What can you do when you get a big damage fee on a rental car in another country? This really happened to me in Paris. I booked my car on QEEQ. I went to pick it up around the afternoon of May 5 in the city. It was a Peugeot 208 with automatic gear. The car was small and easy to drive and the whole trip felt okay. On the return day, around the afternoon of May 13, I brought the car back on time. I also filled up the fuel. The Europcar counter staff walked around the car, looked very quick, and did not say anything. I thought everything was fine and it was over. A few days later I checked my bank and saw a pretty big extra charge. I just froze for a second. What is this fee? I felt nervous and also a bit angry. I was thinking maybe they charged me for something that I did not know about. I contacted the rental company and they said it was related to damage, but they explained it in a very unclear way. I honestly could not remember any clear damage moment and nobody told me anything when I returned the car. Then I remembered that when I booked the car I added AXA Full Coverage. I started to think. Will this insurance really help me or is it just something useless that I paid for? I decided to try. I collected what I could find from my side. I had the charge slip from the rental company, my rental contract and some email screenshots. Then I reached out to their customer service and said I was charged a damage fee and I wanted to make a claim. After that the whole thing became a bit heavy for me. There were many numbers and bank details. They asked me for my account number and also IBAN and Swift code. At first I did not really understand these things. Sometimes they needed more correct information and I had to check my bank paper or the bank website. It felt like doing homework. I was a bit annoyed in my mind. But the fee was not small and I did not want to just give up. So I kept going step by step and tried to answer everything as clear as I could. During this time they also checked with the rental company. Later they told me that the rental company did charge me for real damage and they showed a clear damage amount. When I heard that I felt speechless but also a bit calm because at least it was not some random fee with no proof. After that I needed to confirm the claim amount and also confirm my bank info again. I made some mistakes with the details and they asked me to correct them. I went back and checked all the digits slowly and made sure my account number IBAN and Swift code matched. The process was not easy but I could feel they were helping me move the case forward. At last they told me that AXA Full Coverage had approved my claim and the final payout was set. It was basically the part that I paid for the damage. They also said the money would be sent to my bank account. When I finally saw the payment arrive in my account I felt a big relief. I had this feeling that buying this insurance was not a waste. When I think about it now if I did not have AXA Full Coverage I would probably just have to pay the whole damage on my own. It is really hard to fight with a rental company in another country and it is not easy to make things clear. This time the process took some effort but at least the damage fee came back to me in the end and that part was really important for me.
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