If you, like me, decline the twenty-some dollar a day Loss Damage Waiver or other extra insurance coverages when you rent a car because both your car insurance and your Visa card claim to have you covered, you might have wondered, like me, how difficult it would actually be to get them to pay if something should happen to that 2011 Malibu with 700 miles on it.
I wonder no more. I just got an e-mail from Visa notifying me that they paid for all of the $180 it cost to replace the broken driver’s window of the brand-spanking new Malibu I rented a few months back.
The key points:
1. Make your claim with the car rental company and with Visa immediately (Visa has lots of fine print).
2. Be the squeaky wheel. I had to go to the local Budget office to get the phone number of the lady who organizes the repairs and then call her a bunch to make she was actively making arrangements to fix the car (sometimes they sit on it and charge you for loss of use, which Visa won’t cover).
Insurance. Like Chris Rock said, if you have it, at least you know you’re gonna die on a mattress.
P.S. The picture at the beach was probably right about the time the window was broken while the Malibu was parked at Seal Rock.