SIXT Damage Charges

adrstuart

We hired a car from Sixt out of Inverness airport. The car had pre existing damage. Checked the car at pickup and there was no other damage other than what was listed. 

Our flight back was at 7am and the instructions made it clear to drop the car off at the short stay car park and leave keys in the drop box located in the terminal. We did this after checking the car again but again no new damage. 

A few days later received an email stating there was damage. Pictures showed a small dent in the passenger side rear door less than 3mm and they wanted £861 which they deemed fair!

I have asked over several weeks for a picture showing the timestamp of when the photo was taken. A total of 9 emails over 3 weeks. I have never received a response or the images with the timestamp I requested. I was then sent a final payment due notice and if it isn’t paid by tomorrow it will go to a debt collection agency which will attract more costs. 

My feeling is the damage was done between the drop off and a few days later when I received the email. The terms state that cars dropped off outside of business hours are still under my responsibility for 4 hours after the time the office opens. In this case it opened at 9am. So in theory my responsibility until 13:00

surely they should have to provide evidence of when the photo was taken? I had to drop the car off when there was no one working so it’s there word vs mine. 

Should I pay and continue to chase? £861 is a lot of money for a small debt and I don’t want further charges if it goes to a debt collection agency. 

Appreciate any help you have. 

adrstuart

Just to add. There is no ability to call the damage team despite there being a number on their website. You can only contact them via email. 

Le_Kirk

This site specialises in private car parks and PCNs received from PPCs.  You might have some luck if you post on the main Motoring board: -
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/motoring

DullGreyGuy

adrstuart said:

We hired a car from Sixt out of Inverness airport. The car had pre existing damage. Checked the car at pickup and there was no other damage other than what was listed. 

Our flight back was at 7am and the instructions made it clear to drop the car off at the short stay car park and leave keys in the drop box located in the terminal. We did this after checking the car again but again no new damage. 

A few days later received an email stating there was damage. Pictures showed a small dent in the passenger side rear door less than 3mm and they wanted £861 which they deemed fair!

I have asked over several weeks for a picture showing the timestamp of when the photo was taken. A total of 9 emails over 3 weeks. I have never received a response or the images with the timestamp I requested. I was then sent a final payment due notice and if it isn’t paid by tomorrow it will go to a debt collection agency which will attract more costs. 

My feeling is the damage was done between the drop off and a few days later when I received the email. The terms state that cars dropped off outside of business hours are still under my responsibility for 4 hours after the time the office opens. In this case it opened at 9am. So in theory my responsibility until 13:00

surely they should have to provide evidence of when the photo was taken? I had to drop the car off when there was no one working so it’s there word vs mine. 

Should I pay and continue to chase? £861 is a lot of money for a small debt and I don’t want further charges if it goes to a debt collection agency. 

Appreciate any help you have. 

It's standard practice that you are liable for the damage until the handover report is done which includes time it's sat in the car park if you use an out of hours drop off. 4 hours after office opening seems a reasonable way of dealing with this. 

What "evidence" do you want of when the photo was taken? Anyone with Photoshop can add a timestamp to a photo to say whatever time/date they fancy. Have you checked if the image provided has any exif data to see when it was taken? Depending on how they generated the communication sent to you the exif data could have been removed in the process. Like date stamps though it's all just data and exif can be altered. 

£861 for repairing a dent and loss of hire whilst its being repaired isn't too bad at all. Have written off cars for £1,000 for having a small dent or scuff.