Advice on How Not to Be struck With Loss of Use Fees on a Rental Car After an Accident?

One of the benefits of renting a vehicle from a rental car clients are that you simply usually get to drive a car, sport utility vehicle or van which typically ranges from a newcomer to practically completely new – filled with that “new car” scent which greets you as you enter inside – which the experience is usually free from cares and worries when all goes well…

Advice how To not Be Hit With Loss of Use Fees on the Car rental After any sort of accident?

…but when that vehicle is involved in an accident, all of the dynamics change. Do you have the best automobile insurance coverage to safeguard you financially? Can you prove that you are not to blame for the incident? Are you currently responsible for any damage which incurred around the property of others?

Members of the control over some rental car companies appear to view so what can be a traumatic situation for a customer as an chance to profit by taking advantage of their fears and concerns to squeeze every penny from him or her as you possibly can. Arguably, among those tactics may be the loss of use fee, through which accommodations car company purportedly loses the use of a vehicle to rent to other customers – and therefore loses the chance to still earn revenue off of the use of the car – while it is being repaired. The loss of use fee is definitely an attempt to recover some – or all – of that supposed lost revenue…

…but that's let's assume that the rental car company would have otherwise rented that car to a different customer in the period the car has been repaired. For all anyone knows, that car might somewhat be sitting out on that lot, awaiting a person to pay to use it – and there is no clear way for the client who rented the damaged car to prove that to prevent paying the loss of use fee.

This is why I was rather intrigued with this advice that was imparted by FlyerTalk member IAHtraveler, who's a moderator of the Avis and Car rentals forums on FlyerTalk:

One suggestion is always to try and make a reservation each week (for 1 week) in the location you returned the vehicle to. Do that until they bill you and also take screenshots from the vehicles available. Avis is notorious for hitting people with “loss of use” fees. However, if you can prove these were prepared to rent a car each week at that location, you've proof they didn't actually lose money by being sold out and down one car because yours was in the store.