To feel like car hire company has stitched me right up?

[ErnesttheBavarian]

Hire a car for 4 days. Collected it at midnight and told to check it in the morning for any damage.

I was parked on a main road with 2 lanes of fast traffic whizzing past if that's relevant.

Anyway, in the morning, I check the car as well as I can, being a total amateur. I notice a couple of scratches and a small dent. I phone through and report the damage. I also ask my son to check it. He doesn't spot anything.

Anyway, return the car, and am met by man from the company who is clearly an expert checker. He spots a deep scrape in the bodywork, but it's on the driver's side, basically underneath the car, so you pretty much had to kneel on the floor and look up to see it, which would have meant me kneeling in the road.

I feel really gutted about it, because I'm no expert. I thought I had looked carefully, but he clearly knew all the trouble spots to look for. The car had no damage reported even though I spotted 3 separate bits of damage. I feel pretty angry that they either have't checked or recorded the damage themselves and are relying on a total novice who clearly can't do as good a job as an expert. It's like asking a layman to survey a house and then blaming them if they don't spot something.

Are all car hire companies like this? I've driven for 16 years and never had an accident and was so careful with this car and feel properly stitched up. Is there any hope for me. Bloody bastards.

The process is usually. ..
This is the form, you sign here to say there is no damage, or you sign here to say there is damaged to these areas.
You phone through any additional damage you find if you cannot inspect the car in daylight.
In daylight the walk round is done with a representative but this happens less and less now so I wonder if this is no longer standard procedure. I have never yet see someone check under the car (luckily even when I drove over a kerb and scraped the underneath!)

In any case, the damage you noted was not noted by company so they cannot say the damage was absolutely not there before. (It is possible that the damage you note falls into the 'less than the size of a coin' which is increasingly used as the level below which no action will be taken).

Good luck, it's next to impossible to get to speak to anyone at customer services.

They may well have taken the approval for the deposit already so I would contact your credit card company, explain the situation and get them to refuse the payment. Ensure that they refuse all future payment requests until it is resolved as they may make several attempts to take it.

Oh, we hired a car once with Europcar. Never again. They were compete bastards and tried to add extra changes on for things we'd already prepaid. Wouldn't hire from them again.

Their website says:
In case of dispute:
Wherever your rental took place you can choose to consult with the Customer Relation Service department in your country of residence. Your Customer Services team will contact the country of rent on your behalf and try to resolve your query. You can contact Customer Relation Service directly through our "Contact us" section in our website.

Aibohphobia - if OP didn't have a pic of the car with known damage marked on it given to her at the time of hire, surely there is no proof what was there before/ after she hired it?

ittooshallpass

Aibohphobia - if OP didn't have a pic of the car with known damage marked on it given to her at the time of hire, surely there is no proof what was there before/ after she hired it?

They're done with carbon copy paper so that the customer and company have the same details.

If the company then tried to bill you for damage already there then you pull out your slip and say "here's my proof that it was there when I rented it". If you don't have the paper or the damage wasn't noted on it (and it's the customer's responsibility to ensure it is) then you don't have any proof and you're liable to pay the excess.

Does that make sense?

I still seethe about the time this happened to me (about 15 years ago ).

It was the tiniest little ding that I could barely see even when the rep pointed it out.
I have never used that hire firm again and told many others not too so I doubt that extra £50 from me makes good business sense in the long run. Arseholes.

Hi, me back again.

This has been dragging on since November

So, summary, 31/10 to 5/11 hired car. Not informed of any damage on it. Took in in pitch blackness, next morning noted 3 pieces of damage which I registered. On return, was informed their was a 4th piece of damage, for which I was liable.

9th November - Email informing me of penalty
21st November - I email refuting having caused damage.
30th November - Receive email - thanks for your patience, we're looking into it.
8th December - Identical email thanking me for my patience.
3rd January - Identical email thanking me for my patience.
6th January - Get email saying sorry, but they have decided I have to pay up.

"I have investigated your comments directly with the rental station and have arrived to the conclusion the damage levied was not pre-existing, I have attached a copy of the rental agreement and have searched our accident damage report screen which implies; the below damage has never been reported on the vehicle before and has been recorded by the rental staff upon your return.

I have below provided a list of damage sustained to the vehicle:
· Front Bumper - Scratch Paint Damage
I am not indicating the damage was caused personally by you; this was however not noted on the rental agreement as pre existing damage upon check in of the vehicle.

I do have to advise that 14 days from now, if we do not receive any further dispute supported by contradictory evidence to contest our decision, our insurance department will proceed to send you the final costing for the damages caused on this occasion and then bill the method of payment linked to your account accordingly.

I wondered if anyone could help out? I mean, they rent me a car with 4 pieces of damage, and accept 3 were not done by me, but not the 4th. They can spend months "investigating" then randomly decide I am guilty, yet I have to provide evidence to prove I'm not.

Any suggestions?

I have phone company nightmares also since November (mobile broken, still no replacement....) it's all so insanely stressful