Bashed up rental

Well some nice member of the public decided to do some free panel beating on my rental car and then selflessly left the scene before I was able to thank them.
So I'm preparing for the inevitable a$$ rapeing at the hands of the nice people at Budget car rentals.
What would be the best way to handle/lubricate the inevitable ramming that is in my not so distant future?
Report incident to police?
Preemptive quote from Smash Repair?
Report car stolen(hypothetically)?

report to the cops, get a record for it and head to the rental co via the chemist

you should have signed to waver the excess, if not you'll be up for $5k and a little more.

I used to run a Budget agent in a former life and the young ones would not want to spend the extra to waver the excess. They ended up paying the max of $5k when they seriously damaged the vehicle or paid for the repairs, that was even all they paid when the wrote my car off.. I would say "hey don't drive to gnarloo. the track is ****e and dangerous (back in the day)" But nooooo, they would drive up there and roll my small 4x4's. $5k is pretty cheep for them.

good luck

Check your credit card conditions, some will cover the excess on car rentals if you used it to pay for the rental.

Every time I've rented a car I've had to use a credit card.

How did you manage to get away without one ?

Change your name to Ben Dover and take it like a man.

Since you somehow got away with hiring the car without a credit card I suggest you Move the funds out of your debit bank account as a starter. It's easier to negotiate when your holding onto the cash.

^^^ why should he be? I fail to see why damage that is not your fault should affect you financially ... especially vandalism that is obviously not the hirer who did it (bit different to crash damage). That is what insurance is for, and should be the risk hire companies accept.

The risk of it being damaged in the carpark you were in, is the same as the risk when it is parked in their yard waiting to be rented. What would they do for hail, flood, fire, or any manner of other unforseen eventualities... yup, claim on insurance...... or write it off on tax as a loss.

If you hire an appliance from radio rentals and your house burns down do u pay? I bloody well doubt it.
If you rent a car and a hail storm damages every car in the city do they charge you? I really hope not...........


Tell them to nick off, if they don't like it then fly the single finger as you walk out and tell them to suck a fat one. To charge you for the ****ups of another is so wrong

The way im reading this is your up for the excess $$$ reguardless of how cheap or how expensive to repair, so strip the car of all parts that you can easy flog off,
Hell pull the motor and gear box out, boot, bonnet, glass, seats, wheels the report it stolen and leave it on bricks.

Then steel a line from Sergeant Shultz


Or just go rent the same kind of car, pay the $$$$ for the excess protection and swap plates then return it to the first place..

Then steel a line from Sergeant Shultz

I had to pay an excess of around $2300 after running a hire van into a pole in a drive-through.

Lucky for me I still had an annual travel insurance policy that covered it, and all I had to pay was $100.

If I had had the time to do it, I might have tried getting it repaired privately, but as luck had it, the travel insurance covered it.

Mark your right it's bullcrap when someone vandalises your property but a insurance company will still charge you excess unless they can recover that from an at fault party.It's fine if someone is insured and hits your car with theirs (it would be cost free in a hire car as well) but with vandalism good luck getting the vandals insurance to pay.
As for the high excess it's simple just get travel insurance.

Insurance is a scam and a waste of money. Until you need it.

The excess hire car companies charges in the event of damage are ridiculous but they tell you that before you drive away. Then they offer you an alternative to give you insurance on the excess for a nominal daily fee.

if you're hiring a car take photos, check the car for damage and note it on the vehicle condition report, you're even going to be held liable for damage done before you get the car if it's not noted in the paperwork for your rental.

And dont one bother cancelling your debit or credit card so they can't take the excess off it, a good friend found out the hard way they just engage debt collectors. Hire companies are experts at extracting their money out of you, way better then the average punter is at avoiding them. Best just go buy that big pot of lube and limber up.

We hired a motor home in Tassie last year. The last night of our holiday, we where at a beach front caravan park, adjacent to a golf course. Just as we were packing to leave, a golf ball smashed the front passenger quarter mirror, leaving it all crazed. We departed the camping area, and I drove into the tiny golf club car park, which only had about 4 cars in it. I went into the club house, told the club manager what had happened, and gave her the offending golf ball. "That will definitely be Joe.", she said. She was very nice about it, I filled out some paper work for them, and they said they would settle it directly with the car rental place.

The car parked to my left was poorly parked, about a meter forward out of it's parking space. I could not see it in the mirror because of the crazed window. As I drove forward, and turned out left, I wiped out the front corner of the car. I went back into the club, and told them I'd wiped out a maroon Commodore. "Joe's car!!" she exclaimed.
Karma. (Yes, I had paid for the waiver.)