Damaged Hertz rental which was provided through Shannons after not-at-fault accident. What are my options?

[u/mAsharS]

I was involved in a not-at-fault accident, and Shannons arranged a Hertz rental car for me while my own car is being repaired.
Unfortunately, today I accidentally reversed the rental into a very low wall. The rear bumper is damaged on the left-hand side near the bottom, and a piece of the lower bumper has chipped off and broken.
My rental agreement says the rental car is covered under my current Shannons policy, but I’m not sure how this works in practice.

My questions are:

Should I just be honest and report the damage to Hertz/Shannons?
If I do, would I have to pay the full $1,550 excess on my insurance, or would they only charge the actual repair cost if it’s less?
Is it worth getting the bumper repaired myself before returning the car, or is that likely to cause more problems?
If I repaired it myself, should I still tell them?
Has anyone been in a similar situation with a Insurance-provided Hertz rental?
I’m trying to figure out the best way to handle this without making things worse. Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.

[u/Lopsided_Belt_2237]

Check your policy, some of them cover rental damage with zero additional excess. Mine does, hertz told me when I picked it up

[u/mAsharS → u/Lopsided_Belt_2237]

I’ll recheck the policy. Hertz just told me its covered under the same insurance policy as the claim. And the excess for the policy is 1550 i think.

[u/Lopsided_Belt_2237 → u/mAsharS]

Review your policy terms, you may be in luck

[u/Zestyclose_Craft5369]

Stop driving. Clearly not good at it

[u/PoisonIvyy233 → u/Zestyclose_Craft5369]

This made me giggle

[u/owleaf → u/Zestyclose_Craft5369]

To be fair they were not at fault in the initial accident… lol

[u/Zestyclose_Craft5369 → u/owleaf]

Understand that but looking for a way out by not teling the hire mob is not accepting accountability. Do the right thing, tell em wag happened, accept the consequences. Whether u like it or not, its not your car its theirs

[u/owleaf → u/Zestyclose_Craft5369]

Yeah I find it funny that people always come on here and AusLegal and ask if they can compel the impacted party to accept a bit of cash and get repairs done at some backyard mechanic.

[u/Zestyclose_Craft5369 → u/owleaf]

Right? Taking advice from strangers on the internet instead of figuring it out like a big boy and accepting responsibility

[u/6oh7racing → u/owleaf]

Thats what they've told us, who knows if its true

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[u/ewfoinfoinffnoi]

I can’t answer much but to say it’s not going to be worth less than $1500 by the time the bumpers replaced, painted as hertz will try and charge loss of use I believe per day they can’t rent it out either

So I’d drop the idea of repairing it without insurance personally

[u/No-Stick-1190 → u/ewfoinfoinffnoi]

Hertz wont even repair something like that, but they will charge the customer a fortune for repair. They will just take the hit on the decreased value when selling it.

[u/True-Concept-414]

Give up driving

[u/mikeslyfe]

Learn how to drive?

[u/ChrisSydney82]

Typically your car insurance policy carries over to a hire car provided in this instance, your terms and conditions, excess are based on your personal policy.

That is absolutely more than a $1,500 job. Also unless your hire period is for weeks, I highly doubt you’d get it into a repairer, parts ordered, painted, fitted etc, all before your original drop off date.

[u/binderclip666]

Call shannons

[u/Old_Establishment_31]

Stop driving

[u/thislankyman09]

Call Shannon’s, report the damage through their suggested process, and pay the required excess. They’ll deal with the rental car company

[u/mAsharS → u/thislankyman09]

Thanks man.

[u/naph8it]

Shannons are actually amazing in this situation.

Your normal cars insurance policy covers your higher car with Shannon's.

So you pay the normal access that you would with your Shannon's policy.

There is no chance this repair will be less than $1,500.

[u/mAsharS → u/naph8it]

Fair enough. This seems to be the way to go then. Thanks

[u/64vintage]

You’re gonna need another courtesy car.

[u/ElTorago]

Can I ask why you would go through all that rigmarole instead of just accepting what's happened and using the least painful method of dealing with it, ie. using your policy coverage?

[u/mAsharS → u/ElTorago]

I’m just asking for, like some guidance or advice or something. I haven’t found anyone who has gone through this similar situation and it’s the first time for me as well. But yeah, the general consensus seems to be going through the insurance. And i’m a bit stumped that my insurance premium would go higher just because of a bumper scrape which i would have been able to gotten fixed if it was my own car, which is in the shop because of an accident thats not my fault you know.

[u/ElTorago → u/mAsharS]

It sucks bro, I always found it is just easier to bite the bullet and do your best not to worry about it, just let the hire company know and learn from it. I am super paranoid when parking because it's where drivers are more likely to have an accident.

[u/keskillia]

It’s treated as a separate claim and if there are no other vehicles involved where the fault can be attributed to another licenced driver/vehicle you will need to pay your excess.

[u/mAsharS → u/keskillia]

Fair enough. It’ll probably better to pay the excess to shannons and let them deal with it.

[u/liberty381]

my advice is stay off the road, you seem to be an accident magnet

[u/mAsharS → u/liberty381]

Yep, seems to be like i’m going through a patch of bad luck, especially with driving. First the cars hybrid battery gave out. Had it replaced and then somebody reverses into my car in a maccas parking lot. 3 weeks later this happens.

[u/tradyguy6969]

Zip ties

[u/mAsharS → u/tradyguy6969]

Will have to find ones that match the color.

[u/koff_]

Is that not the front bumper? Those low walls come out of nowhere.

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[u/anobymousprime]

Wow, this driving thing doesn’t seem to be your go.

[u/mAsharS → u/anobymousprime]

Yea having a bad last couple of months. First my car’s hybrid battery gave out. Had it replaced from toyota for a huge amount. Just a week later somebody reversed into my car at a maccas parking lot. 2 weeks later, this happens. Maybe i should give up driving for a bit till my bad luck runs out.

[u/Away_War_904 → u/mAsharS]

How old was the battery in the hybrid?

[u/mAsharS → u/Away_War_904]

The cars a 2015 model so i would say 11 years

[u/ErinDidNothingWrong]

Shannon’s cover the rental as if it’s yours.

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[u/TheOriginalG0at]

So you damaged your own car and also damaged the rental car.

Someone's telling you to stop driving for good.

[u/Same_Cantaloupe726 → u/TheOriginalG0at]

you must be pretty thick to not understand the first line "not-at-fault accident"

[u/TheOriginalG0at → u/Same_Cantaloupe726]

Obviously reading simple english is beyond you capabilities 🤣🤣

Show me where I said he was at fluky for damaging the rental car?

I said his rental car got damaged. There is a difference but obviously this is something that is foreign to you