A Strange Carsharing Story: Service and Client Have Completely Different Versions

— "I am an honest driver with extensive experience," Anna wrote. — "On May 26, I wanted to use Anytime carsharing, but while reversing, I hit a car that had parked there while I was getting into my car. The issue with the guy was resolved on the spot, and he left. I finished the trip and went to the metro. About 30 minutes later, I wrote to technical support, reporting that I had damaged the car. As a result, the State Automobile Inspectorate (GAI) was called. Carsharing also issued a fine for attempting to leave."

Naturally, the situation is unpleasant. Journalists clarified with Anna whether she had already been billed for the damages.

She replied that she had been verbally informed of a preliminary amount — 3000 rubles.

The bill is not small, especially considering that the company recently canceled fines for accidents and compensation for car damages, which it announced in the media and on its social networks... So what's the problem? Before hearing from the service representatives, let's read the client's correspondence with Anytime technical support, which Anna provided.

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According to the correspondence, Anna initially wrote that the problem was not an accident (at least, so it might seem from the screenshots), but that she "noticed damages after returning the car."

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Anytime support service representatives ask the girl in the correspondence: "Why didn't you report what happened, and instead decided to conceal it?"

She insists: she definitely did not intend to conceal the accident. And she reported what happened to support before the carsharing representatives called the GAI, who then brought Anna back to the accident scene.

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And here it is important to remember the rules under which the service's "insurance" applies (unfortunately, many do not read the online agreement): the main condition under which you will not be billed for damage is if you reported the accident to support before the end of the rental and followed all instructions from specialists.

At the same time, the company warned that the "insurance" with full compensation for damages would not apply in cases of gross violations of traffic rules or the terms of the service agreement. For example:

• driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs;
• transferring control to another person;
• leaving the scene of an accident;
• using the vehicle in violation of service rules.

— "The point is that I didn't hide anything and was initially ready to pay for the bumper damage. But they're saying I left. As soon as I got a call from the GAI, I immediately returned to the scene of the accident, and the guy with whom we resolved everything on the spot also returned and wrote that he had no claims. But the GAI drew up two reports, and I face deprivation [of rights] for up to two years. I showed the GAI my correspondence with Anytime," Anna adds.

Anytime's Comment

For a comment, journalists contacted Anytime. They shared their version of what happened.

— "At Anytime, we changed our approach to accidents in March: today, clients do not need to pay for vehicle damages if they get into an accident. We consciously did this to make the service simpler and more reassuring for users. But there is one basic and very important condition: an accident must be immediately reported to support and properly documented."

In this situation, the problem is not the accident itself, but how the client behaved after it.

According to our information, after the collision, she did not contact support, ended the rental, and left the scene. Moreover, the damage was noticeable enough to be clearly felt. Furthermore, photos taken at the end of the rental were composed so that the damaged part of the car was not in the frame.

Another important nuance: at the scene of the accident, the girl decided not to stay and tried to conceal it. She was brought back by an eyewitness to the incident, who later also contacted us and reported the situation. It was after the eyewitness's call that Anytime employees initiated calling the GAI. That is, the service learned about the accident not from the client.

The client independently contacted the second party involved in the accident and, according to her, settled the matter with the owner of the other car. However, neither a European accident statement nor formal accident documentation by GAI officers had been carried out at that point. Despite this, the client still had not contacted Anytime support.

When she later did call support (after we ourselves had called the GAI), the conversation was presented as if she had simply discovered damage to the car. It was not stated that the accident occurred due to her fault.

On May 29, the car underwent an official inspection, and the service is now awaiting the final damage assessment from an expert. As of now, no official amounts have been billed to the client. The previously mentioned 3000 rubles is a contractually stipulated fine for leaving the scene of an accident and violating service usage rules, not a fine for the accident itself. Currently, it has not been issued either. The service will make a decision on the final amount after the expert's assessment, taking into account all past and future actions of the client.

And the most incomprehensible aspect of this situation for us as a service is: if the client had simply reported the incident, as stipulated by the service's rules and traffic regulations, no questions regarding compensation for damages would have arisen from Anytime. We truly cover such cases — over 220 clients have been fully exempt from payments for accidents since March. But if a client attempts to conceal the fact of an accident and does not follow the rules, the insurance ceases to apply.

Anytime representatives also sent us photos of the car: "These are photos taken by the client after the rental and the accident (referring to photos taken when ending the trip in the app) — here the angles were deliberately chosen so that the damage would not be in the frame."

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"And here's the damage itself," Anytime representatives sent another photo below. We note that, judging by the client's correspondence with support, she herself took this picture when reporting the damage.

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