Japonia

B

Brian MaasJapan

Those days in Japan I was driving alone and moving around the city. I picked up a Toyota Auris from the counter in Taito around nine in the morning, the car was clean and the automatic gear felt easy to drive. I felt pretty relaxed when I left the car rental place. I went to many places and one night I parked the car in a parking lot. The light there was a bit dim. I locked the car and walked away and did not think much. When I came back to the car I saw that one side of the mirror was broken. The cover was cracked and the inside part was loose. It clearly looked like another car hit it. There was no one around anymore. I felt confused and also a bit regretful because I did not call the police at once and now there was no way to find who did it. I remembered that some days before, when I was driving on a faster road, something hit the windshield and made a big crack. I got really nervous at that moment and I thought the repair cost would be very high. Then I suddenly remembered that when I made the booking I chose AXA Full Coverage. In the description it said it covers damage to the car and also glass and other parts. So I contacted their customer support and told them what happened and I took some photos and sent them. For the windshield damage, the staff at the car rental counter checked the car and made a damage report. They told me the amount for the repair and I had to pay the Japanese yen first. The number was not small and I felt real pressure paying it. After that they helped me start the claim. After some time the claim was approved and they paid me back almost all of that money. I felt much better and I thought choosing this full coverage really saved me. The mirror case happened later. The rental car company told me that because I did not call the police and they could not find the third party, by the rental contract I had to pay for the mirror repair. At first I felt unhappy because it was not my fault, but then I thought again and I knew there was no proof at the parking lot. So I accepted it. I remembered AXA Full Coverage again and how it covers damage including glass and other parts. I decided to try a second claim. The car rental company sent me the repair quote for the mirror. I paid the forty thousand plus yen with my own money first and then I sent the payment record and the other documents to their customer support. They did not ask me for many new things and the communication was clear. Later they helped me apply for the second claim for the mirror. After some time I got their answer and this mirror damage was also paid back to me. When I think about the whole story, from picking up the car in Taito in the morning to returning it later in Osaka in the evening, my feelings really changed. At the start it was just a normal rental for my trip. Then I had windshield damage and mirror damage. If I did not have this full coverage, I would need to carry two repair costs alone and that is hard for a solo traveler. Now I still think it is not nice to pay first, but I am glad I finally got the money back. I feel very satisfied with AXA Full Coverage and I think choosing it when I booked with QEEQ was a very good decision.

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Daniel MashburnJapan

"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.

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Taylor LindenJapan

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.

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ADIBA MitchellJapan

To be honest I would be in a really bad mood if I did not buy AXA Full Coverage this time. I booked the car on QEEQ and picked it up in Tokyo on June 10 in the morning. It was a Toyota Alphard from SouKyo Rent A Car. Automatic seven seats. I came for business and needed to visit several clients. At the start everything was fine. The car looked pretty new. The next day around noon it started raining in Tokyo. The road was a bit slippery. On a narrow street corner I turned the wheel and I scratched the car on a guard rail. The side of the door and the front bumper got damaged. I was shocked. My first thought was that this car is not cheap and the repair cost would be crazy. I also worried it would mess up my meetings. The staff from the rental company came to check the damage. They made a record and showed me a rough idea of the possible cost. My heart sank. Then I remembered I had AXA Full Coverage so I contacted their customer service right away. I explained what happened and took photos of the scene and the damage and sent my info like they asked. I was still in Tokyo and I had to return the car on June 12 in the morning and hurry to my next meeting so I was afraid this problem would take too long. I was a bit nervous but they used simple words and kept telling me what I needed to provide. I followed step by step and sent everything. There was a small issue. The payee name for the claim was wrong and it was not my name as the main driver. They reminded me about it so I changed it to my own bank account. I also checked my address details and fixed them. Later they asked me again about the insurance amount and what currency to use. I checked my papers and confirmed the amount and sent more photos of the damage. It felt a little tiring to send things again but the pace was ok and I could handle it. After a few days they told me the insurance company had already approved the claim. They also explained the payout amount clearly. When I heard that it was confirmed I finally relaxed. It felt like that scratch on the car was also gone from my head. In the end the accident and the claim did not take too long. The most important thing is that AXA Full Coverage really covered the repair and other costs I was worried about. If I had to pay all that in Tokyo during a business trip it would be a big pressure. Now when I think about it I am glad I spent extra on this insurance. Without it this trip would feel completely different.

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PETER CharnoffJapan

The sky in Tokyo was a bit cloudy that day. I walked to the CRQ CarRent counter with my suitcase and my backpack. I was ready to pick up the Toyota Prius I booked on QEEQ. It was around ten in the morning, maybe April twenty ninth. The airport was busy and loud. I felt pretty excited because Japan was a place I wanted to visit for a long time. The first few days went really smooth. The car was easy to drive. It was automatic and very fuel saving. I felt kind of proud of my choice. I even thought to myself that I did a good job booking this car. Then one day when I was driving in the city, a car in front of me changed lane very suddenly. I hit the brake hard. The car stopped, but I hit something on the side of the road. I got out and saw a long scratch on one side of the car and a small dent. My mind went blank for a moment. I just thought, this is bad, this is going to cost a lot of money. I called the rental counter and told them what happened. They checked the car and said they had to follow their rules. They asked me to pay a pretty big amount first for the damage and other fees. When I paid with my card, my heart really hurt. At the same time I kept telling myself it was good that I had bought AXA Full Coverage before. Without it I would be in big trouble. Back at the hotel I started to collect all the papers. I took photos of the damage. I kept all the receipts and bills from the rental company. I sent everything by email to the customer service team. The first time I sent my files my driving license photo was not very clear. They wrote back and asked me to send a clearer one. I got nervous again and worried that this small problem might slow down the claim. So I took several new photos of my license and sent them again. They also told me the small till slip was not enough and they needed a proper statement that showed the charge on my account. At first I thought the normal receipt was fine. Then I had to open my credit card statement and find the line with the rental charge and the currency. I made screenshots and saved them carefully. I sent them one by one in an email. In my head I kept thinking I really hoped all this work would help and that I would not have to pay more in the end. A few days later the support team said they still needed the repair invoice from the rental company and more clear damage photos. So I contacted the rental counter again and asked them for the repair papers. The staff there were not very chatty but they did send me the repair document and better photos of the damage. I forwarded everything to the service team. The back and forth made me a bit tired, but I also understood this was part of the claim process, so I tried to stay patient. At one point they asked about the currency of the charge. Only then I noticed I never really paid attention when I first paid. I just saw the total amount and it already looked high to me. That night I checked the exchange rate on my phone and kept counting in my head. I felt worried that the final payout might be less than what I really paid. Later when they checked with me again, I noticed that the actual amount charged on my card was higher than the amount the insurance side first talked about. My stress came back right away. I thought maybe I would have to cover the difference myself. After a while the support team contacted me and said they had asked the insurer to adjust the claim and match it with the real amount I was charged. When I read that line, I felt a big relief. I felt that they were really trying to help me and not just looking for a way to pay less. They finally told me that the claim was approved and that the money I paid for the damage would be covered based on the real charge on my card. At that moment I really felt that buying AXA Full Coverage was the right decision. Before this trip I was always unsure when I saw extra insurance options and I sometimes thought I would never need them. This time I went through a full claim from start to finish. I had to send many documents and it was a bit of a hassle, but the result made me feel satisfied and also a lot more relaxed about this whole experience.