Rental Car Damaged Prior to Pickup

[Franky]

That could probably be called 'dodging a bullet'.

 

[Awesom Andy]

Anyway, I rock up to the office the next day, a lady comes out to do a damage report and asks what happened. I said I haven't any idea because it wasn't me and I didn't check the car prior. She just shrugged and said "fair enough". Paperwork done and off I go. Never heard another word.

Meanwhile, the guy who hired the car before you had a nasty surprise when he checked his next bill...

 

[asg29e]

Still think the $5/day I pay for excess reduction to zero (up to $9K in excess) seems well worthwhile for peace of mind and elimination of hassle.... don't know why people just don't do that and be done with it.

Because people hate being scammed. $5/day equates to $1825/year. For what? About $3000 of excess reduction. I can insure a $50k car for about a third of that. Excess reduction is just a money making exercise for these guys.

 

[kpc]

I went to pick up a rental from Dunedin airport a few years ago (probably AVIS, I can't remember) and the "office" was unmanned, I say "office" because it was a portable shed.. anyway there was a sign on the desk that said call this number if office is unattended. So I call and the bloke on the other end says "open the drawer in the desk and choose any car you want". So I go around behind the desk, open the drawer and take the keys to a Toyota Corolla. I tell him the rego of the car, give him my Victorian Drivers Licence number and ask him about paperwork. He tells me to drop in to the Dunedin central office in the morning and sort it out.
Kind of half smirking at the ridiculousness of it and shocked at the lack of process.. I drive off to the hotel and in to the carpark whereby I back in to a luggage trolley left against the dimly lit wall...cracked a reflector and scratched the bumper.

Anyway, I rock up to the office the next day, a lady comes out to do a damage report and asks what happened. I said I haven't any idea because it wasn't me and I didn't check the car prior. She just shrugged and said "fair enough". Paperwork done and off I go. Never heard another word.

...and you have no guilt / shame in retelling this story ?!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Hertz Audi had GPS that wasn't up to date with the new roads (whilst I was on the highway close to T1, it had me heading off road )

QF WP in his hire car...it's an Audi, isn't it??

 

[Guvner]

...and you have no guilt / shame in retelling this story ?!

Well, that's an interesting question. If you read any car insurance policies/guides the first thing they say is don't admit guilt. Let the insurance companies work it out. But I'll be sure to keep this thread in mind when next I seek moral guidance.


Meanwhile maybe you should read this in between prayer sessions: what to do after an accident - RACV

 

[kpc]

Well, that's an interesting question. If you read any car insurance policies/guides the first thing they say is don't admit guilt. Let the insurance companies work it out. But I'll be sure to keep this thread in mind when next I seek moral guidance.


Meanwhile maybe you should read this in between prayer sessions: what to do after an accident - RACV

Right, so obviously your conscious is clear......:shock:

 

[RAM]

Some of you have had terrible experiences...or are really cough drivers.
The rentals that I have picked up and returned to Schiphol (Hertz and Sixt) have gone without a hitch. Haven't rented much in Australia to pass an informed comment.

Most (not all though) of the hire car companies have been purchased by private equity/vultures post 2005.

One pick-up just outside the congestion charge zone in London was in an underground car park with no day light what so ever.

Admittedly it was late Dec and day light was not strong.

HOWEVER only 1 in four of the overhead fluorescent strip light panels had a light in them. Where my car was parked (end of the car park directly next to the end wall on one side and a column on the other - the three nearest light panels were all empty. So I walked back up the two floors to the office and asked for one of the staff to move the car out into the light before I conducted my inspection.

"Too busy" and several other similar remarks before they succumbed and moved it.

Found:

• Two wheel covers badly gouged and otherwise damaged
• Drivers side rear door had two dents and rear wheel arch was also scraped.
• Boot also dented as was bumper - looked like they had backed into a higher vehicle or tow bar

as well as a number of other examples of damage.

You guessed it - the 'existing damage' sheet they had prepared was blank.

