Car rental damage alert

Yes and always take photos of your vehicle upon return to show no damage.

Yes and always take photos of your vehicle upon return to show no
damage.

I've gotten in the habit of taking photos of the car before I drive away as well to show any existing damage or that there is no damage.

Yes and always take photos of your vehicle upon return to show no
damage.
I've gotten in the habit of taking photos of the car before I drive away as well to show any existing damage or that there is no damage.

I also try to get an employee to stand next to the car when I pick it up.

I get unlimited mileage, but you might want to just double check the odometer and the paperwork just for fun. When we returned our car at FCO, there was a heated discussion in Italian between the attendant who checked it in and the lady behind the counter. It turns out he misread the odometer and said we drove 45,000 kilometers in a week!

I always take a series of photos when I pick up a car, and a series of photos when I drop off to prove there was no damage. Digital photos are a wonderful thing.

My personal stupidest thing was dropping off a car I had damaged. I didn't take photos thinking I wouldn't be trying to prove I hadn't damaged the car. The insurance company wanted photos. Fortunately, they accepted a generic photo of the car with my notes of what damage I observed. I'm guessing it matched fairly closely what the rental company claimed?

Some travelers are reporting that upon picking up their car rental they use the key fob, but on return of the car they are charged fees for damage / repair to the door lock.

That's a new one for me. I suspect the rental agencies just fabricated it. For example, I've been driving, and owning cars, for for almost 50 years, and I've never damaged the lock on one of my cars. What are the chances that rental car drivers have damaged the car locks in the course of a week or so of driving?