Apparently the ONLY people who alter photos are the rental car people, is that it, FoodSnob? I am so glad to know that nobody in the general public ever ever tries to scam any companies.

Rented from Hertz Linate Airport (Milan) May 2014. Car had a minor bumper blemish – maybe ¼” long – that I pointed out and was told by the lot attendant not to worry about it.
Returned the car two weeks later using the key drop (early flight).
Saw the invoice on-line later which indicated additional charges of 148eu damage plus 50eu processing fee on top of the rental charges.
Tried to dispute the additional charges thru Hertz twice – never received a response – so I disputed the 198eu extra charge thru Amex. Amex credited back this amount as they never received a reply from Hertz. The car rental fee was paid in full.
Four months later, I get 3 letters from Hertz collections demanding payment for the rental. I provide evidence multiple times of payment – even had an Amex rep on the phone with the Hertz rep explaining that the rental charge was fully paid.
Hertz had a collection agency contacting me, and threatening to blackball from future rentals. Trust me – that will not be a problem!
Recommendations:
- Take pics of any damages before leaving the lot.
- Document everything.
- Never, ever rent a car from Hertz!

Hertz the worst rental car company in the world, it is rip-off company, be aware
Especially Germany airport site office, they have charged me 500 euro for 1 inch paint scratch in the bumper

Taysee - Sorry you got ripped off. Was the damage noted when you returned the car or did they catch it later? And which airport in Germany? Thanks...

The worst is Auto-Europe.
This company sells an an excess refund product with illegal terms and conditions, forcing customers to commit a crime in order to process a claim. their terms and conditions that i had to ask for after product purchase, are a contradiction of the Road traffic act and are a violation the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations. they are not authorised to sell insurance but advertise their products as if they are an insurance product when they are nothing more than a con
In this market I suggest that all readers look further down internet search results, and save yourself having to file a county court claim.

we returned the car full in Frankfurt and the guy wanted our last receipt or ten euro. My husband drove out and returned with a euro's worth of gas and overfilled to get that. Then he said he didn't need receipt. We take pictures before and he showed the guy because we knew we had ticked him off. This was budget and have never had to do this before. I just thing it is a scam with the guy in the parking garage. I am really loving public transportation more and more.

flpab - apologies if I've posted this before but the only time we've been asked for fuel receipts was in Holland. When we took the car back, the clerk asked for the last receipt, and when I asked why, he said to check that we had put the right sort of fuel in.

As there was a petrol station next door to the office we had filled up there and I had the receipt to hand so it was easy to find; he was adamant that we would have been told that when we collected the car but we certainly weren't.

What I couldn't work out is why they didn't want all the receipts, and how they thought we'd got there if we'd put the wrong sort in.

I didn't get the impression that he was after a bribe though - I didn't understand what the point of it was at all.

Welcome to Fodors Davidpenson. I notice that this was your first & only post.

I've rented 40-60 cars through AutoEurope/Kemwel. My experience is just the opposite of yours. I'm picking up a car from Europecar tomorrow, which I rented through Kemwel/AutoEurope. And another car in Sept.

Stu Dudley

I am a Hertz Gold Member and I have always had good service until i went to Malmo in Sweden. I returned a vehicle without any scratches and when i wanted to do an return inspection the guy behind the counter told me that everything was fine and i was to park the car in the garage with all the others. I found it strange not to do an return inspection but did as he asked. I then received an email from their damage claim department telling me that there was damages to the vehicle and i need to pay SEK5000 which has now aparently increased to SEK8000plus. They even took pictures of the damage and email it to me. The problem was that I did not make any damage or scratches to the vehicle and I had a witness with me who could concur what I was saying. When i formally disputed the claim the email back was that i need to write a statement to Hertz and his colleague next to him will evaluate it and make a decision. There is no way that i can possibly win a dispute which is automatically set to bias in the first place. No matter what i said, they did not care. Now they asked me to fill in a form and sign it which gives them authority to deduct the monies from my credit card. I did not sign but said that I DO NOT CONSENT to Hertz deducting monies without my concent from my credit card. By doing so is considered a criminal offence will encounter criminal procedings. To be honest, i really don't think they care and i am positive that the guy who did the inspection over a hour and a half after i had left, couldn't get into the side of the car and scratched the vehicle himself

