"Are you really going to drive in another country" This was the first thing my sister asked me on the phone. I told her I booked a car on QEEQ and I also bought AXA Full Coverage. I said this insurance covers a lot so she does not need to worry too much. I picked up a silver Toyota Yaris at the EZU office in Christchurch around ten in the morning on April 30th 2026. It was an automatic car and looked pretty new. I was very careful at first. I checked the body and took photos. In my head I kept thinking that I must not have any accident because it was my first time renting a car in another country. The real problem came near the end. One night before returning the car I parked at a supermarket. When I came back I saw a long scratch on the side of the car. Some paint was gone. I just stared at it and started to blame myself. Maybe I parked too close to the line or someone hit the car and left. I felt very stressed. I thought I might need to pay a big amount. Very early the next morning I went to return the car in Christchurch around five something on May 4th. It was still a bit dark. The staff at the rental counter saw the scratch during the inspection and his face got serious. He told me they needed to charge me for the damage. I did not catch every single word but I understood that the number was not small. They took a big damage deposit from me and I felt my travel budget was broken in one moment. After returning the car I sent a message to my sister. She replied to me and said you bought AXA Full Coverage so try to claim it. That made me calm down. I started to collect my photos and documents and then I contacted customer service. The people at the rental desk were different from the people at customer service. I confused them at first but then I understood who was doing what. After some days the rental company confirmed the official repair cost. I heard the final damage fee was 598 NZD. It was less than the first number so that was a little bit better. But they had already taken more from my card so they needed to refund 402 NZD to me. I do not have a credit card. I only have a Japanese bank card. This part made me nervous because I was scared the refund would be difficult. Customer service asked me if I could use another person card for the refund. I had to ask my sister for help. She complained that I was not careful but she still sent me her credit card information. I passed it on to customer service so they could talk to the rental company. After that I just waited and checked the account many times. The rental company also sent me a long email in English. It talked about the original charge and what was needed for a claim with a third party insurance. My English is not very strong so reading that email was tiring. My main understanding was they charged the high amount first then they would adjust after the repair and refund the extra part. I forwarded the email to customer service. I was really glad that I had AXA Full Coverage because I did not want to argue alone. Around late June they told me the rental company had processed the refund but the money was not yet in my sister account. I kept asking my sister every few days. She checked her bank again and again. At the start of July she finally said she received about 410 NZD. I wrote down this number and sent a screenshot of the bank record to customer service. Now the problem was the remaining part and how much AXA Full Coverage would pay. They helped me calculate. They checked the total amount the rental company took from me then subtracted the refund and looked at the real repair cost. They said the damage part I could claim was 651.82 NZD. I remember this number very clearly because I wrote it in my notebook. After that there was a long period of back and forth. I got emails and sometimes calls asking me if I wanted the payment in NZD or another currency and if the amount was fine for me. In my mind I just wanted the case to finish because this scratch followed me for weeks. Customer service talked with the insurance company and sent all the photos and papers. They included the repair document and the refund record from the rental company. At one point I saw a number of 618 NZD in an email and another number of 651.82 NZD somewhere else. I got worried that the final payment would be lower. I answered and said I wanted the claim amount to match the 651.82 NZD they calculated before. They told me they would try to keep that amount and even advance it. After some more waiting the money finally arrived in my account. When I saw that payment I felt a big weight leaving my shoulders. The scratch on the car was no longer a scary thing. It became an accident that was already solved. I knew clearly that if I did not have AXA Full Coverage I might have paid most of the damage myself and also dealt with all the confusion about refund and different amounts. When I think about this experience now I can still remember the moment in the parking lot when I first saw the scratch and felt lost. I also remember the moment when I opened my banking app and saw the claim money there. For a young person who is still studying this was a lot of pressure. I had to explain that I have no credit card and ask my sister for help and check many emails and numbers. The good thing is their customer service kept pushing the process forward and the insurance part worked. The damage claim was paid and I did not get stuck with a huge bill just because of one scratch.
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