Dealing with Breakdowns and Accidents in a Rental Car

Renting a car should make your life easier – but sometimes things go wrong. Whether it’s a scratch, flat tyre or a collision, knowing how to handle breakdowns and accidents in a rental car will save you time and stress.

This guide walks through what to do if your rental car is damaged or breaks down as well as how car hire excess insurance can protect you from unexpected costs.

Dealing with Breakdowns

1. Stay Calm and Get to Safety

Whatever the reason for breaking down, your first priority should be your safety.

You first need to stay as calm as possible and remain aware of other road users.

Turn on your hazard lights to alert other drivers of your situation.

Then, if it’s safe to do so, exit through the passenger-side door so you avoid stepping into traffic. Move to a safe spot away from your vehicle, ideally behind a barrier, on the verge or on an embankment.

If visibility is poor or you’re waiting for assistance at night, make sure to turn on the vehicle’s sidelights.

2. Notify the Car Rental Company’s Roadside Assistance

All rental providers should provide you with an emergency number for breakdowns – call them as soon as you can. This number is normally provided in your rental documentation so it’s important that you keep this handy. They should be able to arrange towing, roadside repairs or replacement vehicle if that is what’s required.

3. Keep All Records and Receipts

If towing or any repairs are arranged, you should keep any paperwork or receipts. You will need these documents when you make an excess reimbursement claim.

4. How Excess Insurance Helps with Breakdowns

Many people don’t realise that the insurance included in the price of renting a car often includes a high excess fees that is sometimes hundreds or even thousands of pounds. This is the amount you must pay if your car is damaged or stolen.

If the breakdown leads to excess costs from the car rental company, whether it’s towing charges or the cost of being locked out, a Cover4Rentals excess insurance policy for hire cars can help.

Our policies can reimburse up to €12,000 in excess charges and include cover for:

• Misfuelling
• Lost keys
• Towing
• Being locked out
• Damage to personal possessions

5. Submit Your Claim

After returning your vehicle back to the car rental desk, make sure to request a final inspection report. It’s important you keep all copies of communication and any receipts too.

Then submit your excess insurance claim to us with all the supporting documents such as damage reports, invoices, police reports, photos and other similar records.

Dealing with Accidents

If you’re unfortunately involved in an accident you should follow the steps as above. Firstly by staying calm and making safety your first priority. Then:

1. Contact the Police

If necessary such as the accident is serious or someone is injured, you should call the police.

You should then request a report or a reference number from them as this will be needed for your excess insurance claim.

2. Notify the Car Rental Company

After you have been in contact with the police, you need to call your car rental’s emergency line straight away. They will then advise you on what to do next. This could include swapping the vehicle, organising recovery or documenting the incident.

3. Document the Scene

Having clear evidence of what’s happened will be helpful later down the line. If possible and safe to do so, collecting the following will be really useful:

• Photos of all the damage, road conditions and surroundings
• Contact and insurance details for other drivers
• Names of any witnesses
• A written summary of the events that happened
• Police number report

Then, just as with a breakdown, you can submit a claim to Cover4Rentals with all your supporting evidence.

Car Rental Companies’ Contact Info

When you pick up your keys to your rental car, ask the provider for any breakdown and roadside assistance numbers as although brand-wide numbers are helpful, your branch could have a local number. Make sure to write this number down somewhere so you know you have it in an emergency.

Final Thoughts

Accidents and breakdowns can happen to anyone and at any time which is why being prepared and understanding your responsibilities as a car renter can make all the difference.

In following these steps, remaining calm and having car hire excess insurance, you can drive with confidence as you’ll know you’re protected against unexpected costs.