Trish

We just got back from our trip to France and Italy and for the first time had damage to our rental car. The damage happened at the end of the trip while it was parked at the Sofitel in Nice. When we returned the car to Hertz the woman noted the dent and scratch on the front fender (about golfball size) but didn't say much. We expected to see an extra charge on the credit card but nothing has appeared other than the regular rental fee. The car was payed for on a platnium Amex and we had extra insurance is that why we weren't charged anything for the damage or do you think we may get a surprise in a few weeks. Just wondering if anyone else has rental damage experience?

susanna

As long as you purchased the full insurance on your rental I wouldn't worry about it. We have always taken all the insurance and never returned a car without dings and scatches, missing mirrors, flat tires, parking it as far away from the rental office as possible when returning it, and have never been charged any extra. Thank goodness for insurance!

ms_go

Did you purchase the insurance from Hertz?

We recently returned a car to Hertz in Nice with some minor body damage - a bit larger than a golf ball, but not by much. We did not purchase the insurance from Hertz. We received a letter in the mail about three weeks later with the "bill" for the damage (and it wasn't pretty).

maureencol

Yes, I believe you will see a surprise on your upcoming statement. I have had damage twice, once while covered by the CDW purchased with the rental, and once when covered by my Mastercard Platinum. I did not have the deductible coverage on either. With the coverage covered by my CC, when they estimated the damage, they charged my credit card. I then had to submit the claim to my CC. They paid $400 of the $700 in damages. Refused to pay the towing and loss of use without proof that they had no other cars available at that time. With the coverage covered by the rental, they told me they would be charging my credit card for any charges up to the deductible amount, which was about $1,000. And funny enough, for a two inch scratch on the front bumper, the cost came to just about $1,000. Said they had to replace the whole bumper. Good Luck!

ira

Hi T,

Did the agent mark on your invoice that there was damage to the car before you signed off and left?

If not, all damage occurred after you returned the car.

carylspall

Someone unkindly gave us a big dent and scratch when we were parked in a car park in France and when we returned the car to Eurocar they held our deposit, but this was returned a few weeks later.
We always use Holiday Autos now and pay for all the extras just in case. Better safe than sorry!
Wonder how many people hire a car and return it without one extra scratch!

ira

>Wonder how many people hire a car and return it without one extra scratch!<

Here's one.

Trish

Our insurance was not through Hertz just the CC plus an extra car rental thing Amex was running this summer that cost a few bucks a day. The agent did not mark off the new dent on the invoice that we signed off on but she did comment on the fact the dent wasn't marked off on the original rental agreement. The regular rental fee has shown up on our CC plus we recieved a receipt from Hertz in the mail, so I guess we'll hold our breath for another few weeks.

carylspall

Ira! You ARE perfect!

hopingtotravel

If they don't point out the damage to you when you turn in the car, are you off the hook? That's something I've often wondered.

GBC

Hi Trish,
I think you are in the clear.

We've rented from Hertz,(France,Ireland, UK) and from Eurocar (Switzerland, Italy, New Zealand), and along the way we've had a few very minor dings. We've found them to be very forgiving.

Happily for you, you don't have this problem. We've have speeding tickets forwarded twice. We paid up.

Trish

Hopefully we will be in the clear, it was such a surprise when we found the dent because when we left the car to be valet parked at the hotel it was fine and when we got it back it had the dent. Some how in my head if the damage had been our fault it would be better but I guess that's why we have insurance!

ehughes

We returned an Autoeurope car to CDG in June and the Autoeurope person who greeted us immediately went to the back bumper, wiped off dirt and found a scratch, which we definitely didn't do. We had reported other scratches when we picked the car up at CDG but had missed the one under the dirt. After much arguing and major language difficulties, he threw up his hands, said "OK, OK" and had me write the new damage on the original sheet with the first damages we had discovered. I thought that was it but on my next credit card bill was a charge for $363.

I had waived the insurance because we were covered by our VISA credit card but they demand that the incident be reported immediately and as far as we knew, there was no incident due to "OK, OK."

I wrote them recounting the experience at CDG, asked them to look at the paperwork of the person who rented before us, asked them why we were sent out to the car unescorted and it was our responsibility to report the damages, and other questions.

