What is the scariest thing when you travel with kids? I used to think it was flight delays but this time it was a big extra damage fee on my bill when I returned the car in Spain Mallorca. I booked the car on QEEQ and I went to the Budget counter around the morning of June 25 to pick up a Mini Cooper Cabrio. It was automatic and small and my kid was very excited when we got in. I drove very carefully the whole time but on a narrow road I still scratched the car by accident. It did not look very bad and I told myself maybe it was not a big deal. Around June 27 when I brought the car back the staff at the counter checked the car and did not really explain much so I thought it was just a normal record. When I got home and checked my credit card I saw almost 287 euro charged for damage and I just froze. My first thought was how did this money appear. My second thought was that I was lucky I bought AXA Full Coverage. Should I just accept this cost. I really did not want to because I was in another country with my kid and all my energy was on him. I did not want to fight with the rental company for a long time. I remembered that when I booked I saw that this insurance had a high claim limit so I contacted their customer service and told them the whole story. I kept asking how they made this number because I wanted to know if I was charged in a fair way. The rental company sent damage papers and photos. To be honest it was a lot and my head hurt a bit but I could still see the scratch on the car so I knew there was real damage. During that time I felt quite stressed. I was worried I would never get this money back and I also wondered if I should just stop the whole thing. My kid asked me if something bad happened and I just told him only dad's wallet got hurt. After that I followed their instructions and prepared the contract and other files I had and sent them. I asked myself if an insurance claim would be super hard. It was a bit simpler than I thought. I mainly explained that the car got scratched in Mallorca and that the rental company charged about 287.04 euro from my card for the damage. After I sent everything I checked my email and bank card almost every day. I thought if the money came back I would use it to buy my kid some extra gifts. Some time later they told me the claim was approved and the payout amount was the same as the damage fee of 287.04 euro. When I saw that number I finally relaxed and felt that buying AXA Full Coverage was really worth it. I had been worried they would only pay part of it or that it would take a very long time but they covered the full amount that I lost. For a parent traveling with a child this feeling is very important. It is not only about the money coming back. It is that I feel this insurance really works. In a foreign country the rental company has the final say on their fees but as long as my loss is paid back I feel much more at peace.
When the email popped up that day and I saw the claim was approved I let out a long breath. The first thought in my head was that I was really glad I bought AXA Full Coverage. It had already been a few days but every time I think about that business trip in Melbourne and the rental car I still see the whole story in my mind.
I booked the car on QEEQ for a work trip to Melbourne in Australia. I landed around midday on June fourteenth and went to the Everything Fleet counter the next day around noon to pick up the car. They gave me a Nissan X Trail. It was an automatic five seater and the body looked pretty new. I remember thinking this trip should go pretty smooth. Since it was a business trip and I had some luggage an SUV felt just right for me.
When I made the booking I added AXA Full Coverage. At that moment it was more for peace of mind. I was driving in another country and I was not fully used to all the rules. In my head one more layer of protection sounded smart. The counter staff walked around the car and showed me the basic condition. I took a few photos of the exterior and then drove away.
The problem came the day before I returned the car. That day I was driving in the city to meet a client. The road was not very wide and there were many cars. When I parked I misjudged the distance a little and the right side of the car lightly scraped a low concrete post. The sound was not very loud but I got nervous right away. I jumped out of the car to look and saw a clear scratch on the door. I kind of froze for a moment.
I knew this kind of damage would not be treated as something small by a rental company in Australia. I started to regret that I did not double check the parking space and the distance. That night I did not sleep very well. I kept thinking about what would happen when I returned the car the next day.
I brought the car back to the Everything Fleet location in Melbourne around noon on June eighteenth. The staff walked around the car and of course he noticed the scratch very fast. His face did not really change. He just wrote down some notes on his form and took some photos. Then he told me there would probably be a charge on my credit card. I knew this was hard to avoid and I started to guess in my head how much it could be.
Not long after that I received a message from my bank about a new charge. The amount was not small. I stared at the number and felt a bit upset especially because I did not know how they calculated it inside their system. I was worried they might take more than they should. Then I remembered I had bought AXA Full Coverage so I began to get all my bills and records in order.
I checked the invoice from the rental company and matched it with the credit card charge. The numbers were the same and that made me feel a bit better. After that I contacted their support team and explained what happened. Later they asked me again about the currency of the charge and that was when I noticed this time the money was taken in US dollars. I got a little stressed because I was afraid that a wrong currency might affect the claim. So I checked the invoice many times to make sure the amount and currency were clear.
