AXA Full CoverageNow I already got back the 3496 euro refund and when I think about this trip to Croatia and the car accident my feelings are still a bit mixed. The rental company first took this whole amount from my card. When I saw the bank message I had just gone back home from Dubrovnik for a few days. I was really shocked. I thought I had insurance but they still charged me the full damage. At that moment I felt very hopeless and I thought this trip would become a very expensive lesson.
I booked the car on QEEQ and picked it up in Zagreb. I arrived on May 29 in the evening and went to the AVIA counter to get the car on May 30 around 5 pm. It was a Peugeot Traveller automatic with nine seats. It was good for our group and all the luggage. The counter staff gave me the key and only talked a bit about fuel and mileage. I took some photos of the car by myself then I drove away. I was pretty excited. I thought driving along the coast all the way to Dubrovnik would be amazing.
The accident happened near the end of the trip. I do not really want to remember the exact day now. It was at a junction outside the city. I turned and hit another car on the side. The crash was not super big but when I heard the sound my heart just dropped. I got out to check. There was a clear scratch and dent on the right side of my car and some damage on the other car too. I was nervous. My English is not very good and I only wanted to deal with the scene first. So I just talked to the other driver a bit. The other person said it was okay and then both of us left. The stupid part is I did not call the police and I also did not call the rental company. I thought I could just tell them later.
I returned the car on June 7 around 6 pm at the drop off near Dubrovnik airport. The staff walked around the car and saw the scratch. He asked me to sign a paper and said they would calculate the cost later. I already felt a bit worried but I still signed it. A few days later I saw the bank charge. It was 3496 euro. My hands were shaking. I remembered the excess in my booking was about 2100 euro but the rental company put the whole damage on me.
I contacted their customer service right away. I sent them the charge screenshot and the car damage photos and tried my best to explain what happened in simple English. They told me that the rental company said I did not call the police and there was no police report and no alcohol test so the insurance on their side did not work. That is why they charged the full cost. When I heard this I felt even more broken. I blamed myself a lot. I felt I kind of hurt myself because I did not know the local rules.
Luckily when I made the booking I had added AXA Full Coverage. At first I did not care much about this service. I just thought one more insurance might be safer. This accident made me know how big the coverage actually is. The support team told me they had already sent my case to the insurance company and asked me to send all photos and proof of the 3496 euro charge. I followed what they said and searched all my files and sent everything I could find.
In the next days my heart was up in the air. They asked me to confirm the currency and the amount. I said euro and 3496 euro like my credit card record. After some time they told me that the insurance company had confirmed the claim of 3496 euro and asked me to watch my bank account and that I might get the payment in about one month. When I saw this message I felt so much lighter. It was like someone pulled me up from the bottom.
Some time later I checked my account and saw the money had arrived. The number was the same so it covered all the damage that the rental company took from me. I did the math. This accident was a really deep hole. Without AXA Full Coverage I would need to pay the whole cost by myself. For a student like me traveling abroad this is really too heavy.
Now when I look back I will still remind myself that next time if something like this happens I must call the police first and call the rental company and follow all the steps. But at least this time the final result is not that bad. Those weeks of stress were washed away by the message of the refund. For me this experience showed that the extra protection I bought is not just a line on the order. It is something that can pull you out from a huge bill when things go wrong and it all started when I clicked the option AXA Full Coverage on my booking with QEEQ.
Dedicated customer serviceI still remember that moment very clearly. I was in my hotel room on a business trip. There were meeting papers all over the desk. On my phone I saw a charge of 770.21 EUR and it really shocked me. I only remembered adding a cross border service at the desk. The price was 2.5 EUR per day. So why did it suddenly become more than seven hundred euros. I kept asking myself this question and I felt a little panic.
I started to think. Should I go back and argue with the rental counter. Should I try to complain to someone else. But I also had a big client meeting the next morning and I did not have much time or energy. I finally decided to contact QEEQ first. I was not sure what would happen. Would they just tell me to talk to the car rental company myself. Would they send me a long message full of terms that I could not understand.
