Ouch! Dented the bumper. Will CC pay?

dreamshark · Post by **dreamshark** » Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:41 pm

I've read a lot of posts about people getting charged by rental companies for imaginary dents and scratches, but this isn't one of those posts. We backed into something trying to turn around and put a big dent in the bumper. What now? Will they charge us hundreds of dollars to replace the whole bumper? The bumper is plastic, so I don't suppose they can just hammer out the dent.

I paid for the car with a Visa Signature card, which supposedly has some sort of rental car insurance coverage. Has anybody ever tried to get any help from CC in this situation? We are covered in St. John by our regular car insurance, but we have at least $500 deductible so probably not worth reporting to them. Any advice?

Agent99 · Post by **Agent99** » Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:58 pm

Who did you rent from? Will be curious to hear the outcome. Good luck!

dreamshark · Post by **dreamshark** » Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:17 pm

St.John Car Rental.

KTinTX · Post by **KTinTX** » Sun Mar 23, 2014 4:12 pm

Had a similar situation 2 years ago. Someone bumped into our jeep while parked at the beach and put a pretty good dent in the plastic bumper. We rent from Conrad Sutton, and this was probably our third or fourth year in a row to rent from him. The day I noticed it I dropped by their office and showed Mr Sutton the damage. He was very nice and cooperative, told us to enjoy our trip and he would double check all the records on our jeep to make sure we didn't just miss it on our check-out form. When we turned it in, he confirmed he didn't have a record of it and showed me the last ten or so rental checkin forms. Then he showed me several receipts from where he has purchased replacement bumpers (approx $800 after shipping charges) and since the bumper had some other small nicks and cuts he offered to split the cost evenly so neither of us had to file anything.

Anyway, something to keep in mind at turn in if your jeep had some wear and tear prior to the damage.

Coconuts · Post by **Coconuts** » Sun Mar 23, 2014 4:58 pm

I don't know if my recent experience will be of any use, but last month I was traveling on business in Virginia, and managed to back into something and put a large dent in the rear bumper, which was also plastic. Colleagues spotted it from twenty yards away; it was a good sized dent. The plastic was too stiff to pop it back into place from behind. I wondered if a hair dryer might help make the plastic more flexible, but no-go. A colleague said "you need a heat gun", and as it happened, there was a Lowe's across the street from the hotel. I picked up a heat gun for $24.95, along with a short piece of wooden molding. After warming up the dented section to the point where it was hot to the touch, I used the stick to apply force from behind, and the dent popped back into place. There were a couple of small shallow dents left in the shape, but a few more applications of the stick popped them back into place as well. The bumper looked like new, with maybe a few very faint scratches. St. John Hardware surely sells heat guns. If you can pop the dent back in place, any charges for whatever is left of the impact are bound to be a lot lower.

All the best,

Kevin

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 8:28 am

We had a similar situation with Conrad Sutton. He ended up never charging us.

Best bet is to call your credit card company and ask. The credit card supplemental/primary insurance is very specific to the credit card and the locale.

Good luck.

Cheers, Rick

Kentuckygirl · Post by **Kentuckygirl** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:09 pm

Ouch! This hits home. I paid for a bumper last summer when I was there. I didn't choose to deal with insurance. Maybe I was scammed

ifloat · Post by **ifloat** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:51 pm

Not sure about your CC but you may also be charged for the rental company's loss of use of the vehicle while it is in the body shop. I always purchase special coverage for that from my auto insurer before I travel.

dreamshark · Post by **dreamshark** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 8:10 am

Theoretically, all the CC insurances cover Loss of Use. But if they tried to charge for loss of use in this case, it really would be a scam. It's just a dent in the bumper - no body work required. If they can't just pop the dent out again, they'll probably just leave it that way. A dented bumper certainly doesn't make a car unrentable on St. John. But it's the first major dent in this one, so it mars the appearance and I suppose starts the vehicle on the road to a new bumper. I would be surprised if any St. John car rental outfit actually replaced a bumper every time it's dented.

lazylane · Post by **lazylane** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:25 am

Well, thanks for the reminder! I just filed a claim with American Express for an accident that occurred in December! We were backing out of the pay parking and scraped the passenger side on the pole!! Huge dent and we went to Paris Car Rental and they said jump in we are going to the body shop. $490 later......had to pay it on the spot!! We had paid for our Jeep rental and damages both with American Express. Now, as many of you know the Jeeps are always dented, etc so I am sure they pocketed that!! But, I filed the claim yesterday so I will let you know how that goes. And I was covered for loss of use.....but I am betting it was never out of commission anyway! They are now requesting info from Paris! Island time...I may get paid next year....just in time to rent another Jeep!!!