I finally received a terse two sentence letter that basically said, we're right and you're wrong.

Next time we'll take pictures of the entire car at pick up.

ira

Hi hopingtotravel

>If they don't point out the damage to you when you turn in the car, are you off the hook? <

In just the same way that if you don't have a ding marked down when you take the car they can claim that you caused it, if they don't mark it down when you pick up you can claim that they caused it.

This doesn't mean that they won't come after you for some outrageous repair charge, but it does give you a reason to dispute the charge through the CC company.

As EH recommends, photograph the entire car before you take it.

Robespierre

What does photographing the car before you take it accomplish? If push came to shove, the rental agency could claim that you took the pictures after you did the damage. Fuhgeddaboutit.

<b>Write down</b> on the contract the exact size, extent, and location of every defect on the vehicle. Get the agent's <b>signature</b> on it. Anything less leaves you not a leg to stand on.

Christina

well, I'm another one that has never scratched or dinged a rental car. I never do my own car, either, so why would it be different. I've never dented a car in my life, but I'm a good and careful driver and used to driving in big cities and other situations, so maybe that's why. My sister marveled when I drive straight through the middle of Chicago without ever having been there before when we were on a road trip, but I didn't think it was so difficult as I lived in LA at the time.

I always get them to agree there is no damage when I return a car, and sign off. I have had times when that doesn't happen, and no one will go out to the car to agree to that due to being busy or not there, and I just cross my fingers. I think many folks have had them try to collect money on damages after you return it and they don't say anything. After all, a lot of the time they don't even look at it for a while.

I don't think there is any point to taking a photo of the car, either, but if there is damage when you accept it, it should be on the agreement. IF there is damage and for some reason it's not on the agreement, I guess you could take a photo of it next to the person at the station and you pointing to it or something.

I always think it is funny when it is recommended you take photos of items for your home insurance, like that proves anything. If it's some unique heirloom, that makes sense, but how does having a photo of a TV, for example, prove you owned it? One of my insurance agents told me that once about photographing everything I owned and I pointed out to him that I easily could go to a friends or a store to photograph lots of expensive things, and that wouldn't prove I owned them. He said.... gee, I never thought of that.

Gekko

I returned a rental in Nice with a HUGE new scratch, through the paint, but the body panel was already scratched up and I wasn't required to pay.

They questioned the new &quot;scratch,&quot; but I don't speak that much French conveniently.

maureencol

&quot;well, I'm another one that has never scratched or dinged a rental car. I never do my own car, either, so why would it be different. &quot;

Christina, I have rented cars at least once or twice a year in Ireland for over 15 years and never had a scratch. But two years ago, I stayed in a B&amp;B the night before leaving and on dropping off the car, there was a small dent on one side that must have happened in the B&amp;B parking lot. So even if you are the best driver in the world, it doesn't guarantee you will not have any dents or scratches.

kerouac

I have rented hundreds of cars in France over the years (I live in France and have never owned a car in my life.). I have paid the deductible twice -- once to Hertz when I discovered that my side view mirror had been lopped off during the night when parked on the street. I phoned several spare parts places to determine the cost of the side view mirror on a Ford Fiesta, and Hertz quickly refunded about 75% of the amount that had been debited, after I wrote to them with the details.
More recently, I totally scraped the side of my rental car against a motorcycle that was parked with its end sticking into the street. I did not contest for one moment the 450&euro; that Budget charged me for the deductible -- I deserved it.
Many years ago, I worked for Hertz in Paris, and how strange it was! Almost every single accident happened in a parking lot when the renter was not present.

LJ

Twice we have rented cars that had to be returned in slightly-the-worse-for-wear condtion.

Once a hubcap was missing from a nasty collision with a curb and the second time a key was broken off in the lock that closed the gas &quot;thingy&quot; (technical term!)-thank goodness this happened at the gas station on the way back to the airport.

Both times the cars were &quot;insured&quot; by using a card that covers insurance instead of purchasing the extra. One was UK (Hertz) the other was Italy (Eurocar?).

We 'fessed up both times: as I recall, DH made me do the mea culpa. Both times we ascertained at the desk that there would NOT be a problem when the invoice came in. There wasn't.

Were we just lucky? I am shocked by some of these tales of unexpected charges.