Sixt Car Hire Problem - Stansted

mskemp85

Hi,

Hopefully I have posted this in the right place, as it is the first time I have asked for advice on this forum.

Recently I have had to travel back and forth between Newcastle (where I work), and Essex, to visit my dad in hosptial, after he suffered a severe stroke. I normally fly back and hire a car, usually with eurocar who are always excellent.

However this time, as they were a lot cheaper, I used Sixt. The problem is that they have just sent me an accident form for a scratch on the rear bumper, and passenger side alloy. :mad:

I did not damage the car whilst I was driving it, and what makes it worse is that I checked the car over when I dropped it off, and this damage was not there. As it was out of hours I was instructed to leave the car in the short stay carpark at Stansted, so someone from Sixt could collect it when they opened. As a result I was not present when they elledgedly found this scratch.

Now I am worried they will invoice me for damage I know I did not cause, and I have no way of proving otherwise. Can anyone offer any advice. I have emailed their customer services informing them that I did not cause the damage, but am not sure how to play this when they come back with the invoice.

Thanks for your help.

Tilt

Speaking as someone who used to work in the vehicle rental industry, I would say that it will come down to the T & C's on the rental agreement. In my locations, vehicles had to be returned during office hours so i'm not sure how it works on airport sites but I would imagine that the in the T & C's there will be specific clause for this by the nature of returning out of normal hours which will be on the lines of 'the hirer remains responsible for loss or damage unitil the rental is terminated'. This of course cannot be done untill the vehicle is 'checked in' so if you signed the agreement to this effect, I think legally you will be responsible unless you have taken out reduced damage liability insurance or CDW as opposed to excepting the rental excess. If the latter, they will only take from your deposit the amount the damage will cost to repair. However, I can say that most big rental companies will be keen to resolve 'minor damage' issues amicably in an effort to secure further business from you so they may come to a solution with you. And of course there is the possibility of the car being left where there is CCTV which they could check.

mskemp85

Thanks Tilt. Will have to see what they say. Am going to look over the terms and conditions and try to establish where I stand. I'm annoyed with myself for using Sixt, as Eurocar have always been excellent.

mskemp85

Do you know how I stand with them proving the damage was there. Obviously I was not there to witness it, so would they have taken photographs etc. I assume it doesn't just come down to them "saying" the damage is there, as surely this is open to abuse.

Tilt

Yes of course it is open to abuse and I would imagine that airports is where it happens most. As I said previously, the cars were checked in and out with the hirer so these issues didn't really arise too often in my experiences. I would assume that they would of taken pics to 'prove their case' in which caes they should make them available to you. The problem you may have is in the contract you entered into with them which, being an airport site, may have a few different clauses in it when it comes to checking in. I take it that you didn't take any sort of liability waiver out at the start of the rental so i'm assuming that you left a deposit on a credit or debit card and that this hasn't been refunded as yet? I would guess that their excess is about £600 of which the hirer is responsible for unless he takes out the waiver options (which of course cost extra). But bear in mind that the excess is the maximum amount they can charge you so the damage may well be considerably less than that. As I said earlier, you first step is to contact them stating that as far as you are concerned the damage was not there when you left the car and take it from there.

bigjl

I always take good quality pictures when I collect and hand back the car, I think most people have been stung by this kind of thing before.

They tried it with a courtesy car I had a couple of years ago, so I simply went in and showed them the pictures I had taken, another good reason not to return the car using a drop box, but get if checked before handing back the keys.

mskemp85

Unfortunatly Sixt don't open their Stansted office untill 7am on a Saturday, so only way I could catch my flight back to Newcastle was to use the drop box.

Gary_Coughlan

Hi,

I'm Gary Coughlan, the Customer Service Manager for Sixt in the U.K.

Typically, in cases where new damage is recorded when a vehicle checks is the customer is contacted for an explanation.

Please could you send some details to [EMAIL="gary.coughlan@sixt.com"]gary.coughlan@sixt.com[/EMAIL] and I'll look into this for you.

Best regards
Gary

mskemp85

Gary. Thank you for responding. I have sent you an email.

Tilt

Gary_Coughlan wrote: »

Hi,

I'm Gary Coughlan, the Customer Service Manager for Sixt in the U.K.

Typically, in cases where new damage is recorded when a vehicle checks is the customer is contacted for an explanation.

Please could you send some details to [EMAIL="gary.coughlan@sixt.com"]gary.coughlan@sixt.com[/EMAIL] and I'll look into this for you.

Best regards
Gary

Lets hope my comment about larger rental co's being keen to resolve minor damage issues amicably (post #2) proves to be right! Please keep us posted mskemp!

mskemp85

Thank you all for your posts. Sixt have been back in contact and have closed the claim, with no further action required. Good show by them.:beer: