Always Document Hire Car Damage to Avoid Scams - A Warning from Our Recent Experience

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praising_god_4ever

New member
I’m sure folk are aware and this has been talked about before but I can’t stress enough how important it is to take photos and video of hire cars - especially if you go on holiday.
Buckle up kiddies - it’s a long one
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So we went to Sicily in May for a week and we had car hire - collected at the airport. They tried to get us to upgrade which is standard we have found
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but we said no. They told us where to collect the car from in the car park and dear God, was it a mess ! Now usually someone comes over with you and you go over it together, but on this occasion they didn’t. They just gave us a load of paperwork all in Italian with diagrams of the car and all it’s alleged existing damage ( hardly any was recorded and we weren’t allowed to write anything on it either
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We have never in all our years had a car with so much damage on it. Dents, scratches, scrapes and the upholstery inside looked like it had never been cleaned in its life. We know we should’ve said something, but it had been such a nightmare up to this point getting there ( flight cancelled day before due to fly ) we just couldn’t be bothered and in true British style, we just swallowed it. Luckily, my partner took lots of photos of the outside and a video before we drove it away. Long story short when we returned the car one week later the rep guy went all round the car and proceeded to tell us about all the damage we had caused to it ! Funny how he’d not come out when we collected
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My partner wasn’t having it , and he showed him the photographs proving that the damage was already there. Very reluctantly, he agreed to the damage already being there and confirmed there would be no costs incurred. Fast forward to last week and my partner gets a letter from the company saying that he needs to pay €268 for the damage.. luckily he could send them all the photos and the video showing them the pre-existing damage that was there when we picked the car up.
I wonder how many people have been caught out by this . It’s disgusting.. honestly, this car should never have been rented out and I’m convinced they knew full well about the damage and they were trying to get us to pay to get it repaired. Maybe even they rent it out many times like this to others and do the same thing - total scam. So please, please no matter how tired and stressed you may be when you pick up a hire car ALWAYS take photos all round and keep them for future reference. This was from Europcar for reference.
 
Yep it's how they make profit. They have tried to screw me over with this twice. Firstly in Australia and then somewhere in Europe. I always take pics and videos. Even then Im Australia they claimed I dented the roof!! Which I hadn't photod but definitely wasn't like that when I returned it as it was so obvious I would have seen it. So it's worth photoing on your return too!
 
My parents had a similar bill when they went to America for "excess sand" on the car mats....my dad is practically OCD about keeping sand out the car and will make you stamp your feet up n down the car park till nothing falls off and then still wipe your feet in the grass and even then sometimes take your shoes off to put in the boot. Well after leaving a shite review for other issues with the vehicle including the service light coming on on the first day driving it all charges were dropped and an apology sent.
 
Also to check round it before you drive off and take photos.
Twice, once in Italy given paperwork about to leave and a massive scratch down petrol cap area, not listed on paperwork. It was by time left, took photos and of all scratches.
Second one nearly missed as boot open to load car. Light was chipped again called them back and made aware put on paperwork, told person parking it must of done. Picture of all marks on car taken.
My partner who doesn’t check now can see why I do!!!
 
We had a car roll down the hill into us at midnight whilst parked. Luckily I left my phone in the car so went back to find the damage. Took pictures.
By next morning they had gone with no note. Luckily the insurance we took out covered it and the car hire company knew us.
They got us to email pictures in with the number plate and sorted it out
 
I know of someone this happened to in Italy also, it's apparently a well known racquet and they play on people who have young kids, stressed out their eyeballs and usually have a time constraint to get a flight so they pay the penalties.
Awful to hear, it would put me off hiring a vehicle in a foreign country
 
We didn't have this about damage in America, but we returned it with a full tank of diesel as that's what we'd signed to say we'd do. On return, they sent us a bill as we hadn't filled up. Luckily we had taken photos of the car before and after and also of a full tank on the dashboard. I think they all try it on sadly
 
We learned this exact lesson the hard way last year in Lisbon. €1000 fine 😱😪 Didn't take photos before because we were knackered with 2 kids and it's was late at night. We were prime targets and my husband is even Portuguese and fluent. Awful experience
 
My hubby is a vehicle recovery driver & takes photos before he even touches a car as there are some dodgy folk out there
 
I’m Italian and this is their normal. I look English and they try it on with me all the time until I go full Sicilian dialect and give them attitude before they start. 💯 take photos
 
Happened to me in Ireland at Belfast Intl. I took pictures of the damage then went back into the office and insisted the guy came out so I could show him it. I made him record it on the paperwork and sign it. I then took a pic of the paperwork too. When I got home there was a €650 charge on my card. I sent all the pictures and eventually they refunded me but it took several calls and emails and two weeks. I also threatened to report them to my credit card company for fraud which is when they refunded me 😡
 
Obviously this shouldn't happen but you can take out additional insurance with a company such as reduce my excess which does exactly what it says for a fraction of the cost of reducing it with the car hire company
 
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