AXA Full CoverageWhat happens when you crash your rental car and need a claim to work for real. I asked myself this a lot after my trip. I rented a Ford Fiesta from GOLDCAR in Lisbon through QEEQ. I picked up the car around June 18 at midday. It was a small manual car and at first everything felt fine. I returned it early in the morning around June 24. At the start I was pretty relaxed and I did not think anything bad would happen.
The accident happened at a normal junction on the road. The car in front of me braked very hard all of a sudden. My reaction was a bit slow and I hit the front of my own car. That sound in that moment made my heart sink. I got out and saw the front bumper and part of the front area were clearly damaged. My brain went blank and I only thought this is bad and this will cost me a lot of money.
That was when I was really glad I had bought AXA Full Coverage. Before the trip I took it just as extra protection. Then it suddenly became something that could save me. I reported the damage to the counter staff of the rental company. They wrote down the damage and said there could be a big charge. I felt a lot of pressure because I am not local and I was also worried about language and the whole process.
I took pictures of the accident and kept the rental contract and the bill. Then I contacted customer service and explained what happened. They listened and stayed calm. They told me this kind of damage to the car was covered under AXA Full Coverage and asked me to send all the needed documents. My mind was still messy. I kept checking if I missed any photo or paper because I was scared that one missing thing could make me lose the claim.
When the rental company finally charged me and I saw it was a bit over two hundred euro, my stress went up again. After some time they told me the claim was being processed. I just had to provide some extra details like my address and my bank account to receive the money. I live in Brazil and my bank account was in the Cayman Islands before so at first there was a problem because the country of my address and the country of my bank were not the same. I checked everything again and sent my Brazilian address. I really did not want the claim to fail because of this kind of detail.
There were a few rounds of talking and checking. Sometimes I worried one number was wrong. Sometimes I worried one field was not updated. I felt like I was always reviewing my own info. They still kept the steps clear and just asked me to confirm things so the data would be right. Then one time they told me the compensation amount was 295.39 euro. When I saw this number I finally felt I could breathe. It looked like the money the rental company charged me could really come back.
Later I got the message that the claim was approved and they would pay me that amount. In that moment I felt that this AXA Full Coverage was real and useful and not just some words in an ad. The damage to the car was clear and my driving skills are not perfect. Without this insurance I think this whole rental story would only be a bad memory. Now even though there was an accident I at least got proper compensation for the cost and that changed how I remember this experience.
Price Drop ProtectorHey why do you suddenly have a few extra euros here my friend asked when he looked at my bill on my phone. I thought I did the math wrong at first. Then I remembered it was because I picked Price Drop Protector when I booked with QEEQ. When I booked the car I did not really think the price could still go down. I just wanted to lock the car and be done. It was around September 26 when I used my phone to book a car in Faro in Portugal. I planned to pick it up the next day around early afternoon at GREEN MOTION. It was a Ford Focus with manual gear and I checked all the details and the total price. I even wrote the amount down in my notes. A few days later I checked my emails and my card bill again. I saw the number was different from what I wrote. It was lower by a few euros. For a moment I got nervous. I thought maybe the card was charged wrong and then fixed or that I missed some extra fee. I read the emails again more slowly. Then I saw a message from them saying the price went down and they already made a new booking for me and sent back the difference. It was around 6 euros. It is not a huge amount but for me as a student it feels nice. It feels like I earned money for nothing. I do not remember clicking any rebook button. I just booked the car and went on with my day. When I finally noticed it the money was already there. They did not ask me to fill forms or do anything. The car was still the same car. The plan stayed almost the same. I was still going to pick it up around September 27 in the afternoon and drop it off around early October in the morning. The only thing that changed was the price. It became cheaper by itself. When I explained it to my friend he first thought I got a discount at the counter in person. I told him it was just a service I added when I booked and then I forgot about it. I only remembered when I saw the bill go down. For me this thing that watches the price for me feels like having a classmate who is good with money standing next to me. They keep an eye on the fare and when it drops they tell me and already send the money back. I do not need to refresh prices every day and my mind feels lighter.
Price Drop ProtectorOn the morning when I returned the car in Faro, I was walking to the airport counter and asking myself a question. Did this car rental cost me more than it should? The answer made me a bit happy, because I knew I saved some money. How did it start? When I was planning my solo trip to Portugal, I booked a Ford Focus with GREEN MOTION on QEEQ. Manual, four doors, five seats. For one person it was perfect. I was thinking, what if the price goes down later and I pay more? I did not want that. So what helped me? There was a service called Price Drop Protector. What does it do? After I made the booking and was still worried about my budget, they later found that the price became lower and they made a new booking for me with the cheaper price. Did I need to do it myself? No. Customer support told me there was a refund for the price difference and I only needed to confirm. Was the difference big? It was not huge, but I travel alone and count every euro, so a few euros still matter to me. At that moment I felt lucky, because without this service I would not notice the change in price at all. When I picked up the car around late September afternoon in Faro, I was at the counter and I felt relaxed, since my budget was still under control and the car was just what I expected. When I brought the car back in early October and thought about it again, it felt like I had a bit of extra travel money. Was someone watching the price for me? Yes. They kept an eye on it and I just used the car. For a solo traveler like me who wants to save money, this kind of automatic refund on price drop feels very real and helpful.