The photos were another problem. At the time of the scrape I only focused on the scratch on the door. I did not really take a full set of pictures from every angle. Most shots were just quick ones I took on my phone. When I needed to give more details I realized I did not have a lot of strong evidence. To make up for this I wrote down all the details I still remembered like the location the slow speed and that it happened while I was trying to park and not while speeding.
Their team kept in touch with me and asked questions about the charge and the currency. I answered by looking at the invoice and my bank record. Since the numbers were the same on both it gave me some comfort. After I finally confirmed that the charge was in US dollars I sent that information again so everything was clear.
The next few days I went back to my normal work schedule. During short breaks between meetings I would suddenly think of the scratch and my mind would tighten up a little. I kept wondering how the claim would go. When the email finally came saying the claim was approved it felt like a big stone dropped off my shoulders. At that moment I was really thankful that I did not skip the extra coverage when I booked the car.
For someone like me who travels for business a lot this kind of protection feels very important. Even when you try to be careful you can still make a small mistake especially when you drive in another country where the roads and habits are different. This time there were some bumps in the process but in the end the cost was covered by the insurance so I do not have to keep thinking about that scratch over and over again.
"What did you do to the car" my friend laughed on video. I really could not laugh. I just gave a weak smile and said I was glad I had AXA Full Coverage or I would be broke.
In the middle of June I booked a car on QEEQ. I picked it up around June 20 in Taito, Japan in the morning. The rental company was CRQ CarRent. They gave me a Toyota same group car with automatic gear and it was a nice size. I clicked AXA Full Coverage when I booked because I wanted to feel safe. I am a young guy and it was my first time driving alone in Japan so I was a bit nervous.
The first days went fine. I followed the GPS very slowly and was afraid to hit anyone. Then one day near Tokyo city area I tried to park the car in a narrow parking space. I did not control the angle well. I heard a scraping sound on the side. In that moment my whole body froze. I got out and saw a clear scratch on the door side. My first thought was how much money I would have to pay.
When I returned the car it was around July 7 at noon. I told the counter staff what happened. The car rental staff stayed calm. He checked the car with a board took photos and asked me to sign some papers. I did not really understand their process. I just kept asking if I needed to pay on the spot. He said they would charge later. I started to count the money in my head. The number 130000 JPY stayed in my mind. My heart felt very heavy.
A few days later I saw a real charge on my account. It was taken in euro and the amount looked big. I opened the bill and everything was in Italian. I could not read even the first line. I used a translate app word by word and saw something like to be accounted. This made me more worried. I was not sure if the charge was final or still pending.
I contacted their customer service right away and told them the story. I used very simple English. I kept saying car damage 130000 JPY and bill in Italian. I also explained it was a rental in Japan. The person listened and sounded calm. They said they could help me make a claim and asked me to send the bill and other files. At that moment I felt a bit safer because I remembered I bought AXA Full Coverage and this was like my only lifeline.
In the next days my feelings were quite mixed. I was waiting and also afraid the claim would be rejected. They reminded me to check if the bank charge was already posted and asked me to send all the bills I could find. I looked at that Italian bill and felt a bit helpless. I kept thinking I only wanted to rent a car but now I was stuck with a document that felt like a foreign language exam.
They later told me the car rental company said they needed some time to make a detailed repair invoice and it might take one or two weeks. When I heard that I felt annoyed but I also understood because the car had to go to the workshop. I felt like my life was put on pause. I could not do anything except wait for news. Every time I checked my email or messages and saw something from them my heart would jump.
One day I finally got the message that the insurance side had agreed to pay my claim. When I read that line I really felt I could breathe again. It was like a big stone was taken off my chest. That big charge was no longer just a cold number. It became money that would soon come back to my account.
During this whole time I felt a clear difference. At the car rental counter it was all standard process. The staff did not talk much. They just followed rules. When I talked to their customer service I felt something else. Someone listened to me complain a bit and then told me step by step what might happen next. I did not see what they did in the background. What I felt was that someone helped me connect all the parts I did not understand like the foreign bill the car rental company and the insurance. In the end it turned into a real payout to my card.
Now when I think back if I did not buy AXA Full Coverage I would probably hate this whole rental experience and maybe never dare to drive abroad again. For a student like me 130000 JPY and the euro amount is not small. I almost thought I would have to cut all my summer plans to pay for this. When the claim was paid I really felt lucky that I clicked that option.
