# Dealing with Rental Car Damage Charges



## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Had a rental car in Europe this past week and upon returning it the company insisted that I had caused some "scratches" to the Rim/Hubcap of one of the tires. I argued for a while, but gave up as I needed to catch a train to the next city. $350 they are going to charge me for the "repair" (doubtful)

I'm looking for advice on what to do. My three courses of action are:

1) Open a dispute with the rental company and try to get them to refund me.

2) Open an insurance claim through VISA, which I rented the car with.

3) Open a charges dispute with Visa to attempt to get them to do a charge back against this shady rental company.


Facts: 

- I did NOT incur these damages to the car to the best of my knowledge, and was driving, parked in an underground garage or a private driveway, 80% of the time of the rental.
- I signed the vehicle inspection form.
- I did not thoroughly inspect the vehicle tires for minor imperfections, and have no knowledge of their condition before, during or after my rental.
- The charge they are putting against my card is outrageous. 240 Euros. The description of the damage report says. "Aluminum rim - Scratch - 5 to 10cm - superficial"
- I asked if they were going to take the car out of the fleet to repair in now and he gave me some wishy-washy answer. I asked if they were going to pull the same stunt on the next guy who rents the car and charge him 240 Euros when he also doesn't report a superficial scratch on the rim of a tire. He said no (lol, obviously)
- I refused to sign the damage report saying I acknowledge that I incurred the damages.


Anways, I want to do option 3, as I think this company is a bunch of crooks and screwing me hard here. They don't deserve a penny.

I think option 2, insurance claim through Visa, is probably what I "should" do, and will probably be the easiest, least stressful, and best chance to get my money back.

I think option 1 is the "proper" thing to do but will also cause me the most stress, angry phone calls, and may lead to some negotiation where I pay part of it (which I don't want to do) or end up back at option 2 or 3 after all the hassle anyways.


I am slightly heated over this, as I've been wronged and thieved from. What would you level-headed CMFers do in my situation?


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Sorry to hear about your headache.

I vote for option #2. 

The challenge I could see is, the CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) is only one part of the insurance package for rental cars - so I feel you're dammed to take it when you rent to avoid a mess like this - unfortunately folks like yourself get robbed far too often.

The superficial scratch was likely there when you picked up the car...extremely hard to notice everything when you get a rental.


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## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

My Own Advisor said:


> Sorry to hear about your headache.
> 
> I vote for option #2.
> 
> ...


I travel frequently for both business and pleasure and would like to share a thought plus my feedback on whats next. 

In dealing with Visa in the past, they have always been very great to deal with assuming you have a travel card with good insurance coverage. Every claim ive had ive gotten 100% back. 

Secondly... what i always do prior to picking up a rental car is snap photos from each angle as i do a walk around, and in the event there is any discrepancy i can go back in my photos to verify and show them. 

This has saved me several claims as i have shown the rental company the photo in their parking lot and they acknowledged it was already there. 


There is some first class rental agents out there and there is several scam artists and dishonest dealers as well. 


Hope this goes smoothly!


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Yup I definitely should have taken photos ahead of time. Although it's such a small detail I don't even think it would show up in a photo unless I got right near the correct wheel anyways. Now of course I have detailed pictures of the scratches. Would have been nice to see though just so I know for sure that the damage didn't happen on my watch. I'm pretty sure, but can't be 100% sure of course..

So if I go through Visa insurance what do I need to provide? I have copies of the bill for the rental, the bill for the damage, and the damage report. I DON'T have a copy of the inspection waiver I signed...I hope that's not an issue. I just didn't think about getting it and was in a hurry to get out the door! Is there anything I should or shouldn't say to them that might screw up a claim? (regarding whether it wasn't my fault or was, etc)


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## RBull (Jan 20, 2013)

For a short while I operated a rental car franchise in addition to another auto company. Unfortunately this type of thing seems to be somewhat common. 

Ditto on both posts above, and choosing #2. 

I always take the 1 minute to do a thorough walk around. I've also done the same thing with photos where there is existing marking or damage on the body or wheels. However, if a vehicle is dropped off without their inspection (after hours or when busy) you may be vulnerable to damage occurring before the next rental or possibly vulnerable to false charges afterwards, so pics should be in order then too. 

Good luck peterk.


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## MMcLaurent (May 1, 2015)

I would think option 2 is the route to go down. Also, is there some kind of higher authority to which you could report the incident. I would also think about leaving a review of the service, it would help people in the future not choose the rental company.


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## JordoR (Aug 20, 2013)

The same thing happened to a friend of mine in Vancouver and they had rented using their AMEX credit card which had free rental insurance. The company (one of the big ones) claimed that there was a chip or crack in the windshield that needed to be repaired, and fixed the damage without even consulted the renter, and then presented them with the bill. They phoned up Visa and were ready to dispute the charges, but the person on the line at AMEX said it was easier for them just to pay the damage and move on... I'm assuming this is a very common occurence. 

