Bad Experience with Euoropcar Munich Airport

I guess I’m a bit confused, why do you need an apology when you weren’t charged for the scratch? I do agree whenever you rent a car, you thoroughly check and note everything on the paper they give you in regards to the condition of the car. We have used Europcar in the past without any problems but we also go directly thru them and not a third party.

Edit to add, I still think that it’s best to note any scratches or problems on the paperwork that the agent acknowledges by signing off on.

So what that it's on another forum. He asked a question and also gave a good warning. Most importantly for the OP, he had insurance that covered the so-called damage that he has photographic evidence that he didn't cause. That's a good lesson for others to know.
So what's the problem with a post on two forums.

In Sep this year we rented a car directly from Hertz near Munich's main train station (not the airport, but maybe relevant). I had noticed that many of the rental companies around the station had negative reviews similar to what the OP reported. The Hertz representative advised us to take photos of any scratch that was not on the contract. So I took many photos of many scratches.

When I returned the car (near Munich's main train station), the return agent was from a 3rd party company that accepts car returns for ALL the rental companies. The representative immediately pointed out a small scratch on the car; I immediately showed him the photo I had taken of that scratch (and he could see that I had taken many other photos). He stopped examining the car, said "We're good", and we were not charged for any scratches.

I am just glad the return office was open so we didn't have to do a drop-off.

We have rented many cars in Europe over the years, including during this same trip (in Czechia from Budget), but Munich was our first time encountering this issue.

It's sadly pretty well known that this can be a revenue source for car rental companies. If you can charge every returning customer a few bucks here and there, it really adds up over a year. And helps subsidize the unrealistically low rate they have to quote online to get the business in the first place.

Too bad, it can be freeing to have a rental car in Europe (as well as a burden).

And yes, it doesn't matter where else it was posted. This isn't spam.

My experience has been as a renter, if you follow the advice from Margie above, you will be fine in the majority of the cases. I don't think its unreasonable for the rental car companies, who let us borrow their expensive vehicle, to verify the condition upon return and seek legit compensation. The tough part of course is the objective comparison against before and after condition. This mutual need to document the vehicles condition has been around for as long as I can remember. I do think its true that where the rental car companies are using more technology to detect damage there could be more frequency of "hits" and yes, mistakes made. Thus, the diligence of your own photos/video. Unleash your Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I rented recently and was doing the before walk around. The agent had documented what she observed. I then walked around and noticed a curb scrape on one of the aluminum wheels. Easy to miss so make sure you document those wheels and tires and the interior! In the OPs case, your little world, but I would move on. You have the documentation if needed(good for you) but you aren't being charged, no harm no foul.

We all know that this is an issue with rental car companies, but when it is impossible to contact the agency to get the problem fixed, that makes the company look very intentionally fraudulent. I guess the entire concept of customer service is something known only to boomers.

whenever you rent a car, you thoroughly check and note everything on the paper they give you

Noting that it has been many years since for a US domestic rental that I was provided with any

1. Written documentation of existing damage
2. Had a formal way to declare damage at time of rental than the flippant “just take a picture of it” comment

I realize that rentals in the US are typically more generous with “wear and tear” damage than European agencies.

To wrap up a vein of the conversation and hopefully keep this thread a bit more on topic, it can be a problem to post duplicate content across multiple websites. I've removed the post pointing it out only because I prefer that to be privately brought to the Webmaster's attention.

We typically remove duplicate posts for several reasons. One is it can be indicative of spam or an ulterior motive or agenda. We don't believe that is the case here and this thread was kept because we felt this was helpful information as others have noted. However, the duplication is still a problem. Having duplicate content on a website demerits where a web page ranks in Google (because it can't tell which one is the original legitimate source). This one page is not the real problem, though. While it's very complicated to explain, the knock-on is that can affect rankings for the rest of the website. This one post won't do it, but generally allowing duplicates would cumulatively cause a problem. "I do that all the time with hotel and restaurant reviews." Fwiw, it's a little bit different if a duplicated review is lower on a page. The format is different on "review" websites where a page is curated about a business to encourage reviews. It's more of a thing for us in this forum because the duplication is happening at the onset of the page where the topic and title is established, defining the web page. It's complicated. :)

It's not something you all need to worry about it, but you can be aware that it's a thing. Sending us a report when you note a duplicate will privately allow us to review and make the right decision for our forum and website.

Please make any replies after this post about the intended topic of this thread. Thank you.