The missing lights in the ceiling was not the first time this had happened to me in the UK with an underground pick-up in London - just no so blatant as this time.

For the photos - I always take at least 2 of each side and if lighting not the best a 3rd directly looking at the side (the other two are from either end so hopefully the lighting will show up and dents).

Also the roof of the car, top of boot and bonnet as well as back of the front seats.

Hit rate for 'disputes' in the UK over the last 12 years 7 out of 12 or so. Once at LHR (returning the car) they tried the delaying tactics to get me to give-in. They buckled when I mentioned that the first thing I would be doing was contacting the company secretary of the private equity company (name escapes me now but had read about it & him before I went on holidays) and wrote down both their names VERY obviously.

They had been seeking GBP 2,000 for the damage I had caused. Argued photos could be more recent and that they had no record of the marked-up damages duplicate that I'd got signed by the staff when I picked it up there a few days earlier.

So I can completely understand the catching out of two hire car operators in Australia.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Right, so obviously your conscious is clear......:shock:

Guvner does have a point. Insurance companies do say "never admit guilt", or your insurance may be void. I'm not sure where the line is drawn between admitting guilt and fibbing though! Personally, I have few religious beliefs (other than actually agreeing with the 10 commandments), but I do find myself inexplicably, and even reluctantly, believing in karma........maybe because I've been severely bitten by it several times !

 

[Guvner]

Right, so obviously your conscious is clear......:shock:

Maybe you are missing the point. If the correct process was followed by AVIS from start to finish there would have been an insurance claim and, contrary to what the other poster deduces somehow, the previous damage report would have cleared the previous driver and no nasty surprises would have ensued.

The relevant point is that I didn't hear anything from them ever again. If I had then a claim would have been lodged and my insurance would have paid out.. I didn't admit guilt as that is what you are told not to do. Conscience/morals whatever you are banging on about is not the issue nor the point.

I was trying to relay a story where the shoe was on the other foot for once.

If you read pretty much every post here, the issue is the damage report process, as it was in my case.

 

[straitman]

Enough of the personal sniping gentlemen and back to the topic.

The AFF posting guidelines are clear. Please reread them if necessary.

 

[JohnK]

Anyway, I rock up to the office the next day, a lady comes out to do a damage report and asks what happened. I said I haven't any idea because it wasn't me and I didn't check the car prior. She just shrugged and said "fair enough". Paperwork done and off I go. Never heard another word.

Meanwhile, the guy who hired the car before you had a nasty surprise when he checked his next bill...

Or if that trick does not work try it on the next unsuspecting client?

 

[marki]

Enough of the personal sniping gentlemen and back to the topic.

The AFF posting guidelines are clear. Please reread them if necessary.

Personal sniping seems to make some people very happy and others suffer. Yep don't like sniping whatever form it comes in

 

[marki]

Or if that trick does not work try it on the next unsuspecting client?

Blast it's probably happened to me with small scratches that never need repair but have been charged 600 AUD, conversely have had huge wheel damage but it looked old and was never charged, go figure.

 

[JohnK]

Blast it's probably happened to me with small scratches that never need repair but have been charged 600 AUD, conversely have had huge wheel damage but it looked old and was never charged, go figure.

What I don't understand is when I pick up a car from Hertz/Avis and the condition report has more than 4-5 entries. I have seen some condition reports with more than 12 entries on one condition report. I don't have the patience to search fir and acknowledge each one. Surely at 4-5 entries it is time to get the damage fixed/patched?

 

[opusman]

What I don't understand is when I pick up a car from Hertz/Avis and the condition report has more than 4-5 entries. I have seen some condition reports with more than 12 entries on one condition report. I don't have the patience to search fir and acknowledge each one. Surely at 4-5 entries it is time to get the damage fixed/patched?

I don't think the big rental companies ever bother to fix anything. They don't keep the cars long enough to make it worth the effort / cost.

 

[prozac]

I don't think the big rental companies ever bother to fix anything. They don't keep the cars long enough to make it worth the effort / cost.

