Damage to Courtesy Car

Tyrdville

So i've just got my courtesy car, drove around for a few hours, when i got home i noticed a scratch on the front bumper, however when i picked the car up i didnt check properly (my fault) to see if it was there when i picked the car up

The excess on my RSA motobility cover is £100 and thats whats stated in my rental agreement, now because i dont know if i did that damage or if it was already there, ill pay it if i caused it because it was my fault, but what would the charge be? would they charge me my excess fee of £100 or would they go cowboy and charge me like £500+

just cautious due to cost of living, cant afford to pay a stupid amount

flashg67

Most likely they won't get it repaired until it's use as a courtesy car is finished, more likely they'll charge for the cost of the repair in lieu. From having had similar 'smart' repairs done, it should be around the cost of the excess, not much more, especially as I guess they'll either have a repairer on site or a trade deal with someone 

Tyrdville

flashg67 said:

Most likely they won't get it repaired until it's use as a courtesy car is finished, more likely they'll charge for the cost of the repair in lieu. From having had similar 'smart' repairs done, it should be around the cost of the excess, not much more, especially as I guess they'll either have a repairer on site or a trade deal with someone 

cool, im happy to pay up that excess fee if the fault was mine, not gonna dodge it if i caused it but would like to know what kinda cost, the car had other marks and damaged elsewhere that he showed me so it was a sort marked car already

McKneff

Surely they would have taken pictures of the car before you took possession of it. I thought itvwould be standard practice

Tyrdville

McKneff said:

Surely they would have taken pictures of the car before you took possession of it. I thought itvwould be standard practice

they didnt take any pictures when they gave me the car but he said there are a few scratches that they aware off already and a crached wing mirror case, so i dunno if that include these scratches..

if dmg is my doing ill pay it, not gonna argue bout it

jlfrs01

I think with damage like that you'd have known about it if you'd done it, as it's clearly more serious than a scrape from a twig for example. If the excess is £100 that's what you'll pay but I think you can say that you didn't cause the damage.The handover guy admitted the vehicle had pre-existing damage and no pictures were taken they can't prove it occured in your possession.

webjaved

You must have known if it was you that caused the damage to the car, if you have no recollection of it, then it could mean another vehicle or something has grazed across your car. 

I hope they end don't end up giving you any grief about it. That's the last thing you need. 

DullGreyGuy

Tyrdville said:

McKneff said:

Surely they would have taken pictures of the car before you took possession of it. I thought itvwould be standard practice

they didnt take any pictures when they gave me the car but he said there are a few scratches that they aware off already and a crached wing mirror case, so i dunno if that include these scratches..

if dmg is my doing ill pay it, not gonna argue bout it

They didn't give you a handover sheet which marked where the pre-existing damage was?

Given you dont recall doing it and it doesn't sound like a proper handover was done then I wouldnt be bringing it to their attention but probably not fight it if they do say its new damage and caused by you. 

tifo

I'd not mention it to them when giving car back, if they ask say it was pre-existing damage, if they say No, ask for the handover document and pictures. Then take it from there how you think best.

Tyrdville

the guy mentioned a cracked wing mirror case but there was no crack so must be repaired and thats all, but there was clearly scatches on the boot which i did take pictures off but its not on the handover sheet that there is boot scratches removing the paint so maybe i could get away with it if indeed the dmg wasnt caused by me i guess as i have this is proof of scratches not delcared on the handover sheet

Ditzy_Mitzy

tifo said:

I'd not mention it to them when giving car back, if they ask say it was pre-existing damage, if they say No, ask for the handover document and pictures. Then take it from there how you think best.

You might not need to go that far.  My parents had a courtesy car recently whilst a claim was being processed and nobody from the hire company seemed in the slightest bothered about its condition.  It turned up 'valeted', in actuality filthy but with sticky goo sprayed all over the interior and not wiped off properly, and covered in little bits of damage.  The delivery driver didn't check.  The car was collected in much the same condition, and again not checked.  I suspect the hire firms providing dedicated courtesy cars treat them as disposable white goods (pun intended, given the colour of theirs and the OP's).