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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