Back in June, I rented a car from Hertz. We were in stop and go traffic. We stopped. The guy behind us didn't. Smack.

Now, Hertz is harassing me to pay for the rental, despite the fact that the guy who hit us gave us his insurance info (Allstate) and admitted his own fault in the wreck. Hertz is sending us threatening letters. I had an email exchange with the Hertz specialist that boiled down to the fact that he couldn't manage to get a hold of the guy who hit us, therefore we need to pay for the damage to the car.

Any advice on how I'm supposed to deal with this? Should I get my own insurance involved? Should I try to reach the guy who hit us? Should I contact his own insurance carrier? Very frustrating.

I'm assuming you paid by credit card, but that your card issuer doesn't offer rental insurance... And that you didn't take the optional insurance offered to you by the rental company.

I'd probably call my own insurance company first and explain the situation to them. They can likely follow up with the police or the rental company or at the very least let you know how to proceed.

I always use one of my credit cards that carries full rental insurance so I don't have to worry about situations like this. I like driving the rental knowing that I can pretty much bring it back in any condition and it'll be covered by my credit card's insurance carrier. You have to decline the rental company's insurance when you book with this type of credit card coverage.

I'm convinced the only people who know how to deal with insurance companies are insurance companies. If you turn it over to yours, they should know the right way to say "come back with a court order". Of course, we're all afraid of our premiums going through the roof, so no one wants to use their insurance for what it's for.

Did you get the other drivers insurance information and/or file a police report? In a lot of jurisdictions you can file a police report online and never have to talk to anyone.

I'd love to see the fine print on this. Every agreement I've read lists credit card insurance as secondary insurance to your car insurance. There used to be one or two out there that weren't, but they weren't your run of the mill platinum card.

Back in the 90's I had a Gold MasterCard and a Gold Visa that offered really good car rental insurance, automatic life insurance
on airplane tickets, baggage loss insurance, and none of the rip-off currency conversion fees when you used it overseas.

Then, of course, all Gold cards got "upgraded" to Platinum cards
and all of these features disappeared....

I've read the fine print. On both my Gold Visa cards that offer this service, the insurance is the primary insurance and you must decline any other insurance offered to you by the rental company. In terms of damage, the coverage is 100%. Personal and medical coverage is also offered on top of that, but that's outside the scope of the rental insurance. The insurance is global, with the exclusion of combat zones and a few other bits not generally applicable to a vacation or business trip I'd be on.

Policies are underwritten by generally well-known insurance companies. Unfortunately the US credit card industry seems to be a lot different than the Canadian, so I have no idea how my coverage compares to products in other markets.

Yes, secondary, and correct.

My credit card does have insurance, but I'm pretty sure it's secondary. I'd just assume not deal with them yet. My normal auto insurance covers rentals, with a $500 collision deductible (versus the $1500 of damage, according to Hertz).

I called my own insurance (Amica) and was speaking to a human agent within minutes. They said I can file a claim with them, pay my deductible, and they'd conduct an investigation, giving me back my deductible if/when they determined that I wasn't at fault. Alternately, they said I could file a claim directly with the other guy's insurance (Allstate). I just called them and they said it was a 46 minute wait queue. I'm going for lunch, then I'll give them a shot later today.

*sigh*

Wow, sounds like your insurance company sucks. With mine, i'd just call my broker and they'd do the legwork, including tracking down and obtaining the payment from the other party's insurance company. That's what I'm paying them for after all.

I'm surprised your insurance company won't seek the damages directly from the other company without you first having to pay a deductible - which you're obviously not liable for considering you weren't at fault.

I've only ever had this type of experience with my own car, not a rental, so perhaps your insurance company is only unwilling to go the extra mile in this particular case.

"just as soon"

I just got back from lunch and called Allstate (the insurance of the guy who hit me) again. This time, the hold queue is only "11 to 13 minutes" long. They let you enter a callback number and hang up. We'll see how this goes. If Allstate gives me grief, I'll just have my own insurance (Amica) deal with the problem and I'll pay out the $500 if I have to. And I'll need to sort out the extent to which my credit card would cover the $500.

I'd just as soon assume I had it right, but a quick Google search has shown me the error of my ways.

After ten minutes on the phone with Allstate (the insurance company for the guy who hit me), I learned that the other guy actually filed a claim, but that Hertz had never bothered to ask for any money. Instead, they've just been pounding on me, even though I gave them all of Allstate's information!

I sent back a snippy email to the Hertz guy explaining how I did his job for him and what he has to do next. Grumble.

Don't forget to send him a bill for your time and efforts.

Conversely, you could have just sent Hertz a drawing that you value at the amount due.

ROFL