Car hire damage charges

Barney224

Earlier this month I rented a car from Sixt in Gatwick. I checked it thoroughly (or so I thought) before leaving. When I returned it 4 days later, I was told there were some scratches underneath the bumper. I was already late for my flight, so just said OK and the rep just said someone might be in touch. I am a very careful driver and have no recollection of any damage occurring while I had the car! These scratches were underneath the bumper!!! (see attachment)

2 weeks later I start to receive a friendly email about accident reports I have to fill out. I told them I didn't have an accident. The next email was not so friendly and told me i was liable for the damage! I asked for photos and details. Today I get a letter which claims I owe them over £550 to repair these scratches! I just feel like they're taking the pi$$ with these costs. My other argument with them is, do they expect their customers to get on their hands and knees to check underneath the car before driving out?

Do I have any chance of fighting these charges? Is it possible to get an independent assessor to look at the costs for fixing this, similar to how an insurance company would get an independent assessment?

L1011

You will have signed a rental agreement agreeing to the use of their assessors, repair options etc. You also failed to challenge their claim of damage at the time of return, which won't help here.

whippet

It's a hard lesson to be learned ... but I do get on hands and knees when picking up a rental and about 50% of the time I have to go back to the desk before starting the car to make note of some damage. Never trust the damage sheet you are given.

Cabaal

Could have easily caused the damage by parking up against a high kerb, you may not have even noticed.

Fact you didn't challenge anything previously doesn't give you much to stand on here

Winterlong

My wife thinks I am nuts for making videos of the condition of rental cars at pickup and dropoff and checking the detail on the damage report....but you hear so many stories of people getting stung...

machiavellianme

Winterlong wrote: »

My wife thinks I am nuts for making videos of the condition of rental cars at pickup and dropoff and checking the detail on the damage report....but you hear so many stories of people getting stung...

I do the exact same, I even make sure to record their agent showing what each mark corresponds to (with his permission of course) and them saying it has come back ok. Unless if I have Super CDW or whatever they call it, which I almost always get the first time I deal with a company at an airport until I decide what type of operation they have. Then I'm happy to throw it back at them any which way. Its an expensive game hiring cars.

seagull

Don't forget to check the interior equally thoroughly. My friend got hit by a charge for a cigarette burn in the upholstery on the back seat. He doesn't smoke himself, and had no passengers while he had the car. It predated his rental, and he missed it on the check. They probably got paid out a dozen times or more for that hole over the car's lifetime as a rental.

goz83

whippet wrote: »

It's a hard lesson to be learned ... but I do get on hands and knees when picking up a rental and about 50% of the time I have to go back to the desk before starting the car to make note of some damage. Never trust the damage sheet you are given.

This. On hands and knees, photographing every angle with one of the kids in the photo, proving it's not just any car. Any damage is photographed and if it's too much trouble to go back to the rental desk, I email the agent and myself with the attached photos.

Winterlong wrote: »

My wife thinks I am nuts for making videos of the condition of rental cars at pickup and dropoff and checking the detail on the damage report....but you hear so many stories of people getting stung...

This I have not done. The photos suffice, but not a bad idea all the same. I have not been stung, but never take the risk.

loyatemu

if you're not taking out the rental company's "super-insurance" then you should get 3rd party excess cover from the likes of http://www.carhireexcess.ie/

twosweaters

I just returned a Van to Hertz . I did some damage to the trim and I offered to replace the Part. But would have to wait till Monday. I was told that I would have to keep the Van till Monday if I want to do that. So they filled in the damage Report and charged me the full €250 on the excess. Which by the way cost €30 and not €20 as advertised on the website. When I pointed out to them that the part only cost €80 . the agent checked their wall chart for Damage and it was only €111.00 which I agreed to pay.. Make sure you get them to check the replacement Chart and not just charge the Full Excess It could have been €500 if I did Not pay the extra

dohouch

I rent once or twice a year in Spain. Lucky so far. It's hard to imagine that any car with a bit of mileage won't have scratches under front or back bumper. Next problem for EU is to enforce a uniform kerb height for every village,town and city in Europe from Greece to Portugal.

GerardKeating

dohouch wrote: »

I rent once or twice a year in Spain. Lucky so far. It's hard to imagine that any car with a bit of mileage won't have scratches under front or back bumper. Next problem for EU is to enforce a uniform kerb height for every village,town and city in Europe from Greece to Portugal.

Here, we cannot even have a uniform kerb height in the same development

km991148

Barney224 wrote: »

Do I have any chance of fighting these charges? Is it possible to get an independent assessor to look at the costs for fixing this, similar to how an insurance company would get an independent assessment?

For this sort of damage there wont even be an assessor on their side (other than the check-in employee) and the damage will probably not get repaired unless it makes the vehicle unsafe.

Unfortunately there wont be much you can do except maybe haggle on the price (but you wont be able to have someone look at it as the car will have moved on my now and be with another customer and/or branch) You might get lucky if you ask them to check previous rentals (I have had success with his with smaller branches of a car hire) damage sheet if it was spotted before. Car hire companies get a bad rep for being out to get you. In my experience this is not necessarily the case, but some of them to adhere to a stricter set of rules.