A third party hit a hire car I had rented. As per the hire company’s terms and conditions, I had to pay the repair amount of $1,600 from my excess (I did not take the daily excess reduction). The third party gave me their details, photographic evidence, a police report, etc and this was forwarded to the car hire company. The company has been extremely slow to follow this up with the third party’s insurer (this was January 2023) and gave myriad excuses as to why our excess wasn’t refunded, given it wasn’t our fault.
I have now contacted the third party who says he has paid the hire company’s damages claim (albeit only in July). On subsequently contacting the car hire company they tried to brush us off. Surely, if the car hire company gets paid for damages by a third-party insurer, they must reimburse our excess? What are the next steps to take please? The company is not a member of the Australian Car Rental Conciliation Service, so I don’t think we can use their reconciliation service.
