Car hire in Spain damaged advice

[HankScorpio]

Hi all just after a bit of advice

I've just returned from 2 weeks in the Costa Brava. I rented a vw golf from Barca airport and about 7 days into my stay I noticed someone has damaged/hit the passenger side door while it was parked and left a note in Spanish on my windscreen. Apparently it said 'hello I've pranged your car, here's my number'. I emailed the rental company with a picture of the note and a description of what happened.

Returning the car today the rental said they they'll be charging me the excess £600 and afterwards 'will try' to contact the person from the note and deal with their insurance.

Now I have excess cover insurance so should be able to claim from that, but I have a few questions.

Should I mentioned that someone left a note on the windscreen, as maybe my excess insurer would want to wait to hear from the rental company's claims against this?

Would claiming affect my insurance in the UK? (NCB)

Many thanks, also Spanish drivers are mental

 

[kindai]

Should I mentioned that someone left a note on the windscreen, as maybe my excess insurer would want to wait to hear from the rental company's claims against this?

No, dont tell them anything more than you need to make a claim. The less you say the better, unless you want to give them a way of wiggling out of paying.

Would claiming affect my insurance in the UK? (NCB)

No, excess insurance is not car insurance...

 

[jpaul]

unfortunately - maybe :
http://www.moneymaxim.co.uk/faq/car...ss-insurance-policy-affect-my-no-claims-bonus

However any accident you have, whether in your car, a rented car or one you are borrowing could lead to an impact to your premium. This is regardless of whether or not you have taken a car hire excess insurance policy. That is because insurers often ask the question 'Have you had an accident or claim in the past five years' and part of their premium assessment will include your answer to this.

 

[HankScorpio]

Is there anyway that this would show up if I select no when I come to renew my quote next year?

 

[Kaeo]

No. Though I'm sure someone will come along with a long and drawn out reason why there's a tiny possibility.

 

[Minstadave]

Is there anyway that this would show up if I select no when I come to renew my quote next year?

No and it would definitely slip my mind.

 

[Nasher]

They won't find out unless you tell them about it (don't tell them about it).

 

[jpaul]

so all the above three would lie - we can convert thread into a poll ?
a couple of minutes googling - same discussion also occurred on pistonheads, if your Spanish underwriter or excess coverer share data on the CUE database
and you did subsequently have an incident in the UK, your insurance ends up void, etc etc

 

[Hater]

I'm confused, as the other party has admitted guilt, shouldn't they be paying the £600?

 

[mjt]

Surely you only need to pay the excess if you're at fault?

Either way, this is why you take out car hire insurance in the UK before you travel

 

[jpaul]

I'm confused, as the other party has admitted guilt, shouldn't they be paying the £600?

Surely you only need to pay the excess if you're at fault?

he explained - no ?

the rental said they they'll be charging me the excess £600 and afterwards 'will try' to contact the person from the note and deal with their insurance.

this is why you take out car hire insurance in the UK before you travel

ironically if you do take UK insurance and claim, seems pretty likely other UK underwriters will know.

 

[Hater]

Yeah he explained, but there's a number and stuff there, so what "hunting" do they need to do.

They're Spanish, I may be cynical but I reckon that £600 will get lost into the ether...

 

[Nasher]

so all the above three would lie - we can convert thread into a poll ?
a couple of minutes googling - same discussion also occurred on pistonheads, if your Spanish underwriter or excess coverer share data on the CUE database
and you did subsequently have an incident in the UK, your insurance ends up void, etc etc

You can request all the information CUE holds on you under the DPA. So when it gets close to renewal time get a copy if you aren't sure, then just declare everything they already know about.