The answer was not like that. Someone from their side reached out to me very fast and said they would help me find out what this fee was. They also told me to stay calm. I asked them if it was my fault for not reading the contract carefully. I also asked if the rental company was doing something wrong. They checked and told me this charge was for car damage and some extra taxes. I was really confused at that point because nobody at return told me there was any problem with the car. I did not see any photos or any damage report.
Then I had another question in my head. Should I keep pushing this case. Would it turn into a long fight. But when I thought about how this money might not be fully covered by my company expenses I decided to go on. I told the support person that I wanted to make everything clear. From that time I could feel that someone was always watching this case for me. They asked me if I had the contract and the payment record. They also explained that they were asking the rental company for damage documents and photos.
I sent them every file I could find from my side. Each time I sent something I wondered if it would really help. They helped me sort the files and said these could be used for a claim and that this might reduce my loss. During the day I was busy replying to client emails. At the same time I was also replying to them. It felt like I was doing a business battle and a fee battle at the same time.
What touched me most was that they did not just leave me with a cold system. There was a real person who stayed on this case with me from start to the point we reached. When I had new questions like what if the rental company never sends the photos or how long the claim may take I just asked directly. They answered me in simple words and told me that as long as I gave all the needed files they would try their best to protect me from paying more than I should.
Time was still my biggest problem as a business traveler. I really dislike these extra troubles. I would rather spend my time on slides and clients. But this time I felt that having this kind of dedicated customer service was very helpful. I did not need to run between different places or repeat my story again and again. Even though the money part needed an insurance claim I knew that someone was really taking care of my case and not just asking me to talk to the rental company alone.
For someone like me who travels a lot this experience made me see the value of this kind of support. It made that 770.21 EUR charge feel a little less scary because I did not face it by myself.
Dedicated customer serviceI booked a car in Rijeka Croatia through QEEQ. It was a Suzuki Swift with manual gear from ADDCAR. I thought this rental would be simple but when I got to the counter the problem came very fast. At the final bill they added a senior driver fee over one hundred euros. The total price jumped and I just froze there.
I am over seventy and I put my age honestly when I booked. On the booking page there was no clear note about this extra money. At the counter the staff just pushed the contract to me to sign and talked very fast. When I saw the amount was higher I asked at once why. They said people around my age all need to pay more and said it was the rule. They sounded very sure but they did not warn me before I made the booking. I felt really upset. I was in a foreign country and the language was not easy so I got a bit nervous.
After I finished the pickup I kept thinking something was wrong so I contacted their customer team. I started by saying I was charged a senior driver fee and I wanted to know why. Someone picked up my case very quickly. It felt like one person was following my problem all the way. Every time the reply knew my situation so I did not need to repeat my story again and again.
I had already asked the rental company for a signed contract at the counter so I had it in my hand. On the contract that fee was a bit over one hundred euros. I sent a photo of it to the customer team. They checked it and also felt this charge was sudden. They said they would check with the rental company. I could feel they were standing on my side and not just brushing me off. They contacted me from time to time and told me what was going on and what the rental company said so I did not just wait in the dark.
During this time the rental company stayed very firm. They kept saying this fee was their usual rule and said they had informed people before. To me it was very confusing. I do not really know local rules so I just told all this back to the customer team. They did not ask me to fight with the rental company on my own. They kept trying to argue for me and also told me that it might not be solved in one step so I should try not to worry too much.
I had several more bookings with the same company in the next days so I was extra stressed. I was afraid they would charge me this kind of fee again and again. I told them this worry. They listened and went through my coming bookings with me. They told me if I got charged again I could contact them right away. If I really felt unsafe I could also change to another company. They explained things slowly and also reminded me that if I canceled a booking it could not be restored. These small reminders were very clear.
They asked me to send the bank slip that showed the money I paid. After I went back to my place I spent some time looking for the record and taking screenshots and sending them. For someone my age this was not so easy but because they stayed with me on this I felt it was worth the effort. Later they told me they would find a way to cover this cost for me so I would not have to carry this loss.
Some time later the customer team told me that the problem came from wrong information on their side. They said it was counted as their own mistake so they would pay me back the senior driver fee. I really let out a long breath at that moment. As an older person in another country if no one helps to follow up and explain and talk to the rental company for you it is very hard to handle this alone.