After this story when I talk with my friends I always say if you rent a car in another country you should really think about this kind of full coverage. It is not that you will surely have an accident. It is just that when you really scratch the car and face bills in a language you cannot read and deal with companies in different countries your mind feels much better when you have something like AXA Full Coverage. When I look at the claim record now I still remember the awkward moment of the scratch but I also feel this sense of relief and I remember that I booked this car through QEEQ.
If I did not buy AXA Full Coverage at the start I think this work trip would feel like a total mess because of one broken windscreen. The story starts when I booked the car on QEEQ. I had a business trip to Hobart for a few days. I picked a Budget Toyota Corolla with auto gear and four doors. I remember my pick up time as around the morning of April twenty first a bit after nine. I even went to the airport counter a little earlier because I wanted everything to be clear and smooth.
The staff at the Budget counter was pretty friendly. He walked around the car with me. I paid extra attention to the front windscreen. In my head I was thinking if this cracks it will be a big trouble. When I signed the papers I checked my booking again and saw AXA Full Coverage ticked there. That made me feel safer. I told myself it was good that I spent that extra money.
The next few days were fine. I drove to meetings and also a bit around town and the suburbs. Hobart is windy but the view is really nice. The real problem came one evening just before I was supposed to return the car. I was driving back to my place after work. The light was already a bit low. Another car in front hit a small stone on the road. That stone jumped up and hit my windscreen. The sound was very sharp. My whole body shook and my heart dropped.
I stopped the car and saw a clear crack on the front glass. It started from near the middle and went a bit up. It looked very bad to me. My first thought was that I was in big trouble and this would cost a lot of money. I just sat in the car for a few minutes and my brain was full of numbers. I kept thinking about the business budget and if this would be a pain when I did my expense claim.
Then I remembered AXA Full Coverage again. I felt a bit better but I was still scared. I worried they might say glass did not count or that they needed some special condition. The next day I still had to see a client so I drove very carefully. I was afraid the crack would get bigger. After my meeting I stopped the car and took many photos of the windscreen. I tried different angles so the crack was very clear. It felt like I was handing in homework. While I took the photos I kept talking to myself and saying I hope this is enough.
The car return day was around April twenty seventh in the evening. My time was close to seven thirty. I reached the Budget counter about ten minutes early. When the staff checked the car he saw the windscreen damage at once. He looked at me and said he needed to make a damage report. He showed me the paper. The amount was more than one thousand Australian dollars. My heart started to beat faster again. I still tried to explain what happened on the road. He stayed calm and said this kind of thing was common. He told me they would charge me first and I should claim with my insurance later. At that moment I learned how to look calm while my hands were already sweaty.
After I went back to my place I put all the papers together. I had the damage bill the return paper and the photos. I kept thinking when this money could come back. Later I contacted their customer service and told them the whole story about the glass damage. I told them I had AXA Full Coverage on my booking and I sent them the windscreen photos. The person on the phone spoke in a steady way and said they would pass my case to the insurance side and that I could wait for updates. When I ended the call I felt like someone caught me when I was falling.
During the next days I still thought about it from time to time. Every time I remembered the number on the damage bill I felt nervous. They checked some details with me like the exact amount I was charged and the currency. I work in business and I am sensitive to numbers so every time they checked with me I looked at the bill again. I did not want to say anything wrong. I could feel that they wanted the information to be correct and not just push it away.
The moment the insurance was approved came to me in an email. I was in the office working on a report when I saw it. The email said the claim was successful and the amount would cover the more than one thousand Australian dollars I paid. I felt a big stone drop from my chest. I remembered how I once hesitated when I chose AXA Full Coverage and now I only felt glad.
Later I checked my bank account more than once. I saw the money come back in Australian dollars. The number matched what they had confirmed with me before. Nothing was missing. Only then I fully relaxed and put this story in my memory as a work trip problem that was solved in a good way. That broken windscreen became a small reminder for me. Even if I am busy with meetings and flights I should not skip this kind of protection.
For me the biggest point in this whole experience is that when something bad really happens to you AXA Full Coverage is not just a name on a contract. It is the thing that moves that one thousand plus dollars away from my own wallet. As someone who travels for business quite often I know that without this cover the money would probably stay as my own loss or force me to explain for a long time during the company claim process. When I look back I feel that the small click when I chose AXA Full Coverage on QEEQ was the best small decision of my Hobart trip.
