Although it has been about 8years. w were in an accident in Spain. Visa covered all our damages, and negotaited directly with Hertz who we rented the car from. I dont believe the charges ever hit our card. If memory serves correctly, doesnt a rental agreement usualy cover the spouse as well as the person listed on the contract?

Coverage of spouses vary per rental agency. Some require the spouse register as an additional driver even when they don't charge the additional driver fee. Some agencies honor domestic partnerships - some don't. Some agencies allow business travelers employed by the same company (that may be based on the contract written by the company and/or the corporate charge card used).

The one thing you can count on - you can't count on knowing without asking.

Jackie,

big question I have wondered about. Between the time your credit card was billed for the accident and when you got the reimbursement, were you charged interest on the amount, or did they reimburse that too?

i drive over one of these barriers almost every day....never thought that it would forcefully continue to rise if my car was on top of it....thought they had sensors like the doors on a lift. yikes.

in the UK they are usually (if not always) accompanied by a small traffic light that is red when the barrier is raised or rising.

Having had an accident and used the CDW on the credit card, one thing I do NOT see here is that the CC company was notified.

I had my accident in Spain also (in a parking garage) I called the CC company that day and they gave me the process to follow. Baiscally at that point their "insurance" side took over and I never heard anything else.

I was using a Diner's Club so my process may not be the same as anyone else's but my recommendation is to call your CC company IMMEDIATELY. That way you can see if there is any documentation they want that you need to get while in the country. For example, since I did not have a police report and I hit a stationary post they wanted detailed photos of the car taken by me.

The above poster is so right about the concept of "notice!" Do not delay in calling and reporting this to your cc company. You may wish to consider calling your own carrier to find out whether overseas accidents are covered under your policy. Probably not, but it can't hurt to ask & you need not give any other info. Then if they say yes, you'll need to decide how to deal with their notice requirements.

In most instances, insurance carriers (yours and the rental car co's and the cc company's) all have requirements that they must be notified within a certain period of time. If you miss the applicable notice deadline, you could be up the proverbial creek even if your claim is valid/covered. Don't take that chance. Good luck.

hi
many spanish cities have these automatic bollards now ( granada, seville, madrid) the ones in granada hada pretty visible box beside them to stick a ticket into. maybe you just didnt know what to look for. whne first installed in granada there where quite few accidents of people trying to get through following the car in font who had a pass.

We too had an accident in Spain and called AMEX *immediately*!! They took care of everything and were a pleasure to deal with. I would NEVER rent a car using any other card.

I'm wondering if kiramoli has contacted the cc company yet and has any answers. It would be nice to have an update.

I wonder too. Something sounded a little strange in their delay in calling the cc company. I'd be scared NOT to call immediately.

(Guy, pics are up from the GTG. I'm headed up to the mountains in just a little bit. Have a great 4th holiday!)

i still can't imagine how a city can legalize such an aggresive, damaging barrier with no flashing light(as mentioned) or SOMEthing.

my goodness.

they do this to restrict the flow of traffic so certain areas of the towns which are either of historic interest or have become so congested due to the fact that many of these places where no designed to have so many cars in them , as is in the case of granada. again, im pretty sure there would have been something there, how could everyone else get through?

In most modern countries they would normally have the barriers raised and lower them to allow authorised traffic.. Ok so its a thrird world country, so take care.