The whole process was not short and there were many back and forth messages but the thing I remember most is that someone kept pushing the case forward for me. They remembered that I still had a few more bookings with the same company. They did not treat me like a small one time problem. They thought about the days I still needed a car. For me this kind of dedicated customer service is very important. It made me feel much safer when I was driving that little Swift around Rijeka.
Price Drop ProtectorHow did I end up getting extra money back for my booking? This question came to my mind only when I saw an email about a price change. By that time I had already planned my trip to Dubrovnik in Croatia. I booked a small Volkswagen up manual car from GREEN MOTION for myself. The rental was from late September to early October. I just remembered it was more than a few days and that was it.
When I first made the booking I just chose the car, filled in my details and paid. I was thinking about my budget because I was traveling alone and I did not want to spend too much. After I clicked confirm I stopped thinking about the price. It looked fine to me. Then some time later I suddenly got an email. It said that because I had Price Drop Protector on my order, the price went down and they had rebooked the same car for me and sent back more than twenty euros.
For a moment I was confused. In my head I was like, wait I did nothing so why do I have more money now. I read the email a few more times and then I understood it was this service I chose before. I had thought this kind of thing was just a small option and I did not expect much. But it really worked in the background and locked in a lower price for me.
For someone traveling alone like me that extra twenty plus euros is a real thing. In my mind I started to plan what I could do with it in Dubrovnik. Maybe one more proper dinner or some more time in a cafe without always checking the cheapest item on the menu. The best part was that it all happened by itself. I did not check prices every day. I did not compare many sites again. I did not even need to contact support. I just quietly got a refund of the price difference.
When I think back about the whole process now the most special part is not choosing the car. It is the feeling that someone is watching the price for me. I only need to plan my route and where I want to go. They keep an eye on the price and change the booking if it gets cheaper. For a solo traveler who is used to booking flights and hotels and cars alone this small surprise saving made my booking on QEEQ feel like I won something without any extra work.
One-Dollar FreezeCan I really book a car with just one dollar first. This was the question in my head when I planned my business trip to Croatia. I did not want my credit card bill to scare me again. I found this One-Dollar Freeze option on QEEQ and when I saw it on the page I kept thinking if it was really only one dollar now and the rest later. I worried there might be some trap. I still clicked book and in my head I was saying to myself that I hoped there was no hidden fee.
When I think back to the moment I chose the car it was actually quite simple. I picked pickup in Pula and my plan was to arrive there in the afternoon around May 18. After my work I would return the car in Split around the afternoon of May 24. I chose a BMW 1 Series from SIXT with automatic gear and four doors. For a business traveler like me with a laptop bag and a suitcase the size felt right. So when I saw that I could lock this car with just one dollar first I felt my pressure drop a lot.
During the booking I stared at the payment message on my phone many times. My card did not get charged a big amount. It really only took one dollar. I was a bit shocked and also did not fully believe it. I even took a screenshot and sent it to my coworker and asked him if he saw that it was really only one dollar. At that moment I felt that at least before the trip this cost would not be a heavy weight in my mind.
In the next days I was still a little nervous. I kept thinking maybe some big pre authorization would suddenly show up. Every day when I checked my card I looked carefully and saw that there was still only that one dollar and no strange fee. Then I slowly relaxed. I thought that this flexible payment idea was actually very simple and not some fancy trick.
When it got close to my travel date in the last one or two days I finally saw the rest of the rental fee get charged. The time was just a short time before the booking started. It was not too early and not too late. The amount was the same as the price I saw at the start. There was no extra weird charge. In that moment I felt very relaxed because I did not have to block a big amount on my credit card weeks before.
For someone like me who travels for business all the time the biggest feeling is that the pressure on my credit card is much lower. In a normal month I might book flights and hotels many times. If the car rental also takes a big amount at once then my bill looks very scary. With this way where I pay only one dollar to hold the booking I can fix my plan first and then let them charge the rest a few days before the trip. I can control my cash flow better and my mind is not so tight.
