I'm back in Norway after an interesting trip to Morocco, where hardly anything went according to plan, but we still had a good time. A friend of mine from South Africa said it best: TIA (This Is Africa), so expect the unexpected.

I'm writing this post, so that everyone will know how things ended with Europcar and because I want to upload a couple of pictures. Europcar sent the final bill to me this morning (which I was expecting, but hoped against hope, that they wouldn't do). The grand total for fixing the windshield and the rear window came to 15,250 MAD, so while it was quite a bit shy of the 36,000 MAD deposit, it's still a solid chunk of change. The insurance company and my credit card company won't cover it (citing crap I never saw), so it's sadly out of our pockets. Here's what the car looked like:

http://i59.tinypic.com/k9z8rs.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/29ldxz4.jpg

And this is what caused the rear window to break. He had thrown it with a lot of force, because we found it by the gas pedal (it's a 1 kg weight).

http://i58.tinypic.com/2rxv6nq.jpg

A total of 8 cars were trashed by the machete wielding drunk, who can now look forward to a few years behind bars. We actually met his sister in the police station and though we didn't talk to her, her feeling towards her brother were quite clear: she kept showing him the "I'm going to cut your throat finger move", so when he's served his jail time, he can look forward to catching up with his menacing sister.

The rest of our Morocco trip was spent relaxing at two good hotels in Essaouira, eating at lots of good restaurants, enjoying a hammam and exploring the souk in-between downpours. I'm by no means put off by Morocco, but hope the weather will have improved by next time. It's awful what's happening in exactly the area we were planning to drive through, so while I'm sad we were unable to go through with the planned itinerary, I'm very happy we didn't manage to get there at this time.

Since we didn't have a car for the rest of the trip, I had to lug around: sleeping bags, Thermarest, a tent, a portable compressor, my Leatherman, a towing strap, Chris's books (I brought the Overlander's Handbook and Morocco Overland), GPS, and maps ... but hey, now I have everything for next time ... and there will be a next time, though then I'll opt to pay the extra 3000 MAD to reduce the deductible ;)

Thank you everyone, who helped with input and advice. You guys are awesome!

You could just refuse that much for the damage, and then contest it if/when they try to contact you in Norway.

Never heard of it raining so much Morocco. These floods are crazy.

The problem is that they have a pre-signed credit card authorisation from me (from when I picked up the car). The amount was charged to my Mastercard yesterday (that's how I knew the final bill) ... I haven't paid my Mastercard bill yet (that's due in January).

It's a good idea though, thanks for the suggestion. I'll contact my credit card company and challenge it, and see what they say.

Good luck. In the UK we also have the Financial Ombudsman that we can complain to once options have been exhausted with the CC company. I presume there is something similar in Norway.

It's a lot of hassle, but worth it if you can reduce your liability by a few hundred €

I have twice been assisted by credit card companies against shady car rentals.
Once in Colombia, once in Los Angeles, in both cases they were abusing my in blanco signature. Both times I had the full amount restored to my account and a reprimand sent to the offenders.
I am sure they will help you, too!

To be fair it doe snot sound like a shady car rental company. there was real damage. You saved money by not taking out the damage insurance ... over the years that will probably save you money. This time you were unlucky. In this country your recompense would be to sue the drunk through the civil courts - assuming they had some money.
I really appreciate your post very interesting, thought provoking and overall positive despite adversity.

The thing is that I had insurance, but I didn't pay to reduce the deductible. That's why I think it's a bit shady. They agree that I have insurance ... It's just that the deductible is 36,000 MAD and you can pay extra to reduce it... In my mind, if you have insurance, that shouldn't be necessary.

Very true. The perpetrator was poor, so the police assured us he would be in jail for many (1-3) years, to "pay" for his sins, because he wouldn't be able to pay for the damages. I think jail time is a very severe punishment for breaking a few windshields and would have been much happier with an apology (and some cash to cover the windshields).

As an interesting sidenote, I contacted Nissan Norway to find out the price here in Norway for new windshields, seals, wiper, lights, etc. and in Norway it would have cost at least 25,000 MAD for the repair (granted at an expensive "brand" garage), so in that sense 15,100 MAD (which I was charged by Europcar) is quite reasonable.

I can't be the only reader puzzled by this whole train of thought. You bought insurance with a high deductible. You knowingly declined the added cost to lower the deductible. You then found yourself wishing the deductible was lower...but it's not, because you decided not to pay for that option. How is that "shady?" You took a chance, assumed a degree of risk, and wish you'd chosen otherwise.

What's more, it appears the rental company charged a fair price to fix the damage. Sounds like you did pretty well, considering. Had the same thing happened in your home country (or mine)--crazed person batters under-insured rental car with a machete--you'd be out even more money for the repair, and chances are good-to-excellent the rental company would have tried to overcharge you on top of that.

All this talk about suing the person responsible is just talk--you'd have to pay lawyers and invest a lot of time to get a judgment against someone who, by your report, doesn't have the resources to pay no matter what the court decides. Best to cut your losses and adjust your view of optional insurance coverage on future rental vehicles.

Of course, I'm totally open to any indication I've misunderstood any or all of the above. And I'm definitely not denying the whole situation must have been supremely frustrating and exhausting.

Mark

First offense in Colombia - the engine overheated on a Lada and they charged for a full restoration. I notified Visa, Visa asked the rental company for documentation, which they sent on to me (I still have it), and without any questions refunded the full amount.
Second offense in Los Angeles I was way overcharged and they ignored my protests. Overcharge was refunded.
I would assume VISA/MC are on the customer's side also in this incident and will ask the rental company for documentation of their actual cost.
This is one of the upsides of using a credit card.

In the UK it's becoming increasingly common to purchase 'Excess' cover (how we refer to the 'Deductable') due to high charges for reducing (or eliminating) the Excess with the rental company itself. You can buy Annual policies to cover whenever you rent a vehicle over a year, or do it for a specific rental.

Sounds stupid, but actually it normally works out cheaper than paying the extra charges with rental companies to reduce or remove the excess/deductible. I did it for my Morocco trip a few weeks ago and the excess cover was about £20 for two drivers for a week, I thought that was pretty reasonable given the 20,000DHM Excess on the Pajero.

Dave