I guess you had a damage report when you picked up the car which recorded any existing damage? Otherwise how can you prove the damage was not done by yourself? I know it is a PITA but I try to make sure all damage is correctly recorded on the damage report before I drive off so I don't end up in this situation and have often gone back to the rental desk and got them to add additional info, no matter how small. I'm surprised at this as I rent from Hertz 4/5 times a year in Sweden and found them very good.

I now take photos on my phone of the car and the agent when we rent it. They don't like it but it's your best protection. I keep the photos for a year after the rental just to be safe.

Hertz has not been fair with me in the past, adding surcharges for fuel that was based on their error, and I won't use them again when other reasonably priced choices are available. I have had better experiences with AutoEurope and Avis. Also, I have had bad experience with National in Costa Rica with an unexpected surcharge that more than doubled the price of the rental (without any prior notice or communication). Glad people are sharing their experiences and ideas about this important part of travel planning

THIS IS 3 YEARS OLD revived by an advertiser.

how I wish the ranters knew about paragraphs.

it would be far more entertaining if I could read it.

"THIS IS 3 YEARS OLD revived by an advertiser."

Actually it was revived again by tarynrutter w/ a new rant. The advertiser was deleted.

I have convinced the Mr. we should rent a car for a day when we visit Strasbourg next summer. I didn't read every (old I know) post, but I read enough to be a bit nervous now about the idea.

Can someone with experience detail the 'ins and out's of successful car rentals in Europe?

Thanks in advance.

Successful car rentals in europe are the same as in the US. Before you take the car out you have it examined for any damage and make sure the damage is marked by the agent before you take the car. And when you return insist that they inspect and sign that it is not damaged. Not doing this is just asking for trouble.

We have rented a car in many different places many times and have never had this type of issue - although once we did get a car (rented in Rome) with a driver's wiper that did not work. We got caught in the rain on a local road in Switz and had to pull over and bash the wiper arm back on with a rock in the pouring rain (other tries at repair did not hold) and drive very carefully back to Lucerne. The next am we took the car into the agency and they gave us a new one - with an apology.

Since then we do a preflight check on every car we rent: wipers, locks, flashers, lights, etc - before we leave the lot.

"Can someone with experience detail the 'ins and out's of successful car rentals in Europe?"

I agree with most of the above except for getting someone out to inspect the car when you return it. It just isn't always possible IME as it depends on the rental station.

In my work life, I was involved in a situation that one of our employees experienced that sounds similar to some of these stories - but it was NOT in Europe. He rented a car (for work), with a co-worker, and they returned it. The rental person inspected the car on dropoff, as did they.

Months later, he received a notice that the car had been damaged and he (actually, my employer) owed $3000. The rental form (and I assume they're all quite similar) says that signoff by the car rental employee at the time of dropoff is NOT the final word, as there can be damage that is not obvious at the time. Due do errors on the part of the rental company, by the time our employee got actual notice, the claim had been passed to the rental company's collections agency.

I got involved (part of my job), and requested the rental company's file. The file included photos of the damage, which showed a huge scrape on the side right in front of the left rear wheel. I discussed this with the collections agency, and even that guy could not dispute the fact that ANY person would have seen the huge scrape if it had been there at the time the car was dropped off. We settled for less than 1/2 the claimed amount.

So as in any business transaction, be careful, protect yourself, take pictures of the car when you pick it up and afterwards.

'as there can be damage that is not obvious at the time'

that corresponds to the idea of 'vice caché' in french law.
As you say a big scrape is obviously not in this category. How come you then settled for 50% ?