Insurance Deductible and Rental Car Fee

Dragu1a

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So my fiancées jeep is at the body shop from when she went into a ditch and her insurance policy apparently doesn't include a rental car.

She is paying out of pocket for a rental car, at nearly $200 a week. It's already been 10 days, the shop told her the parts will be in on Monday then it'll be almost another 2 weeks worth of work. That'll be close to $800 in rental car fees...is there any way to get Allstate to count that towards her deductible?
 

thomas91169

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No, why should they count that towards her deductible when they offered her rental car reimbursement and she declined?
 

Dragu1a

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It's an out of pocket expense for her vehicle repair...her tow fee was considered part of her deductible.
 

thomas91169

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call them up and see. They might have a discount with the rental companies, I know when I had AAA they got me like 1/2 price rentals from Avis with some code.
 

Torch10th

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No, which is why you should pay the fee for rental coverage on your insurance contract. Most policies it'll literally be a couple bucks a month.
 

KingJacobo

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Nope. I work for the largest rental car company, and unless you add rental reimbursement you will pay around that for a rental.

However, if you do have rental coverage and don't want that boring Chrysler 200 insurance is paying for, you can get the sweet Challenger/Mustang/not so boring econobox in the lot for just a little bit out of pocket. If you've ever been interested in trying a specific car, do it when you need to rent a car through insurance. It will be really cheap and you can test drive the car for more than a few minutes at a dealer lot.
 
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Dragu1a

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Bummer. Just wishful thinking I guess.

I didn't realize she had such a bare bones policy until this happened...which is why she'll dropping hers and just getting added to mine after the wedding.

Thanks for the replies.
 

AAG

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Does she need a rental on the weekends? Why not rent it for the days she absolutely needs it?

And an insurance company isn't going to count the rental out of pocket towards her deductible. The deductible is what is owed to the bodyshop, period. The rental bill is a SOL expense since she refused to pay an extra $5/month for the coverage unfortunately.

I learned my lesson a while back and added it to my policy.
 

Jefe

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Before paying the invoice, ask your adjuster to see if they can get you a "preferred" rate based on having an open insurance claim but no reimbursement coverage. If that doesnt work, try the same thing with the rental car manager. I bet they will knock $5-10 off per day

BTW most body shops offer rental car incentives. See if the shop will cover some it
 

blackfang

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I agree that they should not cover any of it. She was offered it and declined it. I have $900 in rental coverage on both vehicle policies and it only cost $20 on the policy. I have 4 times the amount of coverage on my policy than what my state requires. If the wife smacks into a Mercedes it is covered.
 
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mavericks-03svt

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I am an insurance adjuster and deal with this situation every day. Call the rental agency and negotiate the rates. They should match the Allstate rates without any argument and may be able to get a little better rate. if she is already getting the Allstate rate, tell her to get out of the car she is in and get the cheapest pos they have. They have 24.99 per day and cheaper beaters and sometimes offer 9.99 weekend specials. Negotiate with them and you can save some cash.

towing cost is included with comp/collision coverage when there is a covered loss and if she paid the tow bill out of pocket it will be applied towards her deductible. and yes others have already said it correctly, the rental expense does not apply to the deductible since there is a separate rental reimbursement coverage available that does not have a deductible.

My question is what is the hold up on parts at the shop? Most shops can get parts next day with ease. Did you adjuster jack around and take 3-4 days to write the estimate and then figure some LKQ part 3 states away? Oh yea, If the adjuster figured a bunch of aftermarket parts then most of the time DCJ will part match OEM prices to the aftermarket one and still will deliver the parts next day. I would call the shop and let them know you are paying for rental out of your own pocket and need help with getting the repairs done quickly and try to find out what is taking so long on parts. If it is a decent shop they will help and try not to stall on the repairs.
 
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Camaro_94

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No, why should they count that towards her deductible when they offered her rental car reimbursement and she declined?

Exactly.

They're not going to cover it and you shouldn't expect them to either. Your problem lies with the body shop and not your insurance company.
 

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