Crashed car in Spain and didn’t take out insurance

[nightmarehol]

Handhold and a bit of advice needed. Am with my young child. Crashed into a lorry, coming out of a junction. We are fine thankfully but shaken up. Waiting for pick up truck for 5 hours so far- thankfully the aircon still works and am trying to remember it could have been so much worse.

But, when the car rental place asked if I wanted the insurance package with them I declined. Reason being I stupidly thought I had my own insurance but it turns out I do not. I know how stupid that was.

I’m majorly panicking now about this and the costs of everything without the insurance.

I’m kicking myself now and can’t believe I didn’t arrange this. I had a policy for car rental excess which I thought continued over the summer but it has expired.

What will happen and what’s the worst expense I should brace myself for?

You dont have any insurance, or you dont have excess waiver insurance?

Usually rental cars come with insurance, and excess waiver is extra ( is this what you declined? )

As above. You will probably just have a (hefty) excess to pay. They wouldn't have let you drive off with no insurance at all.

I'm sure they would have checked that you had your own insurance - maybe you declined something extra? As pp said they wouldn't let you hire it without checking your insurance or ensuring you had cover.

Agree with the above. Every car I've hired includes insurance but you could have a massive excess to pay. Have you got the hire policy handy? Which company is it? Hive minds might be able to help

Surely the rental company cannot give you a car without some proof of you having your own insurance, as I thought third party was the minimum legal requirement in Spain? And how do you not have your own insurance anyway if you thought you had?

The optional insurance is usually for things like tyres, wheels, glass and underside of the car.

You will have standard insurance to cover damage to the car although there might be an excess, which will be shown in the policy.

Years ago DP crashed a Spanish hire car into a bus and wrecked one side of it. We didn't get charged for it and the hire car company were a bit nonplussed when he phoned them. They asked if we were OK and was the car was still driveable and as it was, they were a bit 'well why are you telling us about it, see you next week'.

We reversed at speed into a wall in Crete in a rental car with no excess waiver insurance - that was a fun drive back, let me tell you.
The hire guy just said give me €50 and his mate will sort it, he was entirely unbothered.

Good luck, hope the rescue arrives soon.

Quick google gives this:

Third-Party Liability:
This is a legal requirement in Spain and is included in the base price of almost all car rentals. It covers any damage or injury you cause to other people or their property

Worst Case: the damage to the hire car isn’t covered as you may only have third party insurance.

Better Case: big excess.

Ok thank you. It was Avis. Excess says 3500€

Ouch, just over £3k

I am sorry for you. It is a lot of money but nobody got hurt, that is the only thing that matters. 💐

Yes if it’s just the 3500 I’m honestly ok with that, even though I don’t have it to spare but I’m worried if it’s way way more for repairs to both vehicles

Should just be the excess. Cost 4 grand to repair one of my cars, but the excess was 250, so that’s all I paid.

It shouldn’t because there is always some form of basic insurance that has a high (as in your case) excess amount!

Does it say third party only included or comprehensive included?

Either way thats a high excess, id be ringing my cc and dc providers to see if any of them have car insurance included...

Hi did you explain to the breakdown that you are with your child ? Are you very remote ? 5 hours is a long time for you to be waiting could you give them a call back ? I usually wait max 1 hour so seems a long time.

Is the insurance 3rd party or comprehensive?

You'll be liable for the excess in order to fix damage to the truck but you'd need to check the contract as if it's 3rd party only you might be on the hook for the cost of repairs to the hire vehicle.

My uncle had a car drive into him (parked) in the UK and hadn't taken out the full insurance. He got the car fixed himself for £350 rather than being charged the full, huge excess. Might be worth looking into that rather than accepting a 3500€ charge?

Did you not have to present your credit card at the desk? They normally put the excess charge on that as a holding charge (so €3500in your case) to cover exactly your scenario. They will not charge you more than this. I've damaged a hire car in Spain sand feared the worse but they looked at the damage and just took a couple of hundred out of the excess.

Also suggesting you might have cover through the credit card you used to pay for the rental. 🤞

That is what you will pay.

Expensive lesson.

Ouch, we always take the max insurance - we hit a wall in Italy and had full waiver. Currently in Greece and paid extra to get excess down to €150 - so annoying but not a big deal.

Not my experience. That's the maximum that you will pay. If the damage is €100 they will charge €100. Excess is the wrong term really, it's more a deposit against damage.

European hire firms aren't known for their honesty and integrity.

The OP will be rinsed . .