On 4/15/2019 10:56 AM, 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?


In most cases your own car insurance should cover damage to a rental car
if you have collision coverage.

I once rented a car in Hawaii. The rental company insisted I should buy
the "CDW" insurance. I told them my insurance company covered it. They
insisted that I would have to pay them cash before I could leave Hawaii
if any damage occurred. I bought the coverage.

When I immediately called the state attorney generals office from my
hotel, the guy I talked to said "What are they going to do, send a goon
to the bank with you?." He asked me to write his office and the
insurance commissioners office with my complaint.

When I returned the car, I had extra time before the plane, so I hung
around their drop off point, and got 3 other people to sign that they
had also been told the same lies.

After writing them and my own state attorney general when I got home, I
received a letter from Alamo Rent a car with a check for what I had
paid. A couple years later, I received a copy of the new recently passed
rental car insurance regulations from Hawaii in which they increased
regulations of rental companies.