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Posted by PeterL on July 10, 2008, 1:29 am
> This is a long story so I'm just going to hit the important points.
> Two months ago, I rented a car in Houston. A woman hit me. She was
> at fault and her insurnace company (Allstate) paid to repair the
> rental. I thought that was the end of the story.
>
> But a month ago, I got a bill from the rental car company (DTG). They
> wanted $37.13 for "loss of use" and $50 for "administration". I
> assumed they had simply mailed the bill to the wrong place. So I
> faxed it over to Allstate. After nearly a month of trying to get the
> adjuster to return my calls, I finally spoke with his supervisor who
> was able to get him to call me. He told me it simply is not their
> policy to pay these charges, even when their driver incurred them.
>
> So I called over to DTG and explained the situation to them. I asked
> them to send the bill to Allstate and/or the other driver. They
> refused. I asked them to waive the fees. They refused. I asked them
> to produce the fleet utilization log so I could see that they had
> actually suffered a loss, rather than just making it up. They refused
> (claiming the logs are company confidental, like they contain trade
> secrets or something). Finally, I asked what would happen if I simply
> didn't pay the bill. They said they would send it to collections and
> it would show up in my credit report.
>
> Now I feel a very strange dichotomy about this. One the one hand,
> I've reached a point in my life where $87.13 is just no big deal.
> However, I feel like I'm being charged with a "just because" fee and
> I'm absolutely outraged by it. I REALLY don't want to pay this bill.
> I would rather pay a lawyer $500 per hour to fight this than send DTG
> the $87.13. In fact, I'm prepared to ignore this bill, even it means
> my otherwise spotless credit will be damaged.
>
> So here's the FP question. What kind of damage am I looking at here?
> As I said, my credit is spotless (800+). Are we talking about a 10
> point drop? A 100 point drop? And how long will it take to go away?
> I just took out my last mortgage for the forseeable future. I pay for
> my cars with cash. I sometimes apply for new credit cards to get
> signup bonuses or better rewards. But I'm relative satisfied with my
> current two cards so I have no NEED to do that.
>
> In summary, my credit is excellent and I don't think I'm going to need
> new credit any time soon. So if the hit to my credit score is going
> to be small or the damage will go away relatively quickly, I'm going
> to seriously consider taking the hit. But if it's going to be
> catastropic, I'll swallow my pride and send them the check.
>
> I appreciate any advice you can offer, either on the FP front or
> fighting DTG.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Bill
>
Couple of points: 1. Ask your own auto insurance agent for some
advice. 2. Have a lawyer friend draft a letter requesting specific
information to support their contention.
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