Anyone ever been in an accident in Bonaire w/o their insurance?

[mattia_v]

Another option is always third-party car rental insurance that you can book online, separately, usually with better cover and at a lower cost than from the rental agency direct.

 

[mmmbelows]

After reading this it does appear that if nothing else I will have liability insurance with my rental company covering that. I'm going to assume a large rental company would follow the law to the tee so perhaps this won't pan out as badly for me as I initially suspected if I am deemed to be at fault. What bothers me about this is
1. the guy was friends w/ the guy taking the report
2. I did not see any report and have no documentation at all
3. Despite the guy stating he spoke and understood English they spoke in papiamento so I could not understand what he was saying
4. I was told I was done and to exit before he took the other guys statement as to what happened.

All seemed very fishy to me.

It doesn't bode well for you, it's Bonaire. There are people on this forum who deny anything negative about the municipal government and police force, however I'm not one of them. Your facts all point to the problem that has been pointed out many times about Bonaire. It's a small island, everybody knows everybody else, tourists are looked upon as all being rich and can afford whatever losses they have, the police look at tourists the same way. Everybody is related to everybody else on the island as your experience demonstrates. You left, may or may not ever show up again, the police have to face the relatives of the guy who hit you, and probably are related to him. They will look out for their own at your expense. Like I said I hope it works out for you but I doubt it. All your evidence I believe will never enter into this, it will be a poor local's car was wrecked due to a rich tourist turning in front of him. Your suspicions about what was going on are because it was what was going on. Your hope of a large rental company would follow the law to the tee may or may not be true, but the police will establish the 'facts' of what happened that will set in motion how the rental car company will react and obviously from what you experienced it appears to be all setting up against you.

i'm more worried about a civil suit than anything else. That is what I would forsee if they find me liable. Not sure it would come to that and input on that would be great. I could imagine them using their own body shop and saying to fix both cars it cost $60,000. There was a bunch of damage given the speed he was going. Like I said he put me up on two wheels and was a few inches from flipping me onto my side.

Dave

Typically with a rental car they are going to be finding you liable for lost service also. So it likely going to be, damages to the rental, damages to the other guys vehicle (fist bump probably was a sign that the cop was letting his friend/relative know he hit the jack pot), and loss of service of the rental car.

 

[Lorenzoid]

So what is the worst-case scenario? The OP is back in the US (or wherever he lives), and I assume he has no assets in Bonaire. It seems unlikely that the other party or the rental car company will somehow try to sue the OP in the US (or wherever).

(It's helpful to list your "Location" in your profile.)

 

[mmmbelows]

So what is the worst-case scenario? The OP is back in the US (or wherever he lives), and I assume he has no assets in Bonaire. It seems unlikely that the other party or the rental car company will somehow try to sue the OP in the US (or wherever).

(It's helpful to list your "Location" in your profile.)

He might want to cancel the credit card he used...
obviously that's going to be the first place they go if they haven't already.

 

[Lorenzoid]

He might want to cancel the credit card he used...
obviously that's going to be the first place they go if they haven't already.

And just what can the rental company charge to his credit card? I admittedly don't know what pre-authorization, if any, the OP gave to the rental company by signing the contract--you'd need to read the contract--but unless there was some pre-authorization in the contract, the rental company can't just place a charge on a card because they feel the OP caused them a loss.

Even if the rental company dared attempt that, the OP could easily dispute the charge with his credit card company.

 

[mmmbelows]

And just what can the rental company charge to his credit card?

As you said it will be in the contract, I suspect if he passed on all their insurance and he didn't have his own through his credit card, the contract leaves him and his credit card wide open to the liability. If you were renting him a car you'd want something to secure the value of the vehicle wouldn't you? I would.

I assume he had to have CDW but if he declined full coverage the rental car company has to protect themselves.

I just saw this off a Bonaire rental car companies website which is interesting:

"If damage to the rental vehicle has occurred in a collision not by fault of the renter, "liability depends on the insurance of the third party. In the event that the third party is not insured or cannot be held liable, the renter will be held liable for any damage to the rental vehicle or to their purchased insurance deductible."

Probably another reason for the fist bump, the cop knows the other driver doesn't have insurance and hit the jack pot by hitting a tourist.

 

[Lorenzoid]

The renter may be "liable," but that doesn't mean the rental company is allowed to charge his credit card without his explicit pre-authorization. It's my understanding that pre-authorizations have to state an amount--they can't just leave it open-ended. It isn't like the car rental company can come up with a figure that they think makes them whole and just charge his card in that amount.

A contract might say, for example, that the renter pre-authorizes a charge of $1,000 to be applied in the event of an accident. If I read the original post correctly, it looks like that's what he agreed to. Seems like a low amount to me. I once dealt a rental company that insisted on a $10,000 pre-authorization.

 

[DeputyDan]

Having totaled a rental car in Utah and basically destroyed the undercarriage of another one in Yosemite I always get the insurance.

It sucks unless you need it but if you need it - life is easier.

 

[kelemvor]

Have your CC company replace the card with different numbers just in case.


In the event that they charge you $1k for an accident that was not your fault you could just file the chargeback anyway. Then the rental company would have to deal directly with you to try and arrange any money they believe you owe. I wonder if there's any sort of agreement between NL and USA for civil court and collecting any judgements. They may do civil court completely different than it's done in the US.

OTOH, if you really piss them off and end up getting charged with a crime that could be ugly. I'm sure NL and US have extradition treaties.

Personally, I'd cancel the card asap then call the rental company and ask how they are planning to handle it. If you don't like the answer, a lawyer might be an option... although a lawyer will probably cost ore than the $1k that's been discussed so far.

 

[Lorenzoid]

In the event that they charge you $1k for an accident that was not your fault you could just file the chargeback anyway.

This. I don't think the OP has to worry about having to pay a credit card charge unless it was something he explicitly agreed to. If a customer disputes a charge for damages, the card issuer will not pay the merchant.