Coconuts · Post by **Coconuts** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:01 pm

My earlier suggestion might have seemed a bit outlandish, but FWIW, I just checked, and St. John Hardware (in the upper parking level at The Marketplace) stocks heat guns, and they are all of $39.99. Plastic bumpers are a whole different animal than the old metal ones, in that they have a very strong memory of their original shape. The problem is that it would take extreme force to move a dented section from its new to its original position. Once the dented section is nice and hot, though, this force becomes pretty low, and a stick levered from behind will do the trick. I was really startled at how perfect the bumper on my recent business rental looked after I took a colleagues advice and tried a heat gun and a stick. I once put a good dent in the bumper of a jeep from Conrad Sutton, and that was an expensive out of pocket affair. If your CC actually covers you, fine, but if in doubt, consider picking up a heat gun, a wooden dowel, and maybe an extension cord.

All the best,

Kevin

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:48 pm

lazylane wrote:Huge dent and we went to Paris Car Rental and they said jump in we are going to the body shop. $490 later......had to pay it on the spot!!

Ya know, that beats the whole passive/aggressive teeth sucking exercise you usually get. I'd rather get it taken care of right off and be on my way.

Insurance is just a way to shift risk. We had one ding in almost 40 trips for a total cost of $500, if we had actually been charged. We're still coming out ahead skipping the rental agencies insurance and relying on our personal auto, credit card and homeowners insurance policies.

Cheers, RickG

dreamshark · Post by **dreamshark** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:08 pm

Just following up here - although I'm still a bit confused as to the outcome. Taking my cue from some of the posts here, I decided it would be a good idea to call STJ Car Rental to report the bumper dent before returning the car. Cynthia seemed to appreciate that I'd called, was very nice about it, and said "Just leave a little extra time when you return the car so we can give you an estimate."

When we brought the car in I reminded her again about the dent, and she had us wait while somebody looked at it. While we waited we chatted pleasantly, and I guess she decided she felt sorry for us because she started saying things like, "We won't charge for a whole new bumper. It won't be very much." Even after the guy who looked at it reported that it was a "deep dent" she said, "It won't be very much" and no need to involve our insurance company. Since nobody was around to make an actual estimate, she said she would call us the next day at home to tell us how much the charge would be.

Having read Coconut's post here with great interest (not outlandish at all, very useful information) I realized that it IS possible to get the dent out of a plastic bumper even if I hadn't felt like trying to do it myself. So I was feeling hopeful.

Well, we've been back home for a week now and haven't heard a peep from St. John Car Rental. No phone call, no email. So maybe they were able to pop the dent back out and just decided to drop it. That's fine with me.

But the confusing thing is - NO charge for the rental car has appeared on my credit card bill yet. All the other things I used that card for on this trip have shown up, but nothing from them. While it would be nice to get my car rental for free, I doubt that's gonna happen. Waiting for the charge to show up is kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Has anyone else noticed a long delay from this company in posting credit card charges? Or does this mean they are still trying to decide how much to charge me?

Rebubula · Post by **Rebubula** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:22 pm

We had a similar encounter last April.
A tree hit our bumper at maho. Reported to courtesy at our drop off. They were very pleasant and indicated they would be in touch.
If I recall it was a week to 10 days before the charge appeared. It was a couple hundred, we confirmed with a family member who works on cars and he agreed it was a fair amount for damage.
We did not submit to our cc company.

jmass10 · Post by **jmass10** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:45 am

We love dependable car rental. Over the last 10 years we have had a bumper knocked off, bumper dent, soft top cracked, water damage, stereo broken, scratched and dented and each time we return the jeep and show them the damage? "See you next year" and that's it! Splitting the charge for a dented bumper......that bumper is called a bumper for a reason. Conrad should be ashamed. We all know that bumper is not getting replaced.

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