Early Delivery of Hire Car

rdwarr

My daughter's due to drive to Norwich on business this coming Monday morning. Her company had booked a hire car to be delivered to our house at 6pm on Sunday.

At 1.40pm today I heard a letter drop through the door which turned out to be the keys for the car (which was now sitting outside) plus the document you sign to say there's no damage.

The document had been filled out with my daughter's initials "signed" in the signature box and her name in the "print name" one! She's in York today. The document was dated Aprol 3rd.

Two questions are:
1) If the car is damaged/vandalised between now and the agreed delivery time, who bears responsibility?
2) If she does pick up a scratch or dent next week what evidence do the hire company have that it wasn't already there?

By the way, we're not talking "Bob's rent-a-wreck" here. It's a 55-reg Focus from a well-known name.

gingerdad

Its fairly normal to drop them off early, but she won't be insured to drive till monday (or the date/time the rental starts from) I would have thought that it's up to the rental company until the agreement starts.

GD

Bob63

I do this several times a year. Liability for damage begins at the start of the hire period. Until then it is the rental company's problem. The same liability for the rental company also applies at the end of the rental if you off-hire the car at home.

I get rental cars delivered to home frequently. It is my standard way of getting to Heathrow and avoiding the parking fees.

Mike

Bossyboots

gingerdad wrote:

Its fairly normal to drop them off early, but she won't be insured to drive till monday (or the date/time the rental starts from) I would have thought that it's up to the rental company until the agreement starts.

GD

Afterwards too, if they fail to pick it up straightaway.

I would check the car over and make a note of any marks/damage not noted on the sheet.

bunking_off

Bossyboots wrote:

I would check the car over and make a note of any marks/damage not noted on the sheet.

...and get your daughter to call them to list anything significant. That's the answer to your second question...if the paperwork says it's clean and she doesn't notify them otherwise, she will have a fight on to skip liability for any scratches.

rdwarr

bunking_off wrote:

...and get your daughter to call them to list anything significant. That's the answer to your second question...if the paperwork says it's clean and she doesn't notify them otherwise, she will have a fight on to skip liability for any scratches.

True, but they have forged her signatire on the paperwork. I don't think they'd be able to prove she signed for it in Stevenage when she was at a big work meeting in York

bunking_off

Oh, I wouldn't disagree that there'd be a debate about liability. My point was that if you call them up (or even better fax, because it's got a date stamp) prior to the official hire-start notifying them of any damage, there's a lot less scope for debate on the issue : saves hassle for the price of a phone call.

zappahey

cheesy.mike wrote:

I get rental cars delivered to home frequently. It is my standard way of getting to Heathrow and avoiding the parking fees.

Who do you use for that? I haven't been able to find anything that works out cheaper than the parking. Though we generally only go anywhere for a week or so.

Bob63

bunking_off wrote:

...and get your daughter to call them to list anything significant. That's the answer to your second question...if the paperwork says it's clean and she doesn't notify them otherwise, she will have a fight on to skip liability for any scratches.

:T :T :T

Yes, I do that every time even though my company pays for the car. I make double sure that I check when a car is delivered when I am away.

Mike