Car hire company (falsely) alleging damage. Help!

matt20uk

Hi all

I was recently in Germany on business, where I hired a car from Sixt. I have since received a letter from Sixt, stating the following:

Dear Client,

Thank you for renting from Sixt.

By checking the condition of the car after your drop off, it has been noted that the car has been damaged during your rental, details please find on the second page.

We point to your obligastion to clarify this matter by giving your statement and kindly ask you to fill in the attached form and sent it back to our office by 13.08.2010.

Thank you for you assistance.

Sincerely,

Sixt GmbH & Co. Autovermietung KG

They have provided a damage form for me to complete (the sort that you would expect following a collision). The form states:

Damages: Sixt vehicle

Navigation system – defective
CD ROM navigation system – missing

If it helps, the hire car was an Audi A3 and I paid by credit card.

Below is my intended response to Sixt:

8 August 2010

Dear Sirs

Damage number: XXXX
Rental agreement: XXXX
Registration number: XXXX

I refer to your letter dated 30 July 2010, which was received on 6 August 2010.

I wholly deny your spurious allegation that the above vehicle was damaged during my rental. I will defend any attempt to pursue me for the alleged damage.

You state that the navigation system was defective and the CD ROM navigation system was missing upon return of the vehicle. If this is correct, it is not my fault.

I will confirm the following:

• You did not give me a damage report at the start of the rental
  
• You did not provide me with an opportunity to inspect the car, with a Sixt representative, at the start of the rental
  
• The navigation system was not demonstrated to me by your agent at the start of the rental, so it may have been defective before my rental period
  
• I did not request a vehicle with a navigation system, but I was given one anyway. I have made the journey from Munich airport to Ottobrunn countless times and I have no need for a navigation system
  
• I did not use or attempt to use the navigation system. However I did use the radio, which worked without any problems
• You did not give me CD ROM navigation disc at the start of the rental
• You did not inspect the vehicle when I dropped it off

I am a Sixt Platinum Member and I am very disappointed to have received your letter. You will certainly lose a customer if you continue to claim that I caused the alleged damage.

I trust that this clarifies the matter.

Yours faithfully

If anybody could think of any improvements to my letter, or other things to add, I will be very grateful!

Thanks in advance.

cyclonebri1

matt20uk wrote: »

Hi all

I was recently in Germany on business, where I hired a car from Sixt. I have since received a letter from Sixt, stating the following:

Dear Client,

Thank you for renting from Sixt.

By checking the condition of the car after your drop off, it has been noted that the car has been damaged during your rental, details please find on the second page.

We point to your obligastion to clarify this matter by giving your statement and kindly ask you to fill in the attached form and sent it back to our office by 13.08.2010.

Thank you for you assistance.

Sincerely,

Sixt GmbH & Co. Autovermietung KG

They have provided a damage form for me to complete (the sort that you would expect following a collision). The form states:

Damages: Sixt vehicle

Navigation system – defective
CD ROM navigation system – missing

If it helps, the hire car was an Audi A3 and I paid by credit card.

Below is my intended response to Sixt:

8 August 2010

Dear Sirs

Damage number: XXXX
Rental agreement: XXXX
Registration number: XXXX

I refer to your letter dated 30 July 2010, which was received on 6 August 2010.

I wholly deny your spurious allegation that the above vehicle was damaged during my rental. I will defend any attempt to pursue me for the alleged damage.

You state that the navigation system was defective and the CD ROM navigation system was missing upon return of the vehicle. If this is correct, it is not my fault.

I will confirm the following:

• You did not give me a damage report at the start of the rental
  
• You did not provide me with an opportunity to inspect the car, with a Sixt representative, at the start of the rental
  
• The navigation system was not demonstrated to me by your agent at the start of the rental, so it may have been defective before my rental period
  
• I did not request a vehicle with a navigation system, but I was given one anyway. I have made the journey from Munich airport to Ottobrunn countless times and I have no need for a navigation system
  
• I did not use or attempt to use the navigation system. However I did use the radio, which worked without any problems
• You did not give me CD ROM navigation disc at the start of the rental
• You did not inspect the vehicle when I dropped it off

I am a Sixt Platinum Member and I am very disappointed to have received your letter. You will certainly lose a customer if you continue to claim that I caused the alleged damage.

