Renting a car in Dublin, Ireland - Be aware of Europcar !!!

Hello all,
I only want to make all the people willing to travel to Ireland aware
of the story happened to me in July 2009.
I was travelling to Ireland and decided to pick-up a car at Europcar
in Dublin Airport.
In Killarney, south-west part of the country, I was victim of an
accident while driving in a roundabout. It was not my fault and the
responsible of the accident admitted his fault . No injuries for
people, no problems at all. The police came as well; it was an easy
case!

When I returned the car, I had to pay the damage in advance as the
exemption was pretty high.

After almost 1 year I have not received any reimbursement, in spite it
seems that the author of the accident has already agreed his
responsibilities with his insurance. This is not fair, as I was
totally a victim of the accident and at this point I am resigned not
to receive my money back (in my opinion EuropCar should reimburse me
and do the paperwork on they own afterwards).

The morale of the story –for my humble experience- is:
- Do not rent Europcar if you can
- Try to avoid any exemption fee as in case of accident you will
likely not receive your money back. Furthermore they apply the full
exemption on your credit card, holding a pretty large amount of money
that may later give you troubles for your travel expenses (just as
well my wife had another credit card)

Hope this bad experience may help someone else.
Roberto

On Wed, 7 Apr 2010 06:21:51 -0700 (PDT), Roberto
wrote:

Do not rent Europcar if you can

I have always found them OK, I doubt its any different with other
companies, the moral is that its probably best to pay the collision
waiver. Failing that,the OP needs to chase Europcar, they are a big
company, it may be stuck in some admin. but maybe more likely the
insurance treated the incident as "knock for knock" and the admission
of blame is neither here nor there on what may be a claim excess with
no reference to blame?
You would probably need to take some action against the other driver
to recover the excess, impractical in a foreign country (or anywhere).
--
Mike

Ok, I will try to change the matter a little bit..

Do you believe that all this is fair?
Do you believe I have any kind of fault?
We have been victims, I have beared a financial charge not for my
reponsability and risked fisical injuries for me and my family (wife
and 2 kids).

It seems that all people have rights and the victims (and customers)
are at fault.

Can you imagine if that would have happened in ITALY to an UK or
Ireland citizen or worse, american??

We would have been crucifixed!!!

But in my blamed country please be aware the agreements between
insurance are a matter of *days* not years!!
Do really people in Ireland wait 1 year for reimbursement? I don't
believe so!

Sorry for being blunt but it is very hard to accept resignation
because that is a big "multinational". They should have acted much
more rapidly just because I am foreign and have *No way* of take any
reasonable legal action abroad.
They should have taken care of the matter and their customer.
I can not believe, after 1 YEAR, that they have done everything they
could have done from their powerful position of big multinational.

Sorry, nothing personal here, but next time I will change my rental
car habits...

Roberto wrote on Apr 9, 2010:

Ok, I will try to change the matter a little bit..

Do you believe that all this is fair?
Do you believe I have any kind of fault?
We have been victims, I have beared a financial charge not for my
reponsability and ...
[ etc. etc. snipped]

I have a certain amount of sympathy but only up to a point. The answers to
your questions are, no it isn't fair, and no it probably wasn't your fault.
*But* it is exactly what I have always assumed would happen if I were unlucky
enough to have an accident in a hired car when abroad. This is why I always
pay whatever extra charge is levied for CDW (collision damage waiver). It
seems from your original post that you declined to pay this because as you
said, "the exemption was pretty high". Presumably the charge was high because
the risk was high. If you thought it was unreasonably high you should have
tried elsewhere, but to refuse insurance because it costs too much is not
sensible.

I am fairly sure that in the agreement you sign before taking the car, you
accept responsibility for any damage to the vehicle, whether or not you are
to blame for it. If (for example) someone maliciously scratches the car when
parked, it's obviously not your fault but you would still have to pay. A good
rental firm will offer you insurance against such events but if you decline
to take this out you really cannot complain.

Sorry, nothing personal here, but next time I will change my rental
car habits...

Of course you free to do that but I doubt that you will find much difference
with other companies

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
email: mike_lane at mac dot com

On Fri, 9 Apr 2010 16:43:37 +0100, Mike Lane
wrote:

A good
rental firm will offer you insurance against such events but if you decline
to take this out you really cannot complain.