Do you have the same sort of coverage on rental car insurance through your Visa card? If so my suggestion is to not pay it and let Visa handle it. Ultimately it's annoying and you don't want the rental company to get away with stunts like this - but it's a very small write off for CC companies (if you are covered)


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## CPA Candidate (Dec 15, 2013)

Oldest scam in the book, happened last time I rented a car. When you are taking a car they do a 10 second walk around and then when returning it they go into hyper inspection mode. I wonder how many times they've received money for the same "damage".

I opted for #4, going absolutely ballistic on the staff. They dropped the whole thing after they knew I wasn't going away easily.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

On the other side of the coin - we put some scratches on our rental in Italy (Florence) last year. I spoke with Visa before we returned the car to know what to expect and confirm we were covered. When we returned the car, I had to point out the damage as they were so busy he barely looked it over. As a result, damage was estimated at ~$200, we filled out the damage form, I got a signed copy, submitted with copy of rental agreement to Visa and were refunded with no problems. I'd heard that some rental cos will submit a damage claim after you have dropped the car off and left. I didn't want that to happen and face a claim of unknown amount.


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## Numbersman61 (Jan 26, 2015)

If you rent often, it is beneficial to join a rental car loyalty program - some free days and free upgrades. Since I rent a vehicle for over 40 days every year, I've been a member of National's Emerald Club (Executive) loyalty program for over five years. No standing in line and I get full size for mid size price - last trip got a luxury SRX for mid size price. Never had a problem with damage - in Maui, they don't even check for dents and scratches.


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## OurBigFatWallet (Jan 20, 2014)

I find Enterprise to be the most reputable as far as customer service. I've never had a problem with them and I've rented lots. It's too bad some of the other companies seem pretty shady when it comes to "damages" on returning the vehicle


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Agreed, Enterprise is the best. In Australia, I also found Avis was very honest.

This seems obviously a case for the credit card insurance. So just file the claim through the credit card insurance - this is why you have that. Plus I assume the insurer will help keep the rental company in check against frivolous charges.


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## Causalien (Apr 4, 2009)

Can you tell us which franchise did this to you?

I go with Hertz and is a 5 star gold member. The total cost of rental is the same as those discount rental places because of it. Not to mention I never have to dispute claims like these as they do not want to lose a lucrative customer.


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

This was Sixt car rental. Never heard of em until this trip but I guess they're a big company. I usually use Enterprise or National without incident. I am an emerald club member. The charges are finally on the bill so I'll start the process.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

Budget at Vancouver Airport has a terrible reputation for this. There have been a number of articles about them in the media. I used Avis many times for business and pleasure-never had an issue.

Sixt is very large. I believe that they are, or were, owned by the Lufthansa group. We had great rental rates from them in Croatia.


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## Numbersman61 (Jan 26, 2015)

Budget and Avis are now owned by the same group.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

Yes, but it was the Budget franchisee in Vancouver who was apparently ripping off customers with the same damages charges over and over again.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

I just returned a Denali pickup truck to Budget yesterday, in let's say a rugged part of northern Canada where there are massive hydro projects underway. It had been off road all week and they didn't even look at it. I think I've rented from them all and they're all the same imo just the employees due diligence vary a lot.. always document damage when you accept the vehicle even if they don't ask you to.

Just closed a $6k damage claim with my movers insurance after a year of not accepting all their bs stall and pressure tactics. Same type of paperwork and hassle, and I had lots of documentation to back up my claims. If the rim wasn't documented as damaged when you accepted.. I think you are sol. Take away is that rentals should be handed to you clean and it doesn't take that long to do a quick walk around.


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## Jaberwock (Aug 22, 2012)

I heard that the Budget franchisee in Vancouver also owned a body shop, and was issuing fake invoices from the body shop to the rental franchise, and charging customers for fake repairs. That was a couple of years ago, I assume Budget has taken care of the problem by now.

I think the problems are with the individual franchise rather than the parent company. Complain to the parent company, not the franchise.

I had a repair bill last year (genuine), with Avis. I claimed it on the credit card insurance. You need to provide paperwork from the rental company (damage report, invoice etc) and a police report if the damage is more than $1,000. The insurance company sent me a cheque within a couple of weeks - I made a small profit because they calculated the damages in $CDN and sent me the cheque for the same amount in $US.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

I just returned from a week Kona Hawaii and I bought the bumper to bumper damage insurance for the car when I got there to avoid any hassles. It was the only car rental vacation I was going on this year so who needs the headaches. I checked tripadvisor on all the car rental companies there and read a lot of bad comments on all of them so I went with the cheapest and got the insurance. It seems that many were banging their heads in frustration as they complained so it is best to just go in and expect the worst and hope for the best.


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Uhg.

FYI everyone... Apparently the Amazon.ca Visa rewards card does NOT provide car rental insurance. Despite multiple internet sources saying that ALL Visa cards carry CDWI apparently the Amazon.ca card does NOT. I've called Amazon and they said no, and I called Visa and they said no. I'm pretty sure it's because we're Canadian, because after the Visa rep said I had no coverage she insisted that I provide my home State to look into it further, which I couldn't provide.

Such bullshit. Not sure what to do now...


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