In Europe Hertz have a disposal date of 6 months.

 

[tuapekastar]

Only a once-a-year type renter, but have been doing it a long time - must have been very lucky - have rented from all the majors (and a few minors) and only a couple of problems. First came from AVIS NZ at AKL when I was picking a car up after a late night arrival from MEL. The rental agreement they gave me to sign was for a fairly trivial amount more than my quote (say $233 versus $219, something like that). I had a printed copy of the quote and as soon as I proffered it, they tapped a few keys, said 'sorry, system error' and charged me the correct amount. The one that did me a little damage was upselling at LAX (Thrifty IIRC, booked via Netflights). The guy was obviously an expert at it, and I'm afraid the netflights print-out was a little sparse on detail (which was all there on the screen during the booking process). He had an answer for everything and while I was pretty sure I was all covered, when one does not have it in writing, one suddenly becomes uncertain in the face of the barrage of this and that from the rental person. I had my elderly mum with me so I eventually relented and paid the extras for insurance I thought I probably had. Had it just been me I would have stood my ground (at least for longer).

In a first for me, Thrifty UK actually debited (i.e. took the money) my CC for the 'deposit' earlier this year, then refunded it post-rental. I'm used to the 'holds' they put on CCs but never experienced that before - and lost a couple of bucks upon reversal/refund.

I have 'returned' a damaged rental car before. It was a little difficult to hide the damage.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Just a quick run through a car wash with a polish and it would've come back as good as new!

What happened? Crash and burn? Theft, crash and burn? Injuries?

As a once a yearer, you've had a few problems there. I'm almost a once a weeker, and have only managed about the same number of "gotchas". Two genuine damages (only one my fault....and even then I blame the roo because it didn't heed the "look before you leap" advice), two fuel grabs, 1 late return bullsh*t and one unexplained price rise attempt (unsuccessful).

 

[tuapekastar]

Just a quick run through a car wash with a polish and it would've come back as good as new!

What happened? Crash and burn? Theft, crash and burn? Injuries?

As a once a yearer, you've had a few problems there. I'm almost a once a weeker, and have only managed about the same number of "gotchas". Two genuine damages (only one my fault....and even then I blame the roo because it didn't heed the "look before you leap" advice), two fuel grabs, 1 late return bullsh*t and one unexplained price rise attempt (unsuccessful).

Crash and burn. Partial offset head-on about 30km South of Mandurah WA on the coast road (mid-1980s). We were doing ~110km/h+, I guess the others about the same. They came around a sweeping bend on the wrong side of the road and because of a big drop-off on our left there was nowhere to go. I wasn't driving but it was unavoidable even if you were Niki Lauda. A very long night for us, way too long and OT a story for here (other car driven by wanted crims, cops wanting us to play dead, dope offered to us in the yard of Mandurah police station...etc.) but I'll just leave the bit about when we dropped into Perth Hertz (yes, it was them ) office to tell them.

My mate Barry (the driver) to young lady in Hertz office: "I'm afraid we've had a bit of an accident in the hire car".
Hertz Lady (quite bubbly): "Oh that's OK, you have insurance"
Barry (deadpan): "It's probably a bit worse than you think"
Hertz Lady (after a little contemplation): "No, the insurance should cover it"
Barry: "You can pick up the burnt out shell at Mandurah police station"
Hertz Lady: Nothing but a jaw dropped to the floor. Went out the back and got the manager, his jaw was already on the floor when he came out.

To their credit, after a phone call to Mandurah to confirm our story (and that we were in no way at fault) they gave us another car (a bit older though )

And that was the car I got pulled over in for speeding on the way to Kalgoorlie - I had to explain to the cop that I did not have my licence because it got burned (along with wallet and camera) in the previous hire car...another story again!

Oh, and we were basically OK, I was pretty sore from seat belt bruises and Barry was washing glass out of his hair for a week or so. As for the other guys (two of them), much more serious (their car rolled several times and they weren't wearing seat belts), and no sympathy whatsoever from me. No idea how they ended up.

)