Europcar do so, but do not always emphasise the option, as will happen
with any company.
--
Mike
"if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk,
he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down"
Warren Buffett

*But* it is exactly what I have always assumed would happen if I were unlucky
enough to have an accident in a hired car when abroad. This is why I always
pay whatever extra charge is levied for CDW (collision damage waiver). It
seems from your original post that you declined to pay this because as you
said, "the exemption was pretty high". Presumably the charge was high because
the risk was high. If you thought it was unreasonably high you should have
tried elsewhere, but to refuse insurance because it costs too much is not
sensible.

I did not choose CDW because I usually do so (not even for my personal
car).
Isn't CDW suppose to cover the damage when the driver himself is
responsible?
In 20 years of car rentals I never bought CDW, and when I made damages
to the car I payed myself whithout complaining (sometimes I even went
myself to the workshop before returning the car).
Or is CDW thought to be for damages done by the faulty part? I don't
think so, in fact Europcar did not say they will not refund (to tell
the truth Europcar said nothing, they have been almost completely
silent for 1 year, which is maybe even worse ).

Do other rental companies behave the same? I don't know, I have no
proof of that, just as well.
In theory the logic is that, but in practice it is unconceivable that
this company has not refunded me or at least kept me informed for 1
year (they no longer answer to my emails - I got the notice that the
responsible has agreed to pay only through solicitation to the the
headquarter and help from the italian branch).


I am fairly sure that in the agreement you sign before taking the car, you
accept responsibility for any damage to the vehicle, whether or not you are
to blame for it. If (for example) someone maliciously scratches the car when
parked, it's obviously not your fault but you would still have to pay. A good
rental firm will offer you insurance against such events but if you decline
to take this out you really cannot complain.


Maybe I wasn't clear in my previous messages. I have been hit, with
testimonials, the Garda police came over and the driver admitted his
fault in front of them (he always admitted it from the beginning no
problems whatsoever). It was not a vandalism act.In this case, if
Ireland is the same as Italy, I believe the faulty driver insurance
pays the damages to the other driver... and yes I agreed to be
responsable and payed upfront but that not mean loosing the amount...
that is only a provisional coverage you give the rental company until
the ring of the payments of the insurances get done... and I agreed
to that by not buying CDW (of course not knowing that the last of the
company concern is "close the ring" ASAP or at least within reasonable
times, as they already got the money).


Of course you free to do that but I doubt that you will find much difference
with other companies

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
email: mike_lane at mac dot com

Probably in the wokrflow there would not be many difference, hopefully
though they could have kept me informed about the status of the claim,
after the clerk at Dublin airort had told me it would have been a
matter of 1 week ...
I had been eager to know if the driver had actually admitted or not
the fault by signing the paper, and the lack of all these information
even after my many emails, made me upset.
If the practice is stuck somehere and there is another kind of problem
well, just let me know.
Communication is everything. But this company seems not to care this
aspect and this alone is enough for me to scrap them as a supplier.

To finish.. No I think I have zero responsabilities in this bad
experience, and yes I could have been wiser by buying CDW but that is
like for example not flying because the plane can fall . It is always
a matter of weighing the probabilities and make decisions, everyone of
us has a different threshold that leads to different conclusions, but
all in all, I always blame myself for my mistakes, and in this case
the mistake was not mine!

*But* it is exactly what I have always assumed would happen if I were unlucky
enough to have an accident in a hired car when abroad. This is why I always
pay whatever extra charge is levied for CDW (collision damage waiver). It
seems from your original post that you declined to pay this because as you
said, "the exemption was pretty high". Presumably the charge was high because
the risk was high. If you thought it was unreasonably high you should have
tried elsewhere, but to refuse insurance because it costs too much is not
sensible.

I did not choose CDW because I usually do so (not even for my personal
car).
Isn't CDW suppose to cover the damage when the driver himself is
responsible?
In 20 years of car rentals I never bought CDW, and when I made damages
to the car I payed myself whithout complaining (sometimes I even went
myself to the workshop before returning the car).
Or is CDW thought to be for damages done by the faulty part? I don't
think so, in fact Europcar did not say they will not refund (to tell
the truth Europcar said nothing, they have been almost completely
silent for 1 year, which is maybe even worse ).

Do other rental companies behave the same? I don't know, I have no
proof of that, just as well.
In theory the logic is that, but in practice it is unconceivable that
this company has not refunded me or at least kept me informed for 1
year (they no longer answer to my emails - I got the notice that the
responsible has agreed to pay only through solicitation to the the
headquarter and help from the italian branch).


I am fairly sure that in the agreement you sign before taking the car, you
accept responsibility for any damage to the vehicle, whether or not you are
to blame for it. If (for example) someone maliciously scratches the car when
parked, it's obviously not your fault but you would still have to pay. A good
rental firm will offer you insurance against such events but if you decline
to take this out you really cannot complain.


