What Happens If I Damage a Motorhome Rental?

No one ever plans to have accidents while on holiday. That’s why they’re called accidents. But sometimes things don’t quite go as smoothly as you’d hope. That’s why it’s worth doing a little bit of research before you head off, to make sure that any accident in your motorhome rental doesn’t impact too much on your holiday. There are a number of ways that you can protect your wallet from the worst of any charges coming out of a motorhome rental accident, be it big or small, so take a look over the info below so you don’t need to panic if any issues come up.

After any motorhome rental damage

If you have a minor incident and your motorhome hire ends up with a scratch or a small dent, your holiday will most likely be able to continue as normal. Before you drive onwards however, you need to call the office of your motorhome rental supplier and let them know about what’s taken place and what kind of damage has occured. If you don’t inform your supplier immediately, it can have an effect on your insurance claim so it’s best to get this out of the way as soon as possible. After that’s taken care of, you can continue on with your holiday as normal.

If you have a major accident, the procedure is a little bit different. Once you make sure that both yourself and anyone else involved in the accident is okay, you’ll want to contact the emergency support number which your supplier has given you. This is usually connected to a 24 hour roadside assistance service which will take care of the damaged motorhome. What happens next will vary a little depending on your supplier, but companies will generally offer you a replacement campervan hire if there’s one available, so you can continue your holiday more or less uninterrupted. Unfortunately though, that’s not the end of the matter.

Once you return the motorhome rental

Any motorhome rental will have a certain level of insurance included, so no matter what happens you won’t be entirely caught out. Most likely though, you will have to pay the excess amount that’s been listed in your rental documentation. There are however ways to mitigate these charges if you plan ahead of time.

One of the easiest ways to ensure peace of mind while you’re on the road in your motorhome rental is to opt for Protection Plus when booking the vehicle. Protection Plus is an excess refund insurance - in simple terms, it means that if you have to pay an excess, you can get this money back. Naturally there are limits to exactly how much money can be refunded to Protection Plus policy holders, but the vast majority of the time it will be more than enough to cover whatever excess you’re required to pay. One of the major benefits of Protection Plus is that it covers a number of circumstances that most insurance doesn’t. For example, Protection Plus Excess Refund Insurance covers windscreens and glass, damage to other vehicles, theft or attempted theft, towing costs, undercarriage, overhead, rollover and quite a lot more. How’s that for peace of mind?

To reiterate, if you have Protection Plus you will still be liable for your excess should an accident occur but you will be able to have the money you paid refunded to you.

If Protection Plus is not available in the country which you’re travelling across, there are still ways to limit your liability. Taking out insurance (beyond the basic option that is automatically included in your hire) with your motorhome rental supplier is likely to lower your excess, and will also probably lower the amount of bond you are required to pay.

When you return the motorhome, the supplier will take the full excess straight away and send the vehicle away to be repaired. When the repairs are complete, the motorhome hire supplier will refund any of excess which is left over after repairs and admin costs. If you have opted for Protection Plus, you will be able to have the repair costs refunded to you.

Dealing with your claim

The exact details around how the initial claim/payment process works vary a little bit from supplier to supplier, but for those who have covered their excess with Protection Plus, the procedure is more or less the same no matter which company supplied your campervan hire.

If you reside in Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia or New Zealand, then your claim will be dealt with by Orchard. They will be the ones you’re in contact with for the duration of the claim process, though if you have any questions or need outside assistance, anyone who’s booked through Motorhome Republic can get in touch with us and we’ll help you through whatever difficulties you might be having. If you reside anywhere else in the world, you’ll be dealing with Motorhome Republic directly for the duration of your claim.

Armed with the knowledge above, it’ll be easy for you to come through any holiday hiccups relatively unscathed. All it takes to reduce the risk is a little preparation and keeping in touch if anything goes wrong. With that out of the way, you can concentrate on just exploring the world and having an amazing holiday.