noticed rental car damage after leaving the lot-- what to do?

[couloirman]

Rented from Alamo 2 days ago. Got it at night, was in a big hurry, only did a quick walk around and didn't see anything obvious so took the car. While driving down the highway I notice the side mirror is cracked so I call them and they say no problem we will add this to the contract you won't be responsible for it. Now I walk behind the car today and notice the rear tail light is cracked and missing a small piece of plastic.

Ever happen to anyone? Am I just screwed here? Kind of debating if they missed it once maybe they will miss it again and just not say anything, versus calling and explaining my dilemma and complaining that since the mirror was already cracked clearly some bad driver before me must have done this as well and asking for a manager. I definitely did not crack this tail light myself. I totally realize it is my fault for not doing a good enough walk around, I definitely learned my lesson there, but wondering if there is any way to not get screwed here.

Should I call them now and try to explain? Should I keep my mouth shut and pray they don't notice? They were really nice on the phone when I called about the mirror, but that was an hour after rental and now it's been a few days...

[that dude who did that thing]

I've had nearly the same thing happen. When I returned the car I just said, "Look, none of this happened while I had it, I just didn't see it last night because your parking garage is lit like a low budget horror film." Dude looked at me, said, "Okay, I'll tell them you said that." And I never heard another thing.

[jma233]

If they're gonna do a claim against your insurance then you should make it worth everyone's time. See if there's a demolition derby scheduled in the area for tonight.

[evdog]

and make sure to get it on film for our enjoyment....

[BS720]

Call them again. If you bought the insurance, derby the fuck out of it. Then again, if you didn't notice it when you checked it out, how do you know someone didn't hit it with a bat after you took it? No insurance, that's your responsibility. I'm not the voice of reason, here. I took a car I smashed up in Nicaragua to a body shop. They pounded it out while I got drunk with the owner. Cost me $80, but they caught it. Started charging my card each day after, for two days, till I cut off the card.

[Tye 1on]

don't sweat it. Take a few pics, turn it in, if they ask...tell 'em you missed it too on the check-out. You're fine...

[Crampedon]

I picked a car up in Eagle a few winters ago, snowing like mad. About to drive away I see a rock star crack in the windshield, pull in tell the gal at the counter, she says no prob, happens all the time, I'll mark it chipped. Come May I get a $240 bill from budget. Toss it in trash. Month later dude calls from collection agency, I tell him the story and he says well ok forget about it.

Last winter I slide a rental SUV into the worlds smallest pine tree in a parking lot in Sandstone, at 4 mile an hour, black icy down hill right, no sand on parking lot, dude tossing sand out of a bucket nearby. Can't back up, get out, green antifreeze all over the ground. Call budget, they have a flatbed in under an hour with a brand new black full-sized, dude helps me move all my skis. Tip him $20. Get bill in ten days for $4200, but I am covered by my insurance, Geico, $500 deductible. Call them. They say DO NOT pay the $4200, we payed them, they will bill you the $500.

5 months go by, no bill of any kind. Then I get a letter from a collection agency saying, "We know times are hard, things are tough bla bla bla but if you pay $250 today, we will eat the rest"

Could not grab my check book quick enough. Done.

[That was Pontus]

Single has the right idea....

[The Tortoise]

It might be worth it to call them and ask if they can confirm that the damage was reported on a previous rental record for that vehicle. If it is you'd be in the clear.

The same thing happened to me when I rented a white Fiat 500 in a snow storm. Completely missed that the mirror was busted and there was a piece of trim missing (normally I am really diligent). I brought it up and their reply was "oh yeah, we know about that...".

Either way, odds are that they will notice it. May as well call for some piece of mind.

Or, just drive it down a gravel road for a half hour and get it as dirty as you can.

[Obstruction]

Alternate approaches. 1. Return the car at a time when they are busy as hell and stand your luggage up in front of the taillight. 2. go to the junkyard and steal a taillight and throw it on. 3. Bring it back and say "what fucking tail light!" 4. Go all Hunter Thompson on that shit.

