8. Due to the extra time, expense, and labor involved in settling a claim with insurance companies,

You don t have to read this site every day to know that fraudulent car rental damages are a big problem, at least as far as customers are concerned. If you re a car rental agency, you might call it something different, ranging from no problem to profit enterprise car rental discounts center.
But at least one car rental company says it s on our side. It s Bandago , a San Francisco company that specializes in van rentals. After I wrote a story about the problem of fraudulent claims for Auto Rental enterprise car rental discounts News, a trade magazine, last year, I got an unexpected call from its CEO, Sharky Laguana.
I have been giving this issue a lot of thought lately, he said. My company has started sending out the email below whenever we find damage on our rental vehicles. I was hoping to get your feedback. Does this look fair and reasonable to you? Any suggestions you might make?
This email is to let you know that damage was located on the vehicle you returned to Bandago. Right now our understanding is that the following new damage was located on your vehicle upon its return:
We are very careful with all damage claims, and every claim is reviewed multiple times at different points by different people. We will compare pictures taken at both the start and end of the rental, look at the rental agreement, review any accident report forms, and of course welcome any feedback or information you may have about this damage.
Damage is not a profit center for us (it is a significant expense!) and there is no point in the process where we experience a net gain. We value our relationship enterprise car rental discounts with our clients, and will be completely transparent with you at every step of the process, about what we are doing and why.
5. Please note, in cases where the damage is purely cosmetic, we may have to delay getting an estimate enterprise car rental discounts in favor of honoring our existing reservations. Because we specialize in long term rentals, this can result in significant delays upon occasion. However, we will always thoroughly document the damage in question with photographs before the vehicle leaves our possession.
6. Once we have determined the amount required to complete repairs you will have the option to pay our out-of-pocket costs for repair (i.e. exactly what the repair shop bills us), plus loss of use (as allowed by law) if the vehicle will be in the shop for more than a day or two. Or, at your option, you may ask us to bill your insurance company.
8. Due to the extra time, expense, and labor involved in settling a claim with insurance companies, our claim will be for all losses we are legally entitled enterprise car rental discounts to depending on the state the rental enterprise car rental discounts started in (this can include tow, repair, administrative fees, loss of use, diminishment of value, etc.).
9. Please keep in mind that you may still be responsible for the insurance deductible, as well as any expenses not covered by your insurance policy. Some insurance companies have exclusions in their policies for administrative fees, loss of use, etc. These costs can be significant. We advise checking with your insurance company before telling us to pursue the claim with them.
We know no one is happy about being responsible for damage. On the other hand, we hope you understand that there is no way we can stay in business if we are forced to absorb all the expense of damage caused by our renters. At all times we will do our best to make sure the final resolution is fair to all parties.
Bandago refers to this notification as a customer bill of rights, but I think it s more of a disclosure form that addresses enterprise car rental discounts some of a driver s fears about the damage claim process. Either way, I think it s an important step toward fixing this problem.
enterprise car rental discounts I ve been giving this issue some thought, too. I m a big believer in preventive medicine, and the consumer advocate in me says that sending out a notice that says damages were discovered after you returned the vehicle should be unnecessary. Any problems should be identified when you return the car.
What would you do if you received the email from Bandago? Personally, I think it s refreshingly honest and I might feel a little bit better about the claims process. The company should be commended for trying to fix a chronic car rental industry problem.
I know what you re saying about customers running out the door too quickly. enterprise car rental discounts Perhaps, there can be an option of: Hang around an extra 5 minutes while we inspect the vehicle and you will never hear from us again, or, Leave in a hurry but then you have to take our word for it if we find something. But I know if I were in a hurry, that wouldn t really be OK with me either.
I looked up my old company after writing that. It hasn t operated since 2003. The BBB now shows no rating, has me classified as the wrong type of business, has a big bold banner that says that it is not accredited, and has a big red banner saying enterprise car rental discounts an alert has been issued for my business and when I click it, it says that anyone with a complaint should consider legal action. It also lists my full name, and my companies enterprise car rental discounts old address. I called enterprise car rental discounts them and asked that they remove my name and address, and they told me they can t as their website is a matter of public record. Per Chris s advice on calling, I will now e-mail them to create a paper trail.