Maybe I wasn't clear in my previous messages. I have been hit, with
testimonials, the Garda police came over and the driver admitted his
fault in front of them (he always admitted it from the beginning no
problems whatsoever). It was not a vandalism act.In this case, if
Ireland is the same as Italy, I believe the faulty driver insurance
pays the damages to the other driver... and yes I agreed to be
responsable and payed upfront but that not mean loosing the amount...
that is only a provisional coverage you give the rental company until
the ring of the payments of the insurances get done... and I agreed
to that by not buying CDW (of course not knowing that the last of the
company concern is "close the ring" ASAP or at least within reasonable
times, as they already got the money).


Of course you free to do that but I doubt that you will find much difference
with other companies

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
email: mike_lane at mac dot com

Probably in the wokrflow there would not be many difference, hopefully
though they could have kept me informed about the status of the claim,
after the clerk at Dublin airort had told me it would have been a
matter of 1 week ...
I had been eager to know if the driver had actually admitted or not
the fault by signing the paper, and the lack of all these information
even after my many emails, made me upset.
If the practice is stuck somehere and there is another kind of problem
well, just let me know.
Communication is everything. But this company seems not to care this
aspect and this alone is enough for me to scrap them as a supplier.

To finish.. No I think I have zero responsabilities in this bad
experience, and yes I could have been wiser by buying CDW but that is
like for example not flying because the plane can fall . It is always
a matter of weighing the probabilities and make decisions, everyone of
us has a different threshold that leads to different conclusions, but
all in all, I always blame myself for my mistakes, and in this case
the mistake was not mine!

On Apr 7, 3:21*pm, Roberto wrote:
Hello all,
I only want to make all the people willing to travel to Ireland aware
of the story happened to me in July 2009.
I was travelling to Ireland and decided to pick-up a car at Europcar
in Dublin Airport.
In *Killarney, south-west part of the country, I was victim of an
accident while driving in a roundabout. It was not my fault and the
responsible of the accident admitted his fault . No injuries for
people, no problems at all. The police came as well; it was an easy
case!

When I returned the car, I had to pay the damage in advance as the
exemption was pretty high.

After almost 1 year I have not received any reimbursement, in spite it
seems that the author of the accident has already agreed his
responsibilities with his insurance. This is not fair, as I was
totally a victim of the accident and at this point I am resigned *not
to receive my money back (in my opinion EuropCar should reimburse me
and do the paperwork on they own afterwards).

The morale of the story –for my humble experience- is:
- * * * Do not rent Europcar if you can
- * * * Try to avoid any exemption fee as in case of accident you will
likely not receive your money back. Furthermore they apply the full
exemption on your credit card, holding a pretty large amount of money
that may later give you troubles for your travel expenses (just as
well my wife had another credit card)

Hope this bad experience may help someone else.
Roberto

I wonder if others might agree with this suggestion, but perhaps you
could contact a solicitor in Ireland, preferably one from around where
you were staying at the time, or a recommendation from a personal
contact in Ireland, and ask if s:he can help you out, if for no other
reason then being in a position to re-contact the car hire firm
informing them that within a set time period you want them to have
resolved this case satisfactorily or you will hand over the matter to
say, Messrs Blood & Stone of Avarice Delights Solicitors Ltd (made
up names).
In Ireland, I read, one has 2 years to make a claim for personal
injuries. You haven't mentioned any, but no doubt, even after a whole
year, as you simply read this your foot continues to ache (-;

"Subject to certain exceptions, under current legislation, you have
two years from the date of your accident to take a claim for
compensation" from http://www.solicitorsireland.info/rm...onalInjury.htm,
which was a site I found via a search for : solicitors Ireland

If nothing else, the threat of a solicitor, which should be added to
their eventual bill, might help focus their attention. For all you
know they've already got the money form the other drivers insurance.

As for the possibilities against you; well I was in an accident in
Ireland many, many years ago and got it in writing form the other
party that it had being entirely his fault. But, his innsurance
contested it and so it had to wait for

"Roberto" wrote in message
...
*But* it is exactly what I have always assumed would happen if I were
unlucky
enough to have an accident in a hired car when abroad. This is why I
always
pay whatever extra charge is levied for CDW (collision damage waiver). It
seems from your original post that you declined to pay this because as
you
said, "the exemption was pretty high". Presumably the charge was high
because
the risk was high. If you thought it was unreasonably high you should
have
tried elsewhere, but to refuse insurance because it costs too much is not
sensible.

