Hertz Europe (Mallorca) Damage Fine

longtale_Parker

Good afternoon,
I'm looking for some help or guidance on a claim I've received from Hertz for a hire car I had from them.
Contrary to the apparent hire co guidelines, though sadly common, I signed all the paperwork for a hire car and then wandered off around an open car park and a multi-story car park, at Palma airport, to find my car.

Eventually, I found the car, in the tightest and dingiest of spaces with too little space to inspect the car and such poor light that it would be hard to see anything anyway. Added to this, it was close to the main exit ramp, so taking time to walk around and inspect was impossible.

When I eventually got to my hotel, and connected to the Wifi, I saw an email which had a pre-hire damage report, which showed a scuffed mirror, a scratch at the front of the car and a couple of pictures of cables and safety kits etc. Importantly the pictures did not show any undamaged areas of the car - so there is no record of the state of the wheels or other panels to confirm they are not damaged.

After seeing the email, and noting what was considered "damage", I had a look at the car and noted the black gloss wheels had a few "nicks" on them, but assumed these were considered not to be worthy of reporting as damage (because they hadn't been photographed).

When I returned the car, however, these were considered to be reportable and I have since been sent an invoice for around £300. I am disputing the claim and have registered a complaint with ECRCS but would appreciate any guidance available for when they reply.

Thanks

oldernonethewiser

Unfortunately if these "nicks" were not reported at the time of the hire, Hertz will say they were caused by you.

How will you be able to dispute this?

longtale_Parker

Thanks,

I guess the short answer is there is no way to dispute it, but that is true for any car hire from the second you sign the paperwork - even if that is 20-30 mins before you even see the car - and that is my concern here.

I guess my dispute will be less about when the damage was caused (and who by) and is focusing on the lack of fairness in the before/ after inspection processes and the fact that not having a photo of pre-existing damage doesn't mean the damage didn't already exist.

Generally:

• The paperwork is signed in the office and you then go off and find the car - so you are committed to the state of the car at that point, before you are able to confirm (so if you can manage to walk round filming all areas of the car, the hire co can still claim you're responsible)
• The car will be collected from a multi-story car park (accepting some may be outside) which is likely to be cramped and dark
• You return the car to something much more open, making the car more accessible for a thorough inspection

Specifically, in my case:

• The pre-inspection photos were not taken at handover (they could have been taken days or weeks before)
• The pre-inspection photos were taken in a different location (so someone drove the car after taking them)
• There are no photos of the whole of the car (just a couple of areas of other pre-existing damage)
• There was no explanation of what constituted "damage", specifically in relation to scratched wheels, e.g. from clipping a kerb or similar
• When I collected the car, it was in a very tight space in a multi-story car park, and was close to the exit, so stopping to carry out an immediate inspection was difficult/ impossible without causing disruption for others