Beware the Bandits at the Car Rental Agencies

James, perhaps you need to change rental agencies. You did your due diligence, and warned orhers to do the same, but I have had staff at Caen (Enterprise) and Strasbourg (Europcar) insist on walking around the car with me before handing over the keys.

Only time I had a problem was in New Orleans when the staff checking the car IN noticed damage and failed to notice the same damage had been specified when I picked it up.

This also happened to me in my home town so it's not just Europe, of course.

We have hired cars over 50 times in Europe and have never had any issues. Most companies carry out checks with you before you leave their depot and issues are noted. We also take photos before we get in the car.

You must have been unlucky.

Wow, you rarely post, but most of your posts are negative. You also have used two provocative titles.

I travel extensively for work and when I pick up my rental car, I always do an inspection. If there is more than wear and tear, I also do a quick walkaround video on my iPhone. Still I have never had a problem. I always rent from Hertz.

I'm not sure why you bother to travel since you seem to concentrate on the negative.

The reason they give you the damages sheet is so that you can inspect the car and notate all the damages. Most of the time the sheet is blank so you can fill it out. I'm not sure why this is such a big deal. This is the way it works. I've done this more times than I can count.

Donna

Methinks you need to avoid driving in Italy, if this and your previous threads are anything to go by.

Donna,

Just curious if the renter is supposed to fill out the damage report themselves or have the employee of the rental company do it? I was under the impression the employee has to walk with you and note the damage, and I might be wrong but your reply seems to imply that we have to do it ourselves. I'll be collecting a car in a week and a half so it would be useful for me to know.

It depends on the agency. I've done it both ways. I've done it myself then had the agent sign off on it and I've gone around the car with the agent making notations. Either way, all you have to do is let the agent know if you see something wrong with the car, they will notate it so you don't have to worry about it. When they hand you the form it may already have some notations on it. Either way, be sure to inspect the car and notate everything you see, inside and out. Be sure to check the tires and the windscreen as well.

Donna

Thank you, Donna. I shall keep those tips in mind.

Renters should ALWAYS inspect the car and note any damage that in more than a nick or dent larger than about a dime or so (damage policies differ on what size dent/scratch counts as damage). Never take the agency's word for it. And now with camera phones ubiquitous, I always take photos or a quick video walking around. This applies to any rental anywhere.

There are reports of damage scams occasionally, but I suspect most agencies are just too busy or distracted to do thorough checks.

What Donna said about the tires and wheels.

When we got our cute little car at Schipol a few years back, we thoroughly checked and marked every little blemish and took pictures. Dolts that we were, we did not do that with the tires and rims.

When we returned it, the agent noticed a scratch on one of the rims. We didn't know if it was that way when we picked it up or not.

The over zealous agent told us we would have to pay to replace the tire and wheel to the tune of, wait for it, €700+. My husband was livid. He knows a bit about cars and told the young (not a day over 25) man that he knew that it wasn't worth that much money.

He also told him that if he was going to pay that much, he wanted both the tire and wheel as a souvenir of the trip to ship home. The guy was dumbstruck and definitely didn't know how to handle this situation.

In the meantime, I called our credit card provider, told them what was happening and asked for advice. They said not to pay or sign anything. The agent's response to that was something along the lines of "we have your credit card information and we can charge you anyway." I don't think he realized that they already had the heads up on the situation and wouldn't accept the charge.

I took pictures of the damage and we left. By the time we checked into our apartment in Amsterdam, I already had an online form to fill out with all the details and including the way to attach the pictures. We did that and enjoyed our trip's last week.

A few weeks after we returned to Tucson, we got the actual bill and paid it online with that credit card. Nothing was ever charged to it like the agent threatened. The repair cost was about €100.

I don't think the young man was a bandit. I do think he was ignorant. I also think we were negligent in not taking pictures of the tires upfront. Lessons hard learned are not soon forgotten.

That is why it is a good policy to be fully insured when you rent a car, especially overseas where your home country insurance may not cover you.
Regarding the shady practices of rental companies I wish I could say they are limited to Europe. I’ve had unpleasant experiences in the US more often than I had in Italy.

You might want to review the OP's other postings and then decide how much creditbility to give to this posting. However , the points about checking are very valid.

We just rented a car in Sicily for three weeks from Europcar and had no problems at all!!

I think an honest industry would have solved this problem long ago with technology and good management. Systems already exist for total imaging of the car and they are advertised in the car rental industry trade mags. The fact that they haven't done so shows they profit from these petty frauds.

Mike, how is it petty fraud to charge someone to repair damage they have done? If I loaned you my car and you damaged it I would expect you to pay to fix it.

If people do their due diligence and thoroughly check the car both at the beginning and end of the rental they should have no issues. Getting zero deductible insurance is another thing that can be done to avoid any issues.

Donna

Donna, please refer to the previous posts by travelers who were unfairly treated.

"You might want to review the OP's other postings and then decide how much creditbility to give to this posting."

I'm waiting on tenterhooks for his next post. Hopefully about the UK, where they drive on the wrong side of the road and talk in a funny language.

Mike, if you read the posts from people claiming to have been ripped off by the rental companies you'll find the majority of them are not correct. Most of the claims of "scams" or "rip offs" are due mainly to the renters not reading the terms and conditions or not checking the car when they get it or when they return it. I've seen hundreds of posts where the OP writes about a rip off only to find they didn't check the car at the beginning of the rental then want to claim damage was already there. How can anyone possibly claim previous damage if they didn't check the car?

Yes, there are some rental companies that look for the smallest of damages and will try to charge for those but the majority of rental companies, especially the good ones, don't do that. They will charge you for damage not notated at the beginning of the rental because as far as they know the renter is the one responsible for that. I don't see that as being unfair or a rip off.

I suggest people avoid companies such as Locauto, Goldcar, Maggiore and Firefly.

donna

I am sorry to see Maggiore on Donna’s list of companies to avoid. We rented from Maggiore in Catania for a tour of Sicily one year and were well satisfied with the car and the service. Not a hint of scammishness or fraud.

The Damage Report sheet should be clean when you are first renting the car. It is for you, with or without one of the rental car employees, to walk around the car with and note any damage you see. You then sign it and one copy goes to the company before you leave. A second copy is given to them at return time so they can confirm no additional damage was done. Has been that way for decades world round.

What bothers me is when you are given a car with obvious damage on it and they don't give you the damage form to fill in and tell you not to worry because that type of damage has already been put in the permanent record or it is too minor to count. Those are the scummy ones to watch out for.

I have never rented a car in Europe. Never really had any reason to. Probably never will.

Never, ever rely on the rental company having damages "already recorded in the record log". Take the sheet and fill it out. If it already has damage notated that's fine, add any other damage you may find. Taking photos is also a good idea especially at the end of the rental to show no new damages.

Donna