Lost Rental Car Keys – What Can I Do?
You are on holiday and have hired a car to ferry your family around. What could be more perfect? But, have you ever thought about what happens if you were to lose the keys to the rental car? No doubt, one of the first things you will ask yourself is if rental car insurance covers lost keys.
Today we will help you with what to do if you lose you rental car keys and how taking out holiday car excess insurance could save you from paying the costs associated with the loss of rental car keys.
What should I do if I lost my rental car keys?
By following this guide, you should be able to continue enjoying your city break or holiday with minimal stress or worry.
Check and double-check
It goes without saying you may be in a bit of a panic when you first lose them. Therefore, they may be closer than you think as naturally, you begin to look in the more outlandish of places and as a result never find them.
Contact your rental company
It is likely that when you rented your car, you were given, or emailed an information pack containing various bits of information. Within this there should be a phone number for your hire company. Call them relaying as much information as possible, key information being:
your name, your location, and a phone number with which they can contact you back. They will also more than likely ask for a reference number/booking number that you were given at the time of hiring the car.
Await assistance
The call to your rental company will enable roadside assistance to be booked. If you are roadside, you will need to stay with your car, if you are still at your hotel, villa or place of interest, stay there. The timeframe on the attendance of the assistance team varies, however it has been known to take up to 48 hours in some instances.
New keys
When roadside assistance arrives, the mechanic may ask for ID and your hire car details. Ensure you can provide both as otherwise they may not fix the car or supply the spare keys.
Depending on the car type, this job may be carried out there and then, however, it is very likely your car will be transported back to the originating depot for the repair to be carried out. When booking the roadside assistance, we would recommend finding out if that is likely as depending on how much of your trip is left, you may need an alternative hire car for the remainder of your holiday. You can ask them about that too.
If you are keeping your vehicle for the remainder of your stay, then make sure you ask for a spare set. Just remember these will need to be returned as otherwise, you could be facing a bill for two sets when you return the car.
The costs of losing your rental car keys
This can vary between vehicle types, a standard key, operating in a lock barrel will be significantly cheaper than an electronic key due to the reprogramming involved. Estimated costs for a replacement key can range from £15-£200+.
You could also find additional charges too-the call out for roadside assistance and the towing back to the garage for the repair will both add further to your bill.
We would advise when you make the call to your rental company that you ask for call-out charges, labour rates and part prices, just so you have an idea of what you may be needing to pay.
Does rental car insurance cover lost keys?
Unfortunately, more often than not, lost keys are NOT covered by your insurance meaning that you could be facing a rather high additional cost to your holiday. When selecting your insurance, check what you are covered for to avoid any unwanted surprises.
Our holiday car excess insurance at Direct Car Hire Excess enables you to be fully covered and with our variety of plans suiting all budgets and cover requirements, you can ensure those additional costly fees can be avoided.
Speak to our expert team today and ensure you have key cover when driving on your holidays. Whilst this all may sound like common sense, it is very easy to forget things when panic sets in! To keep you relaxed, our top hire car tips could also prevent any unnecessary additional problems!
