Crash in rental car

[snettles]

Need some urgent advice. I've just had a prang in my rental car. The tyre is damaged so I can't drive it. I'm in Spain and the rental company is all closed up for Sunday afternoon. I've emailed them, but have had to abandon the car. Plus when I swapped details with the other driver she walked off with my rental agreement. I just have the basic insurance so I know this is going to cost. Is there anything else I should do other than calling the company tomorrow?

Have you taken plenty of photos of the damage and the undamaged parts of the car?

She walked off with your rental agreement? And yes if you only have the basic insurance it will be expensive.

I would try and get the rental agreement back first. She had no right to take it.

I've taken photos.
I don't think I she meant to walk off with it.

Do you know what the implications are of not having my copy of the rental agreement? The rental company will have a copy.

How much is the excess you're on the hook for?

Some of them are ridiculously high if you don't take extra cover.

Which company is it?

Do you know what the implications are of not having my copy of the rental agreement?

None really. Unless the police turn up and want proof you're allowed to be using the car/insured etc. It would just take more checking out.

You don't need the paperwork for anything else.

& did they say anything about breakdown cover when you collected?

Poor you, worse nightmare.

You aren't the first and won't be the last. Just write down what happened so you remember all the finer points. Weather, road conditions etc.
Is there not a help number on their website? The car needs to be towed ASAP so it can't be taken or torched by someone.

The numbers they've given me aren't being answered (not uncommon on a Sunday apparently). I have emailed, but yes I'm worried about it being abandoned. I only took the basic cover which was about 500 euros.

There must be some sort of info on what to do if you crash or have an accident somewhere surely. Out of hours emergency number somewhere. Like I said you won't be the first this has happened to.
Hope you get it sorted quickly.
Luckily although car hire places will try and make the most of it the Spanish aren't as precious about their cars so hopefully she won't over egg the senario.

For future reference you can take out an annual car hire excess insurance policy for around £50 for a year. Well worth doing. I use Questor insurance. Been fine for me.

There are even cheaper annual ones (& if it’s only one short trip, you can pay the daily rate instead). I’ve used carhireexcess most recently. It’s particularly good cover because it includes tyres, keys, glass, undercarriage etc.

BUT when your hire car is damaged you still have to fork out the excess first (can be up to £1200 I think?) & then claim it back.

IME it works fine, as long as you have all the paperwork, but you need to have that amount of credit free on your card.

We are in Spain but actually hired our car in Portugal
If case of an accident we need to report it to the police and get a reference number, you might need to do that.

What company is it?

What a pain, I hope you get it sorted okay.