Dedicated customer serviceWhen a business trip goes wrong with a rental car who really stays with you to fix it? This time in Lisbon gave me a different feeling about QEEQ. I was supposed to pick up the car on the night of June 28, but my flight was delayed a lot. I arrived very late and went to the rental counter. The staff there told me my original car could not be given at the same price. They said I came too late and changed me to a Peugeot 2008 with extra charges. I was tired and pretty angry. I had already said I would arrive late so I did not understand why I had to pay more. What made me calm down was the way their customer support followed my case. It did not feel like they just replied once and disappeared. Someone kept talking with me about each problem. They asked me to send photos of the receipts and all the amounts. Then they helped me separate which parts were upgrade fees and which were tolls and which part might be possible to get back. They were also talking with the rental company but for me the main thing was that every time I had a new question there was someone there who explained it in simple words. No heavy terms. Just clear updates and what we could try next. I even said I would do a chargeback if nothing was solved. My mood was not good but they still stayed patient and moved step by step. In the end I did not get all the money back but I did receive a part of the extra fees and that was already better than what I expected. For a business traveler time and mood are both important. This experience made me feel that when something goes wrong I am actually looked after and not just left alone to fight with the rental counter.
Price Drop Protector“Wait, why is the price lower again?” I really said this out loud when I was scrolling on my phone. I had already booked my car in Lisbon on QEEQ, planning to pick up a Peugeot 208 automatic from GREEN MOTION around six thirty in the evening on October twenty first. In my head the trip was set, and I was not thinking too much about the price anymore.
A few days later I was bored and checked the same car again. The price was a bit cheaper than what I saw before. My first feeling was kind of annoyed. I felt like I lost a few dollars just because I booked earlier. Then I remembered that when I made the booking I chose this service called “Price Drop Protector”. It said they would watch the price for me and give me back the difference if it went down.
I checked my email and my booking page. There was a new confirmation there. The order number was different from the old one, but the car was still the Peugeot 208, automatic, four doors and five seats. Pick up and drop off were still in Lisbon. The times were now around six thirty in the evening on October twenty first for pick up and around eight in the morning on October twenty fifth for drop off. It looked a little bit shifted from what I remembered, but still totally fine for me. It showed that they had booked it again for me with the new cheaper price and the same car group.
Then I looked at my credit card records. I could see a small refund coming back, about a few CAD. The amount was not huge, but it felt like I just earned money for nothing. I was a bit surprised because I did not do anything myself. I just made the original booking and then went on with my life. They watched the price, rebooked it and sent back the difference. I only saw the result after it was done.
I did not contact customer service to ask what happened. I just saw that my booking was now cheaper and I felt pretty relaxed. I learned that when the price goes down I do not need to sit there refreshing the website and comparing every day. As long as I chose Price Drop Protector, they will take care of it.
For someone like me, a younger person who changes plans a lot and does not always have time to study prices, this kind of thing is really helpful. Later when I was talking with my friends about renting a car, I mentioned that I booked mine on QEEQ and the price was even lowered automatically and I got a refund. My friends asked if it was complicated. I said I basically did nothing. I just booked like normal and they handled the rest. It felt pretty cool.
One-Dollar FreezeWhen I booked the car, the first thing I cared about was not the car, it was how to pay for it. My credit card limit is not very high and I still need money for other things, so I felt a bit nervous. On the website I saw the One-Dollar Freeze option. At first I did not really trust it. I thought in my head, does it really take only 1 dollar now, maybe there will be some strange fee later. That night I stayed at home and checked the price many times. I did some simple math with my budget for the next days. The more I thought, the more I felt that paying a tiny amount first and letting the rest be charged later would be nice. In the end I decided to try it and I clicked this payment option. When I made the booking it only charged 1 dollar. When I saw the bill I felt much more relaxed. My credit card did not take a big hit and that was a big relief. After one or two days I checked my email and my card record again. I wanted to be sure it was really just that 1 dollar. There was no extra charge, so I felt safe about it. As the pick up date in Lisbon came closer, I sometimes thought about it and inside I said, I hope the next payment also goes smoothly. One or two days before I needed the car, the rest of the amount was charged automatically. I saw the payment notice and the number was the same as before. Then I felt the whole process was simple. I did not need to click anything more or worry that I forgot to pay. On the day I picked up the car I went to the counter near the airport and got the Peugeot 2008. When I sat in the car, it hit me that paying just 1 dollar at the start really made the booking feel lighter. If I had to pay the full amount right away, I think I would spend a long time thinking and trying to calculate everything again and again. This way my money moved only when it was needed. For me the whole experience felt like taking small steps. First I paid a very small amount, then the rest was paid closer to the trip. My mind stayed calm. I also told my friends about it. They were curious how I could lock a car with just 1 dollar at the beginning. I explained that for me the main feeling was less pressure, especially when I did not want my credit card bill to suddenly look very scary. For someone young like me, this kind of payment plan fits well. I can secure the car first and I do not need to put out a big amount right away. It really makes my credit card feel less heavy.
