Travel Troubleshooter: After an accident, Avis charged me $7,671 for a one-day car rental

Q: I rented a car from Avis for one day and was unfortunately rear-ended by another car. It was the other driver’s fault. Avis charged my credit card for 29 rental days for loss of use, a total of $7,671 for the one-day car rental.

My insurance covers loss of use, but my insurance company won’t pay because the Avis receipt just shows a 29-day rental and doesn’t mention loss of use.

Avis told me on the phone that the charge is for loss of use, but they won’t give me a new receipt.

Sedgwick, Avis’s third-party claims service, is pursuing the other driver’s insurance company. Sedgwick told me that they think Avis made a billing error because I was not at fault. Can you help me get a refund?

A: Unfortunately, you’re on the hook for the vehicle’s loss of use. When you rent a car, you accept responsibility for the vehicle no matter who is responsible for the accident.

But the company made some errors when it charged you.

It looks like there was a series of miscommunications in your case. For some reason, Sedgwick only charged the other driver $1,222, presumably for repairs, leaving you responsible for the difference. And Avis would not send you a bill for the loss of use. Instead, it just appears as if you rented a car at the most expensive daily rate, which no one would do.

You were a model customer. You had insurance that covered you and you responded quickly to Avis and Sedgwick when they asked for your insurance information. You drove the car carefully. You tried to work within the system to clear up the miscommunication.

This was a confusing case. But after several conversations with Avis, it appears that there were “some issues” with the car rental location and the tow truck, which created some confusion in its internal system.

“We’re adjusting the contract back to a one-day rental and removing all the additional days that the customer didn’t have the vehicle,” a representative told me.

A short while later, you reported back.

“Avis charged me one day for the rental as you mentioned and refunded me the rest,” you said. “The credit was posted back to my card this morning.”