters think themselves the victim of a scam but what should the reaction be and how can you avoid the risk in future?

With the economy doing badly, cheap car rental companies are feeling pressure on their profits and so resort to a little exaggeration to keep themselves solvent. This means an employee will go over your vehicle with a fine tooth-comb and any damage, no matter how trivial, will be billed. So write and ask the renter for evidence of the damage and independent quotes for repairs. This may not deter the companies from pursuing you, but it will make it more difficult if you appear willing to pay for damage that’s proved to have occurred and for labor charges that are verified. It’s useful to ask for your own expert to be allowed access to the vehicle to verify the damage. If you paid for the rental using your credit card, ask what insurance cover is available. It’s also worth asking what insurance the rental company has in place.

The next time you rent, take pictures of the vehicle when you collect it and ensure the pictures have a date and time code. If you see any marks, no matter how trivial, make a note on the rental documents before you drive away. When you return the vehicle, take a second set of pictures showing whether there are any new marks. If there are none, ask the representative of the cheap car rental company to certify no new damage in writing or on camera. Only if you get good quality evidence that the vehicle was not damaged while in your possession can you effectively resist these usually spurious claims. Never be in a hurry when you pick up or drop off a rental vehicle. Protect yourself!


Using cheap car rental how to defend yourself from alleged claims of damage

How to Keep Safe on Roads and Get Cheaper Rates: Top 4 Tips

Whether you have a new car or an old one, it is imperative that you take into consideration certain safety measures to ensure that you and your family is safe while riding the said vehicle. Staying safe on the road and being road safe i.e. a safe driver also can get lower car insurance premiums. Here are the top 4 tips to keep in mind if you want to be safe while driving and for you to get a lower premium on your car insurance.

Safety Features

All the safety features of your car should always be in good, working order. Your airbags should be working, the seatbelts should be maintained and your brakes should always be checked by your mechanic. To ensure that you get the best car insurance rates, you should also make sure that your car has an alarm system in case someone tries to drive away with your vehicle.

Maintain a Clean Record At The DMV

Follow all traffic rules. If you always get a speeding ticket or a ticket because you keep beating the stop light, you will never get a clean record at the DMV. Keeping a good record at the DMV is not only good for your driving reputation but will also ensure that you get a good deal from your insurer because the safer driver you are, the lower your car insurance premiums will be. Driving under the influence does not help in maintaining a good, clean record at the DMV and this gets a special mention because a number of Americans get arrested for drinking under the influence. If you are drunk, have your spouse drive or have someone to come pick you up.

Fluids

Regular checking of leaks in your engine is a good way for you to make sure that everything is working fine. Your engine oil should be changed every time too it reaches a certain number of miles. All fluids such as antifreeze, engine oil, brake fluid etc should all be in good working order.

Take It Slow

Doing it the fast and the furious way is only made for the movies and these guys have a lot of money to spend on gas. If you drive slow, you are less likely to be involved in an accident and you get to save on gas too!


How to Keep Safe on Roads and Get Cheaper Rates: Top 4 Tips

Quotes may be risen due to an internet attacks on the carinsurance company

In the good old days before the internet, people who were aggrieved by their treatment at the hands of large corporations had only little voices to complain. The only chance of getting any compensation was if the newspapers picked up the stories. Except this didn’t happen often because the large corporations were advertisers and had leverage over the editors’s decisions on what to print. With the arrival of the internet, you now have a louder voice, but the ability to publish your own content does not give you any better visibility. Tens of thousands post content every day so, to get noticed, you have to have a good story and luck. If lightning strikes, your complaint goes viral and all the social media amplify your voice. Now this is a PR disaster and the large corporation has no choice but to act. But, more often than not, the lone posting on the personal blog or the Facebook page or the complaints site goes unnoticed and the victim stays a victim without compensation.

To understand this, we need to go back to 2010 in Baltimore. An underinsured driver passed through a red light and killed another driver on the junction. The deceased driver had an car insurance policy that was supposed to pay out up to $100,000 if an uninsured or underinsured driver caused injury or death. The insurer decided to believe the “other” driver’s version of events. The law of Maryland allows an insurer to refuse payment if their own driver was in any degree to blame for the accident. In a trial on the issue, the insurer therefore paid an attorney to argue its own policyholder was 1% to blame for the collision by driving through traffic lights on green. Needless to say, the jury was not impressed.

Thanks to the firestorm, the insurer has now reached a settlement with the family of the deceased but, if it now becomes more generous in its settlement strategy, the car insurance quotes must rise. It kept car insurance quotes low by being Scrooge. Now the internet has forced it to act, we may all have to pay more.


Quotes may be risen due to an internet attacks on the carinsurance company