Wow. Talk about rubbing salt into wounds

[klingon]

By the way, if a visitor to NZ has an accident, and they are not insured, and they spend several weeks in intensive care at a public hospital at several thousand dollars a DAY, then they die, their family will be sent a bill for the full cost of their hospital care. (If they live, the accident victim will be billed personally.)

Similarly if an uninsured visitor to New Zealand is attacked in the street and beaten, leaving them with serious brain injuries that require several sessions of neurosurgery and weeks in intensive care, they (or their family) will be billed for their treatment whether the victim lives or dies.

It happens surprisingly often, and must be terribly distressing to the families of the deceased.

[Badjelly]

Why should this bloke have to suck up costs due to someone else's f-ing stupidity?

He doesn't have to, obviously, but reasons he could consider are:

• Consideration for the family, who are not Darwin award candidates, as far as I know
• Public relations

[EJK]

That's fucked up right there!

[Murray]

Its all Keys fault!!!!

[laserracer]

insurance company will probably try and get out of it by quoting that old ....it was an act of god..thing we are not paying

[Mully]

Similarly if an uninsured visitor to New Zealand is attacked in the street and beaten, leaving them with serious brain injuries that require several sessions of neurosurgery and weeks in intensive care, they (or their family) will be billed for their treatment whether the victim lives or dies.

I thought this would be covered by ACC, no?

And if not, why do people who need to be Search and Rescued off mountains not have to pay the costs?

[jrandom]

I see the director's surname is Chan.

This outcome is hardly surprising, given the Chinese predilection for considering human life to be of very little worth when set against cash.

[idb]

I wonder if the tow company waived their fee to the rental company?

[scracha]

If they're not from a country with reciprocal health care arrangements then as far as I'm concerned, their health insurance should be checked before they're allowed to board the plane.

That said, a medical company would have a hard time trying to recover costs from another country. If the deceased's assets were less than the amount creditors were owed then the spouse/kids wouldn't take on the inheritance and the remainder of the debt would be written off.

By the way, if a visitor to NZ has an accident, and they are not insured, and they spend several weeks in intensive care at a public hospital at several thousand dollars a DAY, then they die, their family will be sent a bill for the full cost of their hospital care. (If they live, the accident victim will be billed personally.)

It happens surprisingly often, and must be terribly distressing to the families of the deceased.

[jrandom]

By the way, if a visitor to NZ has an accident, and they are not insured, and they spend several weeks in intensive care at a public hospital at several thousand dollars a DAY, then they die, their family will be sent a bill for the full cost of their hospital care. (If they live, the accident victim will be billed personally.)

Similarly if an uninsured visitor to New Zealand is attacked in the street and beaten, leaving them with serious brain injuries that require several sessions of neurosurgery and weeks in intensive care, they (or their family) will be billed for their treatment whether the victim lives or dies.

It happens surprisingly often, and must be terribly distressing to the families of the deceased.

WTF?

That doesn't fit at all with my understanding of how ACC works.

Certainly if they fall ill and require treatment, yes, but not if they get injured or are attacked, etc. Are you quite sure of your facts there?

[Marmoot]

OMG ... thats so wrong!
Thats such the wrong time to be so demanding!

I would tell the f**cker to get bent and Id pay the bill when it suited me given the circumstances!

You are absolutely right. The public should tell the towing company and key replacement company (the car dealer? the car manufacturer?) not to charge the poor rental company.

I feel sorry for the rental company to be stuck in the middle like that.

[klingon]

WTF?

That doesn't fit at all with my understanding of how ACC works.

Certainly if they fall ill and require treatment, yes, but not if they get injured or are attacked, etc. Are you quite sure of your facts there?

Yep, quite sure.

ACC only applies to New Zealand residents, not overseas visitors. Overseas visitors have not waived their right to sue (as we have done by having ACC) so theoretically they could then sue any New Zealander who was the cause of their accident or injury. That opens a can of worms, doesn't it?!

We have reciprocal medical arrangements with Australia and the UK, so if this happens to one of their citizens in NZ they will not be charged. For everyone else its user (or family of user) pays.

EDIT:
Sorry about that - I just looked up the documentation and a motor vehicle accident is apparently covered by ACC. An assault, however, is not.

[MsKABC]

You are right - he shouldn't have to suck up the funds.

However sometimes you have to look at the situation and make a call.

At this point being named on the front page of the NZ Herald, in a manner that makes them look money grabbing and uncaring isn't going to help their company long term. In fact such bad publicity could be the death knell for them.

They should have taken the hit (their fault or not) - it would have been the smarter thing to do.

Edit: The Herald makes it clear its the decision of the Directors of the company - not some front desk person who made this call.

+ 1 ...nail...head

[Trumpess]

There is a time and place to be publically demanding and ask others to cough up the money that these boys owe. Frankly now is not the right time to do so. The bill aint going anywhere, and its not like the parents are going to skip Australia now are they. The police have all contact details if needed.

Yep sure there is a bill or bills to pay, but for gods sake, just let the parents bury their kids first?

I see now the Motelier is asking for his share seeing as the Rental Firm has done so.

On another note regarding insurance. Generally when a tourist travels to another country they tend to take out Travel Insurance. Wouldnt this cover the costs?

Its all such a terrible situation that could have been avoided, especially with the media.

[Marmoot]

I see the director's surname is Chan.

This outcome is hardly surprising, given the Chinese predilection for considering human life to be of very little worth when set against cash.

Yup. Selective human life values.

Just like Kiwis. We cried over 5 dead kiwis on a blown airplane but never at the thousands in Zimbabwe.

What do I care. The dead ones are Indians anyway. They are cheap, aren't they?