Car rental damage charge

vitamind

Hi all,

Hope this is the right place to post. On Friday, I rented a car with a large, international car hire company (not sure if I can say the name) from an Irish airport. I was scheduled to pick the car up at 3, but my flight was delayed and I didn't get it until 5. At 12 that day, they emailed me a pre-inspection report with very low-res pictures, with no visible damage. The pictures were taken in an outside space that I later discovered was the returns area.

When I picked up the car, it had been moved to a multi-storey car park, and parked beside two cars, in front of a pillar and bumper to bumper with another car. I did a quick inspection, but it was dark and hard to see well. Once I turned on the engine, I found that the petrol tank was nearly empty, despite being marked as "Full" on my rental agreement. The entertainment system was also in German, but that's just extra info highlighting the shoddy job they did in checking the car.

I immediately called the company to inform them of the fuel situation, which we resolved. I then drove down a large motorway, parked the car in a rural country hotel and forgot about it. I returned it on the Sunday evening and the attendant identified a number of faint scratches on the rear bumper. You really had to get close to see them. She claimed that, as this was not on her report, I was liable for the damage to the tune of over 600 euros!

I obviously don't think A) I'm responsible for this, and that it could possibly cost close to that amount to repair. I refused to admit liability, and I will challenge this charge on the basis that:

- Five hours passed between the pre-inspection report and me picking it up, during which time it was driven into an enclosed location and parked near several obstacles
- The pre-inspection report failed to identify the empty fuel tank and entertainment system in the foreign language
- The pre-inspection pictures are so blurry that it's impossible to say that the scratches aren't present in them.

Now, I know I should have looked more closely, but as I said, my flight was late, the parking garage was dark and I was distracted by more glaring faults. I don't want to mess this up, so can anyone advise me about how best to challenge this charge?

Any help at all is appreciated .

Gloomendoom

Was it Europcar?

vitamind

No, not Europcar. More Germanic-sounding .

Does Europcar have a reputation for that kind of thing?

EssexExile

You're allowed to say Hertz if you like.

peachyprice

While obviously the scratches and fuel are issues, the entertainment system being in German really isn't an issue, it's a bit petty making this part of your complaint.

WAYT

Of course you purchased standalone car hire excess insurance, so none of this is an issue.

If of course you took the car knowing that you could be charged for any damage and took no steps to protect yourself, more fool you.

Of course you took pictures of the faint scratches, didn't you? Otherwise to whom do you expect to complain without evidence?

vitamind

WAYT wrote: »

Of course you purchased standalone car hire excess insurance, so none of this is an issue.

If of course you took the car knowing that you could be charged for any damage and took no steps to protect yourself, more fool you.

Of course you took pictures of the faint scratches, didn't you? Otherwise to whom do you expect to complain without evidence?

I'm really interested in why you replied to my post in such a mean-spirited manner. Did it offend you somehow? Or did you feel that you should kick me when I was down and asking for help?

@peachypride, as I stated in my original post, the detail about the entertainment system was simply to highlight that they missed several glaringly obvious details when doing the pre-inspection. It's just supporting information.

eDicky

Thanks for the warning/reminder that even a supposedly reputable hire firm in certain locations is not above deliberately cheating large sums from customers (or their separate excess cover providers if used) when the firm's extra insurance is not purchased. You can be confident that those scratches are never repaired. Naming the location would also be useful.

WAYT

eDicky wrote: »

Thanks for the warning/reminder that even a supposedly reputable hire firm in certain locations is not above deliberately cheating large sums from customers (or their separate excess cover providers if used) when the firm's extra insurance is not purchased. You can be confident that those scratches are never repaired. Naming the location would also be useful.

Even if this fairy tale were true, let's not forget that some locations are franchises. If the OP has taken hi res pictures of their own, they can make a case to send to head office. Otherwise, the took the chance to go without insurance and are now paying the price for their gamble.

WAYT

vitamind wrote: »

I'm really interested in why you replied to my post in such a mean-spirited manner. Did it offend you somehow? Or did you feel that you should kick me when I was down and asking for help?

@peachypride, as I stated in my original post, the detail about the entertainment system was simply to highlight that they missed several glaringly obvious details when doing the pre-inspection. It's just supporting information.

I'm glad that you asked.....

I wondered how you happened to find yourself here, as a first time poster. Most people aware of this forum would be clear that the recommendation is to obtain car hire excess insurance, if one wanted to avoid the purchase of Super CDW from the car hire company.
So perhaps you have never ever visited this website before and just perchance found it.

Moving on.....likely you knew that you were going to be liable for any damage when you took the car, but you decided to take the chance. It doesn't have to be your fault. Some other idiot can scrape your car. You decided to take the chance and now here you are, complaining about it.

We have only your word that one could barely see the scratches. I asked if you took pictures. to bolster your case. If you did, then perhaps you could make a case.
If not, who do you expect to believe you? If you do have pictures, protest to their MD that the scratches don't quality as damage.

If you took no pictures and decided to take the chance by not covering yourself, you have only yourself to blame. Thank you for your precautionary tale.

peachyprice

vitamind wrote: »

@peachypride, as I stated in my original post, the detail about the entertainment system was simply to highlight that they missed several glaringly obvious details when doing the pre-inspection. It's just supporting information.

I don't consider changing the entertainment system part of the pre-inspection, why should they assume the next hirer would be English? I've hired may a car in many European countries, sometimes they'll be in English already, more often not.