I m sure you understand the skepticism on my part, given the current state of the rental industry. I didn t say the pessimist was right, but I simply enterprise car rental discounts don t trust any company in the industry. I certainly enterprise car rental discounts applaud the sentiment and hope it s fully carried out, however.
Hrmm. Well this is where great intentions runs into existing law. In many states (including enterprise car rental discounts California) the price for a CDW is capped by law. So I can t charge any more for a $33k van than I would for a $13k Chevrolet Spark. I m capped at $15/day either way, despite the fact that the van is not only more than twice as expensive, but also far more likely to be in a collision due to its size. Likewise the law specifically says coverage is optional and not mandatory.
I don t know of any part of our business enterprise car rental discounts that enjoys 80% margins. It s tough for me to tell if CDW is profitable. I have a suspicion it is not. Our accounting doesn t discriminate between expenses for body repairs that were covered under CDW and expenses for body repairs that were not covered under CDW. I can tell you that CDW revenue +payments enterprise car rental discounts from insurance companies equals roughly 15% of what we spend on maintenance and repairs, not all of which is damage related. This does not factor in any reductions in vehicle enterprise car rental discounts resale price due to damage. So it s complicated.
If we game this out you can see the challenge: I can t charge more than $15/day. So if you rent a van for one day and do $20,000 of damage (had one of those just last week!), I now need to earn 1,333 days of CDW sold at $15/day to break even. Since a typical annual utilization rate is 60% (remember we have to account for the slow season) a typical van will be rented 219 days a year. Of those 219 days I will sell CDW roughly 16% of the time. So I can expect roughly 35 days of CDW revenue per vehicle per year. So in plain english I need 38 vehicles to go completely damage free for an entire enterprise car rental discounts year just to break even on that one claim. Obviously it must be doable, or companies wouldn enterprise car rental discounts t do it, but I am extremely skeptical enterprise car rental discounts that there are 80% margins to be found. Maybe there are, but not in van rental.
A lot of people are upset about damage, I get it. But few people consider how much the car rental industry gets right. Right now I can rent a $20k car at LAX for an entire day for less than what I would spend renting a $200 bicycle for 2 hours a couple miles away in Santa Monica. It s easy to lose sight of the fact that the process is so incredibly efficient and competitive that there is very little room for margins. Throw some damage in the mix with some slow paying insurance companies and you have a recipe for some very frustrating experiences for all concerned. Is there any way to turn this around? There must be, right?
I completely enterprise car rental discounts agree that the car rental industry as a whole has a lot of work to do in terms of building more trust with consumers. And I think the burden is on the industry to figure out how to make that work. I would like to be part of the solution, not the problem. Which is why I m here today.
I still have one caveat are they going to charge ME when THEIR car gets a flat tire on the turnpike enterprise car rental discounts and I have to sit there untill my roadside service comes (and some roadside services CHARGE to go to renal cars)
I understand your point and where you are coming from. I m not sure if I can persuade you to see the other side of the argument, but I ll try. And I ll use a real world example that exists right this very second.
That s a small snapshot of a specific enterprise car rental discounts class of vehicle in our New Jersey location that is current as of right this moment. As you can see the top vehicle SP Gayaia is completely marked in red. That means it s unrentable. It s in the shop.
Our utilization is 76%, which would not meet your standard for reimbursement for loss of use. However if a client called wanting to rent a van from today through the 1st we would have to turn them down. If they wanted enterprise car rental discounts a vehicle from now through the 13th we would have to say no. If they wanted a van for the 27th through the 7th the answer would also be no. And if they wanted 4 vans for the 6th-13th, we would also have to say no, we can only provide 3. There are more examples than I can count where we would have to say no. And in each case the answer would be a yes if we had the van available.
enterprise car rental discounts You think these multi-vehicle examples are rare , but our biggest sale this month was to a client who wanted 10 vehicles for a week and a half. We would not have landed the sale if we only had 9 available.
Generally speaking (i.e. not car rental specifically but the law in general) the law does not require you actually need or use an item in order to claim loss of use. If I hit your car my insurance has to get you a replacement car rental even if you take the bus to work, or if yo