I trust that this clarifies the matter.

Yours faithfully

If anybody could think of any improvements to my letter, or other things to add, I will be very grateful!

Thanks in advance.

Don't think you need any help from me or the/opinionated morons on here/mse.
:T:T:T
Superb post and actioning in my view, maybe you could just ask if they can provide any evidence to the contrary??? ;);)

Good man, fight the chancers:T:T

MyRubyRed

I'd go with the draft youv'e posted. Its clear, concise and polite.

mcjordi

ive never had the cd/dvd rom for the sat nav in any hire car ive had...

good luck op the draft sounds good

fight them

skiddlydiddly

Seems good to me.You could add "So ner ner ner ner ner!" on the end.

matt20uk

Thanks for the support, guys.

jaydeeuk1

Great response. A lot of people on this forum who come on here without a clue on how to stand up for themselves could learn a lot from your letter.

Gary_Coughlan

Hi,

My name is Gary Coughlan and I am the Customer Service Manager for Sixt U.K.

It would seem that the damage report was sent to you because the branch had not noticed the damage in question prior to your rental. As such the damage caused has now been wrongly attributed to your hire.

Of course the onus, in relation to damage charges for any rental company is to check the vehicle, and prove the damage occurred whilst on hire to you.

I am very sorry if we have caused you concern and apologise for any misunderstanding, I think the intention was to obtain your statement and clarify whether or not you were responsible.

I would be more than happy to look into this for you. Please would you be so kind to forward the details to me at gary.coughlan[at]sixt.com

If the case has already been settled I would appreciate it if you could let me know the conclusion that was reached, I would also like to have the opprotunity to forward an upgrade voucher to you as an apology.

Best regards
Gary

laurz121

Gary do you think this is an acceptable way to conduct business? To accuse customers of causing damage without FIRST checking the facts? I think that is an appalling way to treat a customer and reflects very badly on your company.

You admit that your company failed to check for damage before renting the vehicle out and that you have wrongly blamed an innocent customer for causing damage which of course they did not do and yet you still do not admit that your company was wrong to obtain a statement to clarify whether the customer was to blame. Of course the customer should not have to defend himself against such outrageous false allegations yet you still maintain that it is correct for him to have to do so.

I notice that in your post you fail to admit that there has been any operational errors made by sixt and furthermore you fail to say that anything will change in the future. What are you going to do to ensure that more customers are not wrongly blamed for your staffs mess ups? What procedures will you be putting in place to ensure that your innocent customers don't have to give statements needlessly defending themselves because of your staffs stuff ups?

How many other customers have been wrongly blamed for causing damage to your vehicles? My guess is this isn't the first.

Kilty_2

laurz121 wrote: »

How many other customers have been wrongly blamed for causing damage to your vehicles? My guess is this isn't the first.

Note to self - always check hire cars when they're delivered for work from another large hire company- usually never even see the damage sheet :eek:.

Well done to the OP with this though.

cyclonebri1

Gary_Coughlan wrote: »

Hi,

My name is Gary Coughlan and I am the Customer Service Manager for Sixt U.K.

It would seem that the damage report was sent to you because the branch had not noticed the damage in question prior to your rental. As such the damage caused has now been wrongly attributed to your hire.

Of course the onus, in relation to damage charges for any rental company is to check the vehicle, and prove the damage occurred whilst on hire to you.

I am very sorry if we have caused you concern and apologise for any misunderstanding, I think the intention was to obtain your statement and clarify whether or not you were responsible.

I would be more than happy to look into this for you. Please would you be so kind to forward the details to me at gary.coughlan[at]sixt.com

If the case has already been settled I would appreciate it if you could let me know the conclusion that was reached, I would also like to have the opprotunity to forward an upgrade voucher to you as an apology.

Best regards
Gary

Well if that post is genuine, and no desrepect to Gary, then that is a 1st :T:T:T:T:T

MSE'rs have got a direct response from the alleged perpetrator.

Nice one Gary.

More to follow I'm sure