Hungary

D

Daniel TaborHungary

The bank alert popped up on my phone when I was sitting in a small cafe near my home in Yokohama. The screen showed that 1265.00 EUR had just arrived in my account. That was the moment I finally relaxed. Why did I get this money? It all came from the extra AXA Full Coverage I bought when I booked with QEEQ. How did this whole thing start? I have to go back to Budapest. I returned the car at the Schiller office around the evening of May 3rd. It was about one day later than my first plan. The sun had just gone down and the parking area felt a bit cold. I parked the Toyota Yaris and turned off the engine. I still felt a little nervous. I asked myself one question. Is the car really fine now? My answer was maybe it is okay. Of course it was not that simple. The real trouble started two nights before I gave the car back. I was driving alone on a road outside Budapest. It was dark and there were not many street lights. The music in the car was very low. Suddenly the steering wheel felt strange. My heart jumped. Could it be the tire? In less than a minute the car started to shake a lot. I had to slow down and pull over. I got out and checked. One front tire was clearly flat and there was a small dent near the wheel. At that moment my heart sank. I thought I am in big trouble now. How much do I need to pay for this? I called the rental company first. The staff said they could arrange a tow truck and deal with it but it might cost a lot. Then one thought jumped into my head. When I booked the car I added AXA Full Coverage. I remembered that it also covered tires and small body damage. I waited for the tow truck and did some quick math in my mind. Flat tire plus dent plus towing fee. Would this turn into a scary number? I remember asking myself one more question. Was it stupid to buy that extra insurance? Then I answered myself right away. I really hope it was not stupid. I really hope it works. The tow truck came and the driver worked fast. The car was taken away and I went back to my room. That night my mood was very low. After a shower I lay on the bed and kept thinking about one thing. How much will I have to pay? Will it be a few hundred euros or more than one thousand? This thought made it very hard for me to sleep. On the day I returned the car I gave the key back at the Schiller counter. The staff checked the damage record and typed on the computer. Then he looked at me and said they needed to charge about 1265 euros. In my head there was only this number. 1265. For a student it is a big amount. My hands were sweating when I stood at the counter. I said OK and signed but inside I kept telling myself to stay calm. I told myself that I still had the insurance. After I flew back to Japan the story did not end. I saw the charge on my bank card and it reminded me of the flat tire and the dent every day. So I started to talk with their customer service and asked about the AXA Full Coverage claim. Very soon I met two problems in my head. First should I write all this information in English. Second can I really handle all these small details. They asked me to give some documents like my bank details and photos of the damage. I looked through the photos in my phone and found the pictures I took on the road. Then I sat at my desk and wrote my address and bank name in English. I felt a bit nervous. I was scared that if I wrote one wrong letter the money would not reach my account. During that time I kept asking myself. Will they really pay me. Will they pay the full amount or only part of it. After I sent everything I had to wait. Later they asked me again to confirm the amount and the currency. They wanted to make sure it was 1265.00 EUR. When I saw that email I stopped for a second and then almost laughed. Of course that is what I want. Who would want less. I replied very carefully. I checked every number before I sent it. That night when I went to bed I had only one wish in my mind. I hoped this insurance could really bring this money back to me. Then came a period that felt quite long. I checked my email from time to time. I also opened my bank app and looked at the balance again and again. Their side told me that the claim was approved and that international transfer would need some time. I understood that this kind of thing could not be instant. But in my heart I still worried. I wondered if there might be some mistake or if they might ask me for new documents again. Finally a few days ago in the afternoon my phone vibrated. I opened the bank notice and saw that 1265.00 EUR was in my account. At that moment a big stone dropped from my heart. Right away I asked myself one clear question. Was it worth it to pay extra for AXA Full Coverage. This time my answer was very simple. Yes it was really worth it. Without this insurance the flat tire and the dent would be a very painful lesson for me. Now it became a story that scared me for a while but did not hurt me in the end. When I think about the whole thing it feels like a small exam. First I was shocked by the sudden flat tire on the dark road outside Budapest. Then I felt stressed when I heard the number 1265 at the rental counter. After that I went back to Japan and spent time sending documents and waiting for news. At last I saw the bank alert in a quiet cafe in Yokohama. In this process I felt nervous and worried and maybe a bit tired too. But step by step I understood more clearly how important it is to have protection that also covers tires and small damage when I drive in another country as a student. Now when I remember the car lights on that road and the small dent near the tire I also think of that simple line on my phone that said 1265.00 EUR has arrived. The two pictures are very different but for me they belong to the same experience. It was the time when I really used AXA Full Coverage and saw how it could save me from a big loss.

