Reporting HIRE car damage

mihaicraciunph

I have to hire a car for a couple of weeks (sold my car and only getting another car on the 7th of november).
I hired through Green Motion heathrow (dreadful experience tbh at their counter). All good so far but today I think I scratched the car when reversing out of the driveway - I scraped the front bumper, but wooden fence is ok though!!
The excess they pre-authorised from me is £1205 (crazy, right?!)
I do have excess insurance via Questor, but the hire agreement says "In the event of any damage to the vehicle you must contact the accident management line on ... within 2 hours of the accident. if you fail to call you will become fully liable for all costs related to the damage/accident for all vehicles involved irrespective of any waiver products purchased from green motion".

This all sounds like a hassle so can I just return the car with the damage on the normal return day and just deal with it then (if they notice)?

I shouldn't have to be out of pocket with the excess cover I have but they were such a pain to deal with at the counter I can imagine this process will be painful too...

Arklight

Be careful with that. The wording sounds like they're already trying to screw you.

AdrianC

How bad is the bumper? Might be simplest just to get a smart repair guy to sort it before it goes back.

iainscomputer

Hi, I hired using Green Motion at Manchester airport, on my final journey back to drop off the car, I noticed a scratch on the rear door which definitely wasn't there before.
On dropping off the car the damage was noticed as well as another scratch on the front corner.
They said the manager will call me the next day to discuss the damage & the £1200 excess.
I did have excess insurance but luckily it wasn't needed as they never called & the excess was not taken.

loskie

get a smart repair

The_Rainmaker

OP you obviously haven't read any revues about Green Motion. Their prices are incredibly cheap for a reason and I suspect you will find out about that shortly.

mihaicraciunph

I did think they would try to scam me with a damage that was there before and because I had the excess insurance I didn’t really care about that as they would deal with it.
I didn’t think I would hit it myself though lol.
I am returning the car on the 7th of December at 2 pm. My appointment to collect my new car is at 3 pm and I don’t want them to cause me to be late. The unprofessionalism of the people at the counter was astounding...
I reported it online and if they charge me so be it just don’t hold me hostage to fill in unnecessary paperwork when I drop the car off