There is one more thing that I liked. During the whole time I did not really need to worry about anything. No one pushed me to pay early and my booking did not get canceled suddenly. Everything followed the plan I saw at the beginning. I only needed to remember that I would pick up the car in Pula around the evening of May 18 and return it in Split around the evening of May 24. The payment timing was all arranged for me.
When I stood at the rental counter in Pula and saw that my booking was active and everything went as I expected I felt that paying just one dollar first was a smart move. For someone who is often on the road this feeling is quite rare.
Price Drop ProtectorI have to say this first. I did not expect that a small price change on a rental car would make me this happy. I booked the car on QEEQ. At the start I just wanted something easy. The thing that stayed in my mind later was their Price Drop Protector. The funny part is that I did nothing and my order price still went down. I felt like I saved money for free. I travel alone a lot. This time I planned to go to Zagreb in Croatia in early September and pick up a car there. I wanted to drive around for a few days and then return the car in Zagreb again. I remember sitting at home one day planning my trip. The sky outside was gray and my phone was full of messages on the table. I had booked the car a few months earlier. It was a Volkswagen Taigo with manual gear and four doors with five seats. I thought it was good for one person and some bags. The price looked okay when I booked it and I did a quick budget in my head. Some time later I was using my laptop and checking other things. I saw a new email about my order. I thought it was just some normal notice. When I opened it I saw it was about a price change. It said that for my booking they found a lower price and they had made a new booking for me and would send the price difference back to me. I just stared at the screen for a few seconds. My first thought was that maybe I clicked something wrong or that it was another kind of ad. Then I checked the order number and the car and the time. It was clearly my Zagreb booking. Same car. Same dates. Only the price was around ten euros less. I tried to think what I had done. I had not changed any dates. I had not touched the booking page. The only thing I remembered was that when I booked the car, I saw the text about Price Drop Protector. It said that if the price went down they would give me the difference. I read it one time and moved on. I thought this kind of thing would never happen to me. This time it did. At that time I was planning my driving route. I wanted to pick up the car in Zagreb and drive around the area and then drive back and return the car in the city. I had the times saved on my phone. In my plan I would pick up the car around ten in the morning on September sixth and return it around seven in the evening on September fifteenth. My schedule was tight. I was worried more about road conditions and weather and if I would need to wait at the rental counter. I did not expect that they would help me on the money side like this. That ten euros or so may not sound like a lot. For a solo traveler like me it can be one day of food or a couple of bus rides and a coffee. The feeling in my head was a bit strange and nice. On one side I felt that I got lucky. On the other side I felt like someone was watching my budget for me so I did not need to keep checking prices again and again. The best part for me was that I did not have to do anything. I did not change my dates. I did not cancel and book again. I did not get forced to switch to another car. It was still the same Volkswagen Taigo and the same pick up and return place in Zagreb. Only the price dropped a bit quietly. It felt like someone walked up to me and said that the extra money I paid before had been found and returned. I thought about my past orders on other sites. Many times I bought something and the price changed the next day. Then I had to talk to customer support and send screenshots and explain everything. In the end it was never sure if I would get any money back. This time they handled it for me and I did not even need to say a word. It felt much easier. Later I learned that this was exactly what Price Drop Protector is doing. It keeps checking the price and helps me when the price goes down. At first I was worried that this kind of service would just look good in words and do nothing in real life. This small story proved that it was real. I even checked the order line by line to make sure it was not some trick where they raise and then lower the price. The total cost really was lower than when I first booked it. That night I told my friend about it on a video call. He laughed and said I basically got a free beer and a simple meal out of it. I was sitting by the window and it was quiet outside. I felt that this Croatia trip had a pretty good start. For someone like me who travels alone a lot it is not always about a huge discount. It is more about feeling that someone is really trying to help you save. Price Drop Protector feels like there is a person watching that bill for me so I do not find out too late that I paid too much. When I look back at the whole thing it is actually very simple. I booked the car months before through them and then went back to my normal life. When September sixth came I just needed to show up at the rental counter in Zagreb in the morning. Then I would drive around and return the car in the evening on September fifteenth. The small money saving moment in the middle took some pressure off my trip without me even noticing at first. As a solo traveler this kind of small thing stays in my memory for a long time.