V

V CivitateHungary

How did it end for me I got all the 155 euros back for the door scratches and this is what made me really trust AXA Full Coverage. So how did it even start A few days before that I booked a Volvo XC60 from Schiller in Budapest through QEEQ. It was an automatic four door five seat car and it looked really nice. I picked it up around the morning of April 19. When the staff drove the car out I walked around it and took a video. In my head I was thinking I probably will not need these clips. What about the return I brought the car back on the evening of April 24 around twenty to nine. I parked it in the space they showed me. The lights in the parking lot were a bit dim. I still walked around the car again and I did not see any scratches. Then I gave the key to the counter staff and in my mind the rental was done and clean. When did the problem show up The next day I saw a message from the rental company on my phone. They said there were light scratches on the rear left door and they charged me 155 euros. My first thought was no way. I was sure the car was in the same condition as when I picked it up. I checked the photos they sent again and again. The marks were not clear. To me they just looked like dust or reflection on the door and not real damage. So what could I do I remembered that I bought AXA Full Coverage with my booking. I started to prepare everything I had. I wrote an explanation that I returned the car on the evening of April 24 and the body of the car looked the same as at pickup with no damage on the doors. I also wrote my view about the photos and said the marks looked more like surface dirt than real scratches. Was I nervous Yes I was quite nervous. I felt it was unfair but I was also scared that I would not get the money back. The rental company already took the charge from my card. I kept thinking if the insurance also says no then I just lose this money. How did they react The support team talked with me in a serious way and asked me for the details. I went over the time the return process and what I saw at the parking lot. They did not tell me every single step of the claim but I could feel they were moving it forward. During that time I checked my email a lot because I really wanted to know the result. What did I feel when the result came One day I saw the message that the claim was approved and that I would get the 155 euros back. I felt so much better. The unfair feeling was not totally gone but at least my loss was covered. I did not have to just accept what the rental company said. When I think about it if I had not bought AXA Full Coverage what would it be like I think I would just argue with the rental company alone with weak proof and far away in another country. Now I know even if the rental company says there is damage I still have someone to cover my cost. For a young traveler like me this makes a big difference.

J

John TanHungary

I will start from the result. In the end the insurance paid back the big fee I was charged for the glass damage in Budapest. They even covered the admin fee. If not I would feel this pain in my wallet for a long time as a student. I booked the car in Hungary Budapest through QEEQ. I picked it up around April 16 in the early afternoon around one o clock from Sixt. The car was a Lexus LBX with automatic gear. I was pretty excited. The car drove very smooth. Then one day I saw a crack on the front window. It was not super clear at the beginning. It looked like a small stone hit it and the crack grew. I got nervous right away and kept thinking this is bad and I will be charged a lot. When I returned the car it was around April 21 at about one in the morning in Budapest. The staff at the Sixt counter checked the car. He said the glass had a crack and he needed to record it. I was a bit shocked and just nodded. After some time I saw my credit card was charged a big amount. It was about 1100 euro plus some admin fee. The total was around 1435 euro. I almost broke down. In my head I just thought this trip will turn into a big debt. When I booked this car I bought AXA Full Coverage. At that time I just thought it was one more layer of safety. I felt the chance of using it was small. Then the glass really cracked and the bill from the rental company did not match the money taken from my card. I could not understand it by myself. So I contacted them and sent all the photos of the damage and also the invoice and the credit card charge screenshot. I remember staring at the numbers and talking to myself asking if it is 1100 or 1435. The customer service asked me some simple things like if the bank account was mine and if my address was correct. I felt like I was doing homework and just slowly gave all the information. For a while I was very worried. I was afraid the insurance would only pay a part and I would need to pay the rest on my own. Later I got a new invoice from the rental company. It showed the damage fee was 1100 euro. My card also got a refund of about three hundred something euro. I told them this update and asked them to help me use the new amount for the claim. During that time I kept checking my email and told my friend that if this insurance really pays back the money it will save my life. After that they also reminded me that the admin fee of a bit more than forty euro could be included too. I confirmed all these details. When the claim was approved I saw that the insurance paid about 1149.53 euro in total. It almost covered all the money I paid because of the cracked glass. At that moment I felt my whole body relax. It was like I went back from super stressed to normal student level again. Now when I think about it if I did not buy this AXA Full Coverage I would lose a big amount of euro as a young person. That would hurt a lot. The back and forth with documents and amounts was a bit tiring but the money came back so I feel very glad that I added this insurance when I made the booking with them.