What is the scariest thing when you drive alone in Hokkaido? For me, I thought it was just about driving safe and having fun. Around mid June I picked up a Toyota Harrier from CRQ CarRent in Chitose. I booked it through QEEQ. It was an automatic car with five seats. The car felt stable and pretty new. I was kind of proud of my choice at first. Then luck decided to joke with me. One or two days after I got the car I was turning into a narrow road. There was a guard rail and some bushes on the side. I thought the car was clear. When I got out and checked there was a long scratch on one side of the car. My first question in my head was how much will this cost. My second question was will my AXA Full Coverage really help. I stood by the road looking at that scratch. The wind was a bit cold and I felt nervous and also a bit angry at myself. I took some photos of the damage then drove to a safer place. When I returned the car near late June in the morning I went back to the Chitose office earlier than my original plan. The staff at the counter checked the car. At first he was calm and just walked around. When he reached the scratched side he stopped and looked at me. He pointed at it and told me they needed to charge according to their repair and other fees. He said the amount might be high. When I heard it could be many tens of thousands of yen maybe around one hundred thirty thousand yen my mind went blank for a moment. I kept nodding but inside I was trying to change it to SGD and see how painful that was. I was really worried that I might have to pay everything by myself. I kept thinking about the AXA Full Coverage I bought and if it could cover this. After I returned the car I started to contact customer service. I explained what happened and sent the documents and pictures that the rental office gave me. Some files were quite big and hard to send. I sat in my hotel room fighting with my phone and laptop and asking myself if this insurance would really pay. Their replies made me a bit more relaxed. They reminded me to finish all the documents and said they would talk with the rental office and the insurer. During the next days I sent more things like the full rental agreement and the official repair bill for the car damage. The rental office later sent the tax included repair amount and more car damage photos. I passed them on to customer service. Sometimes they called me and I missed the call. I was afraid it would affect the case. But I could feel they kept following this claim and just needed to check some details. I remember clearly that the final claim amount from the insurance was based on the total damage fees from the rental company. It was around one hundred thirty thousand yen. When they told me the claim was successful and the money was paid I felt much lighter. It was like a stone finally moved away from my chest. I thought about that moment when I saw the scratch by the road and felt so anxious. Now I feel lucky that I had AXA Full Coverage. If I had to pay that whole amount alone as a solo traveler it would be a big pressure. Looking back at the whole thing I did spend time to prepare papers and photos and there were checks with the rental office on the amount. But in the end the insurance took care of the car damage cost. What I paid was mostly time and a bit of stress. For someone like me with simple high school level English it was important that the result was clear and the payout was real. After this I feel a bit more safe when I drive in another country. Not because nothing will happen but because I know if a scratch or other damage happens I am not standing alone with the bill.
When I booked the car through QEEQ, I only felt that having AXA Full Coverage might make me safer. I did not really think I would use it for real. Around the middle of June I picked up a Peugeot 208 from Europcar in Carcassonne. I arrived at the office maybe on June 19 in the evening. The staff at the counter talked a bit about the car and I took some photos then I drove away. It was automatic and easy to drive and I felt everything was fine.
Later when I was driving in Carcassonne, something happened on a narrow street. The side of the car and the wheel got clear scratches. I was quite nervous. I knew this kind of damage would cost money and I kept thinking it might be very expensive. When I went to return the car around the afternoon of June 24, the rental staff checked the car very carefully. They made a damage check report and then gave me a car damage invoice. The number on the bill was not small and I felt a lot of pressure.
Back at my place I started to contact the customer service team. I sent them the check report and the damage invoice from the rental company. I was worried the process would be very hard. They told me that my booking had AXA Full Coverage and I only needed to add my own documents so they could start the claim. I followed their instructions and prepared my personal information and proof. I sent everything. I felt a bit better because it was not only me facing this big bill.
In the next days they kept telling me how the claim was going. They said the insurance side was asking about the amount and the currency. I remember I checked the number and the unit once more and they passed it to the insurer. Even though it took some days, for me the process felt smooth. I did not feel ignored.
At last they told me the insurer had approved the claim and the car damage would be paid in full. I really felt relieved at that moment. The invoice that stressed me so much was finally not on my shoulders. When I think about how nervous I was at the return and how I felt after the successful claim, I see that choosing AXA Full Coverage was really a big help for me.
