What 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.
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