accident

must have been a real junker if it is only worth 60,000 pesos.....

just on the surface, Id say that anyone that caused the accident( your husband) would be liable. Not knowing there isnt insurance, isnt good enought. Unless he signed papers , and has a copy that SAYS the car was insured. No matter how much "legal advice" you will get here....you will need to hire an attorney to defend against these claims......

you can be sued, and need an attorney, when there is not a shred of doubt that you are not liable for something.....but if someone takes you to court...you have to defend...even if its a sure thing you will win.........the events have to take place anyway

best of luck....bob

Have you seen the car yourself? Are you also here in DR?

laurapasinifan said:

No matter how much "legal advice" you will get here....you will need to hire an attorney to defend against these claims......

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It would seem like a waste of money to pay a lawyer to fight a losing battle over less than $2k US.

Good thing it isn't for much more and it is a lesson learned.

What kind of rental service is this? The whole thing sounds bogus. And if it is bogus, you can probably walk away from it.

malibook.....better advice still

In this case it may be better to offer a settlement.......

but they have to hire a lawyer at the same type of exspense to recover the $2,000 US!!!!!!!!!

I had a slam dunk case against someone who bailed out of buying my house , when the contract said NO contingencies PERIOD, because of the small down payment

they asked for the money back in suit...my attorney said , we will win, but in the end your legal fee will be 25% MORE than the down payment!!!!!!

HUH??? oh well.........

now i would like to know what happens when they SAY they used your money paid to cover the car with insurance.. then they pocket it, thinking you wont get into an accident.

on another note....did you secure the rental with a credit card?

some credit cards offere automatic car rental insurance!

bob

Sounds like the car might be worth a Grand.
Pay the Piker or hide, hiring a lawyer sounds like a waste of time and pesos.
Who rents a car without insurance?

I call AMEX/VISA almost every time I rent a car and get my coverage e mailed to me and write it down as well. I understand we are dealing with a different situation, but try common sense once in a while instead of blaming someone else. HE damaged the car, NOT the OWNER.

sarita said:

isnt there a law anywhere that states a renta car should be insured?

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I'm not aware of any law. As another poster said, the person renting the car has to pay for the insurance. If they don't want to pay, then they have you sign some sort of waiver, declining the insurance.

I'm surprised they didn't require a credit card to rent the car. In which case they would just charge the $60,000RD to the credit card.

sarita said:

i live in the dr and yes i did see the car. i am not blaming the owner i am just saying that if someone is renting out a car then surely it should be insured. isnt there a law anywhere that states a renta car should be insured? thanx for ur help i was just enquiring on the off chance that there might be a way out of this. thanx anyway

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It's a typical racket. Insurance is optional, and you probably did not read the fine print when you signed the rental contract. Also, the renter does not have to specify that you are renting an uninsured automobile. He would not only get your money, but he would rework his paper to collect from the insurance company also. If you ask him, he would probably say something to the effect that he is a family guy ('padre de familia') and needs to make a living ('ganarse la vida') somehow. I've also been hit with the same scam. Cut your loses. You are the wiser for it. In the DR, learning doesn't come easy or cheap.

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sarita, you can decide to rent a car with or without an insurance. Without insurance is cheaper but you have to deal with consequences of accidents or a stolen car.

Good luck

Jess

Without knowing the true value of the car we won't know what is actually happening. It is possible that the aprox $2,000 represents the deductable that the rental agency's blanket policy is not paying. Most times when you take the CDW on a rental car you are really only insuring the deductible as the agency already has insurance on the cars.

If you don't have alot of visible or easily siezeable assets you can do the typical Dominican thing and just stretch out the payment as long as possible, say you're going to pay, but never pay, make small partial payments every 90 days etc. change your phone # a few times, move around a bit, spread rumors that you died etc.

All those things seem to work well for my customers.

MrMike said:

If you don't have alot of visible or easily siezeable assets you can do the typical Dominican thing and just stretch out the payment as long as possible, say you're going to pay, but never pay, make small partial payments every 90 days etc. change your phone # a few times, move around a bit, spread rumors that you died etc.

All those things seem to work well for my customers.

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MrMike, thanks for my first laugh of the day!

sarita,
where are you & your husband now? are you both outside of DR?
or is it just you outside of DR and he is in DR?

if you were not w/your husband when the accident happended, this can
be a scam to ask for 60k pesos from you (even if he's your husband).

Sarita, it sounds like you guys are on the hook for the $60,000RD. The only thing you may be able to do is negotiate the price. See if you can get someone from an independent body shop to look at the car.

the more I think about the OP question.. and the fact that i have rented many times in the DR, and always have questions about the INSURANCE. The more I think about what is the status of the car when it isnt being RENTED.

IE when they drive the cars from one place to another, when they drive the cars around the lot...are they saying THEY dont have insurance on the car even then?

if a worker wrecks a 2004 montero driving it from one lot to the other because they have a big fat gringo coming from america to pay a rediculous fee for the week......is the car a total loss?

I doubt it.. they have broad coverage to cover thier assets i am sure....

they just want YOU to help pay for thier insurance.

i think i remember them saying that the insurance i need to have covers the first $XX amount of the loss then their insurance takers over....but that amount was about 120,000 pesos I think..if i remember right.

these people speak good enough english until i ask about buying THEIR insurance.. then they get dumb... they SEEM to want me to take my own insurance with the credit card company

JD.. i think we should give her the benefit of the doubt and assume they are a FAMILY... its not one against the other as far as who is going to pay.

they ARE married.......if it was a boyfriend..i could see your line of questioning....

thats just my take on that matter

best of luck

I like the advice that says....oppps sorry.

or this line of thinking.

damm your lucky I didnt get hurt and sue you for having such a crummy car...very unasafe that car is ya know!!!!!! how can you go about renting unsafe cars like that?........ the tires are bad.. the brakes are bad.... the sterring is bad........ the window fogs bad ect ect ect

ha ha ha/

bob

Even though my post had some humor in it I was being serious. This aint Kansas, and people you owe money to are pretty much at your mercy, with a few exceptions. (most notably labor disputes and bad checks)

Give'm the run around, like I said it works for my customers and it should work for you. Dominican collections attorneys don't usually work on a contingency basis and are extremely lazy anyway, it will cost them at least 12,000 pesos up front to go after you legally so make them work for their money.

Having said all that, it does seem to me that if you wrecked somebody's car you should pay for it, but that's your business.