In alt.home.repair, on Mon, 15 Apr 2019 14:35:11 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Monday, April 15, 2019 at 5:29:00 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 20:56:43 +0300, micky
wrote:

I rented a car and bought insurance, but even if I had zero-deductible,
it would not apply at all to the "undercarriage".

What is the undercarriage? The chassis and all the suspension parts?
The exhaust sysem? Dents from below in the floor panels.

What sort of damage can one do to the undercarriage? Other than
busting a ball joint, they seem pretty reliable.

What does one have to do to do that damage to the undercarriage?

And how hard do rental companies check whether there is undercarriage
damage? If it's not creaking when you drive in and not crawling
sideways, are you okay, or do they actually look underneath?

I have never heard them say that. When I buy the insurance they always
tell me, no matter what happens I am covered. You should be since it
is such a rip off.

That's a good point. I almost never take the insurance and I never read
the fine print, but for what it costs, it really should cover undercarriage
damage too.

The insurance definitely doesn't cover the undercarriage. They are
specific and very clear. And there is no limit to how much one can be
charged for damage, though I don't think I did any damage.

One is also not permitted to drive on iirc an unpaved road, and there
are a lot of them here. Today the road started off unpaved but quite
flat, then there were a few ruts caused by water run-off. Then when I
left the park area, it was much worse, where the rain had eventually
washed away all the dirt and only rocks were left. A real challenge to
figure out which side of the road to drive on. I ended up driving 5
miles and almost a mile was just on rocks. It's a amazing the tires
hold up**.

Somehow I didn't know all these rules 2 years ago. Life was better
then. Ignorance is bliss.

It was dark by the time I parked so I haven't looked at even the side of
the car, but I think it's okay.

**I did have a flat last year, but on a very quiet, totally smooth road.
I couldn't figure out how to assemble the lug wrench so it took a longer
time to unbolt and bolt the nuts and after 40 minutes a guy came by when
I was almost done and finished up for me. And I was so tired I let
him.

Last year I also hit a short post, scraped the plastic panel (lower
corner of the front) and I think they only charged me $16***. But I
know from others that they are not always that nice.

***There were 3 charges around $20, and one could have been filling the
gas tank, another could have been my driving on a toll road (the toll
plus the rental company's fee for figuring out who was driving their car
that day.) They didnt' say what any of the charges were for, but the
previous year, another company didn't even send a final invoice until I
asked for one 9 months later. I had forgotten to note how many miles
I'd driven.