I did not choose CDW because I usually do so (not even for my personal
car).
Isn't CDW suppose to cover the damage when the driver himself is
responsible?

It's to cover the excess damage, however it is caused. Think about if you
suffered damaged whilst parked. As the renter you would always be liable
for this to the rental company unless you can receive recompense from the
actual person responsible.

In 20 years of car rentals I never bought CDW, and when I made damages
to the car I payed myself whithout complaining (sometimes I even went
myself to the workshop before returning the car).
Or is CDW thought to be for damages done by the faulty part? I don't
think so, in fact Europcar did not say they will not refund (to tell
the truth Europcar said nothing, they have been almost completely
silent for 1 year, which is maybe even worse ).

Do other rental companies behave the same? I don't know, I have no
proof of that, just as well.

They all work exactly the same way. Though some will be better with the
paperwork than others.

tim

On Apr 10, 7:41*pm, aquachimp
wrote:
On Apr 7, 3:21*pm, Roberto wrote:



Hello all,
I only want to make all the people willing to travel to Ireland aware
of the story happened to me in July 2009.
I was travelling to Ireland and decided to pick-up a car at Europcar
in Dublin Airport.
In *Killarney, south-west part of the country, I was victim of an
accident while driving in a roundabout. It was not my fault and the
responsible of the accident admitted his fault . No injuries for
people, no problems at all. The police came as well; it was an easy
case!

When I returned the car, I had to pay the damage in advance as the
exemption was pretty high.

After almost 1 year I have not received any reimbursement, in spite it
seems that the author of the accident has already agreed his
responsibilities with his insurance. This is not fair, as I was
totally a victim of the accident and at this point I am resigned *not
to receive my money back (in my opinion EuropCar should reimburse me
and do the paperwork on they own afterwards).

The morale of the story –for my humble experience- is:
- * * * Do not rent Europcar if you can
- * * * Try to avoid any exemption fee as in case of accident you will
likely not receive your money back. Furthermore they apply the full
exemption on your credit card, holding a pretty large amount of money
that may later give you troubles for your travel expenses (just as
well my wife had another credit card)

Hope this bad experience may help someone else.
Roberto

I wonder if others might agree with this suggestion, but perhaps you
could contact a solicitor in Ireland, preferably one from around where
you were staying at the time, or a recommendation from a personal
contact in Ireland, and ask if *s:he can help you out, if for no other
reason then being in a position to re-contact the car hire firm
informing them that within a set time period you want them to have
resolved this case satisfactorily or you will hand over the matter to
say, Messrs Blood & Stone of Avarice Delights Solicitors Ltd * *(made
up names).
In Ireland, I read, one has 2 years to make a claim for personal
injuries. You haven't mentioned any, but no doubt, even after a whole
year, as you simply read this your foot continues to ache (-;

"Subject to certain exceptions, under current legislation, you have
two years from the date of your accident to take a claim for
compensation" fromhttp://www.solicitorsireland.info/rmcm/Main/Accident_PersonalInjury.htm,
which was a site I found via a search for : solicitors Ireland

If nothing else, the threat of a solicitor, which should be added to
their eventual bill, might help focus their attention. For all you
know they've already got the money form the other drivers insurance.

As for the possibilities against you; well I was in an accident in
Ireland many, many years ago and got it in writing form the other
party that it had being entirely his fault. But, his insurance
contested it and so it had to wait for

urm/// as i was saying:::

But, his insurance contested it and so it had to wait for a court date
and that took around and about a year.
There was no personal injuries involved. I just wanted the cost of the
repairs. Hell! I wasn't even asking for depreciation value to be taken
into account.
The other insurance company was represented by senior counsel, whilst
I had a junior solicitor, if not a trainee.
And in court, through their legal rep, the other insurance company
explained that the delay in sorting out the matter was because
although they fully accepted liability for the accident, they rejected
any liability for the costs incurred.

That's practically their entire defence, word for word; it was an
astonishing load of nonsensical screwing about.

What's more, their legal defence tried to say that the repairs cost
more than the value of the car on account of the car having been in
the accident. I replied simply by asking if he meant that he might
like to buy it at its pre-accident value. He silently declined and
then came after me like a rabid dog, such that the judge had no choice
but to warn him that he was in danger of being in contempt of court.
My legal rep remained sheepishly silent throughout.

I got my repairs bill refunded and legal costs too; Not another penny,
not even the interest I had incurred on a short term loan to help me
with the matter in the first place, but that was not more than around
20 quid at the time. Still... I might have been shown a bit more
decency had I opted for a personal injuries claim.