Paid 1cover for no cover UNTIL...

Just sharing my experience with 1Cover as I’m pretty sure a lot of people out there use them, and hopefully I can help someone in the same scenario I was put in. Planned a camping trip away with family and friends, roughly a 7 hour drive from home. So for comfort I hired a mid-sized suv from europcar and purchased 1cover for rental excess just in case, picking up the rental a day before leaving home, purchasing the cover on site. Here’s a copy paste of what had happened: Based on the information provided to us, we understand that on your way back from a camping trip on 18 August 2019, your rental car struck a kangaroo causing damages to the front left-hand side of the vehicle. As a result, you have been charged by Europcar for the damages to the rental car. We note that you have picked up your rental car on 15 August 2019 at 03:07 PM (AEST) and your policy was purchased on 15 August 2019 at 03:16 PM (AEST). Your claim is for the cost of the repair for the rental car. There is provision within your policy to claim for Rental Vehicle Insurance Excess, however there are also definitions, exclusions and clauses within your PDS which outline the times when we are able to pay a claim and when we are unable to. With this in mind, we kindly refer you to pages 47-48 of the PDS which outlines the cover available for Rental Vehicle Insurance Excess: This wording is important as your policy does not provide cover to the damaged vehicle if the policy was purchased after you have left your departure point. As you have purchased your policy after collecting your rental vehicle, which is after leaving your departure point, this circumstance is not a coverable event under the terms and conditions of your policy. This means we are unable to assist you on this occasion. Soooooooo...pretty much I was told by a Jayson, a travel claims consultant, that “we can’t help you”. Wow so I just paid the rental company $5,500 to be told by Jayson, the cover you purchased was 10mins after you paid for the rental vehicle!?! Okayyyyyy. And??? So he was of no help whatsoever, Didn’t want to even hear me out. Was stuck on the words “sorry we can’t help you”. Jayson wouldn’t let me speak to his supervisor or anyone that had authority over him. So I lodged my complaint, copy pasted below. To whom it may concern, Today I received a call from 1cover, telling me that they’re unable to pay my claim as my policy was purchased 10mins after the rental company charged my card for the vehicle stating “we will not pay if cover is purchased after your departure”.Fair enough, surely this is to stop the people that do wrong and take up a policy afterwards. Given a 10min window from payment of rental vehicle and purchase of no cover, to be told “we can’t help you”. What a total joke, anyone that has ever picked up a vehicle from a rental company knows it takes up to 30mins before you actually drive off the premises. From payment being charged, card and license photocopied, worker giving you keys, card and license returned, along with all the paperwork after it’s printed, the worker then takes you to the vehicle, we both do a walk around marking off any previous damage, the worker then answers any questions about how to work certain features of the vehicle/ where certain open / close buttons may be. Then there’s starting the vehicle and warming it up for a few minutes. All this while I’m on my phone taking out a policy with a company that doesn’t cover me as apparently I left the premises as soon as payment was made to the rental company.As you can see this is a silly matter that now I’m left out of pocket $5500 and whatever 1cover also charged. Regards And here is what the wonderful lady Katie, a complaints officer from 1Cover had to say... I am pleased to confirm that we have overturned the original decision to deny your claim for Rental Vehicle Excess, this is on the basis that we understand you had not yet departed the rental agency at the time of purchasing your policy. Please note that the maximum amount payable under Rental Vehicle Excess is $5,000. I have submitted your payment and you should receive this into your nominated account within 10 business days. Please see the attached confirmation, the total amount settled is $4,800.00 (after your $200 policy excess is deducted). I trust this resolves your complaint; however, if you have any further queries or concerns please do not hesitate to be in contact. Kind regards, Katie (removed surname) Complaints Officer What a star, she made my day on that Friday. And also a shoutout to the lovely Carly, a Complaints Officer also from 1cover for her outstanding communication. So to sum it all up, just be aware of the conditions that are in place for the cover you choose. As for me, it could have been way worse. But I will definitely use 1cover again in future. And a thank you to whoever had read my 890 word review today!!!

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