How bad could this be??

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-25-2005
How bad could this be??
11
Sat, 08-06-2005 - 11:23pm

My husband travels for work, and on May 25th, while traveling in California, his rental car was "keyed" on the driver's side by someone else. An act of vandalism. My husband woke up the next morning to drive to the airport and return home and saw the damage. He also saw a GMC Envoy parked next to his car, very close. When he got to the airport and turned in the car, he filled out a report saying that the car was keyed, and he gave the tag number and description for the Envoy that was parked next to him at the time. He figured all was fine since his company tells it's employees to deny the extra insurance offered by the rental car companies and that the company's blanket insurance policy will cover them on all business trips.

Well, on Friday, we got a bill from Avis for $615.27 for bodywork needed to repair my husband's rental car. When my husband called Avis to inquire about this, the customer service representative told him that Avis had called his company in June to inquire if he was, in fact, covered by a company insurance policy, and the head of his travel department said NO!! The exact quote in the Avis computer files said that the travel department lady (and we did get her name thankfully) said that my Dh was "not on a valid business trip"!!! A total lie!! Why she would have done this, I don't know. But as a result of her stupidity, the charges for the bodywork have become my husband's responsibility to pay! Argh! >:-|

This clueless lady will be on vacation until Wednesday, so she's out of touch until then. VPs, managers, other employees who might be able to help in this situation, were called Friday afternoon, and nothing was heard back from anyone. We had left messages for all of them.

I told Dh that he needs to call Avis back first thing on Monday morning and let them know that we are trying to work this out with his employer and to please give us two weeks to resolve it. If it cannot be resolved, we will pay the money ourselves and seek reimbursement from the company. I just fear this thing dragging on and on and going to collections, and then our family will be faced with higher interest rates and denial of credit, and I don't want that. We just had to buy a new car last week when my 10 year old car died on me, and I haven't even made my first payment yet....I sure don't want my interest rate to jump up on that one!

Dh says he'll get it straightened out on Monday or Tuesday at the latest. It's going to be a thorn in my side until then, though.

If this thing 'doesn't' get worked out, and it goes to collections before we can work it out with his work or pay it on our own, how bad could this be for our credit? Will that Universal Default thing come into play, maybe?

Thanks for reading. This just has me so frustrated.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2004
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 9:17am
I don't think this will be so bad. Companies typically don't report to collections until at least a couple of months have gone by without a payment. If you end up having to pay it yourself, simply work out a payment plan with Avis. They will not report you negatively unless you don't abide by the payment plan.
Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 9:21am

I wouldn't worry about this.

All my best,
Danni

Avatar for cl_beckymk
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 9:21am

So sorry to hear about this mess!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2005
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 12:56pm

Just the fact that if he gets reimbused for everything else (plane ticket, hotel, meals or per diem, etc.) should be proof enough that it IS a valid business trip.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 1:32pm

Car loans are usually fixed rates and there isn't a clause that they can adjust it arbitrarily like there is with a credit card.

I agree with what everyone else said, I am sure they don't expect you to send out a check for it on Monday, and even if they did they could not report you as delinquent on your credit report until some time as passed. You should have at least 30 days to get the company to pay it.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2005
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 2:08pm
If I understand correctly, this is not a loan or credit issue. They did not borrow from the rental car company and her DH did not do anything wrong. It is a claim that her DH's company should cover. I will not send Avis a dime (because if you did, good luck getting reimburse).
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 2:43pm
Yes, but if the company refuses to pay (which IMHO is unlikely) then her dh will have to pay, and if he refuses, they could report it on his credit. I'm sure it's covered in the car rental agreement that he is obligated for any damages that insurance does not cover. I would expect though that the company will pay and that will be that.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-25-2005
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 3:11pm

Thanks to everyone to for their input on this. I feel better this morning. Dh will be on the phone to Avis first thing tomorrow morning to explain that we will need some time to talk to his employer about this. He will also be in touch with everyone he left messages with on Friday afternoon, and on Wednesday, he plans to call the lady who caused this mess (when she gets back from her vacation) and find out just what she was thinking.

We also found out, late last night, that one of Dh's co-workers/friends also had a similar problem with one of his rental cars. Someone scratched it during a business trip, he reported it to Avis, everything seemed fine....until this same lady, when contacted by Avis, said he, also, was not on a "valid business trip". LOL!! Of course he was on a "valid" trip. Why else would he have left his newborn baby to go completely across the country for a 10 day trip? LOL! :-D The co-workers claim was eventually covered by the company.

Something makes me think that this lady is going to be in a heap of trouble when she gets back from her vacation.

Thanks a bunch! :-D

Avatar for cl_beckymk
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 08-12-2005 - 2:23pm

How has this turned out?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-25-2005
Fri, 08-12-2005 - 9:10pm

Dh received a call from his company's insurance department, and they said this has happened literally "hundres of times" where the travel agency the company deals with keeps telling rental car companies that employees are not on valid trips so that the employee will get stuck with the bill. Even when the company had asked the travel agency to stop doing this, they have continued.

The head of the insurance department asked that Dh forward him all the papers, and he said he would take care of it. I told Dh that I wanted written proof that our account balance with Avis Rental Cars was zero. We haven't gotten that proof yet, but I am hoping to have this completely resolved as soon as possible.

Thanks! :-D

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