[riser4]

Or, just drive it down a gravel road for a half hour and get it as dirty as you can.

Just be sure you have read all agreements very carefully. Some rental agreements prohibit driving on non-paved (dirt, gravel, etc) roads.

[GeoMatt]

I had a similar situation just before Christmas. Rented a full size truck, it was raining out when I did the walk around, didn't see anything, and hopped in and left. Later that day, first stop after picking up the truck, I notice a very slight crinkle in the sheet metal along the bedrail, also noticed that there was no spare tire (alerted to that by the chain clanging around).

I had an early flight out a couple of days later. Kid at the lot tried to stick it to me for the crease in the metal. Told them it left the lot like that. Stuck to my guns. Kid tried to stick me with all kinds of things - dents that weren't there, nor could he show me etc. Made me fill out an accident form - only wrote on there that I was dissatisfied with the service provided, poor lighting in the lots, and lack of spare tire. Took no responsibility for damage and said that if they charged my credit card for anything other than rental fees that they would be hearing from my attorney. They pressed me for my insurance information, said they didn't need it as I was no responsible for any damage. It's been about a month now, I haven't heard a thing, and my card has not been rung.

I say own the situation like a boss, and make it very difficult for them to come after you for anything. Honestly though, a taillight assembly, if that is all it is, is really cheap to replace.

On the flip side, If I'm renting for field work, I always take the damage waiver. I don't know how many trucks I've returned with obvious damage, or had to have them come and swap out. Under those circumstances I love being able to throw the keys in the seat and walk away smiling as they wonder what the hell happened to the truck.

[brice618]

I rented a compact car from a lady who spoke no english (and I little spanish) to cruise around southern Chile in with my wife on our honeymoon. We decided we needed to go to the beach, which in Chile means drive your shit on the beach and watch the world go by. All was well till we hit a pretty steep flow of sand and I ripped the screws that were holding all the underbody / wheel well cover to the bumper leaving it dragging like the tail pipe from your drug dealer's 85 LeSabre. I drove around with it that way for a day or two having to constantly get out and jam the plastic back in place to keep it from dragging until I found a home improvement store, bought some zip ties and rigged it back to the bumper. I did the whole misdirection thing when returning it by pointing out the smaller scratch which they wouldn't give a shit about.

[Tippster]

Just be sure you have read all agreements very carefully. Some rental agreements prohibit driving on non-paved (dirt, gravel, etc) roads.

Also if they find damage after it was washed it still goes on you - the last renter. Just because they didn't see anything at the return doesn't mean you're automatically in the clear.

[old goat]

Also if they find damage after it was washed it still goes on you - the last renter. Just because they didn't see anything at the return doesn't mean you're automatically in the clear.

This. Lots of people get hit with damage claims long after they've returned the car, when nothing was said upon return. Best thing to do is take lots of pictures of any damage when you pick up the car (which won't do much good if the damage is underneath), and make sure to get a signed statement from the agent when you return. Or better yet, drive over to a new car lot, find your model car in the same color and take pictures of it, minus the price sticker and plates, of course.

We were driving on a rainy day in St. Lo in Normandy, come around a corner and there is a car stopped in the road, no lights on, I slid into it and caused minor damage. Drunk postman gets out, looks at the damage, says "small problem". He drives us over to the local branch of the rental company where he talks to his buddies, none of which we understood of course. They give us some papers, in French of course, and postman tells us to drive to Caen, where we are given a new car. When we return the car at the airport a week later we can't find the rental return and find ourselves driving out of the airport back on to the freeway and becoming totally lost. Just before the exit from the airport we see the garage of the rental company--not the return place, no paper work to fill out or turn in. We just ditch the car there and someone drives us back to the terminal, where we realize we still have the keys, which I leave at the rental desk in the terminal. And that's the last we ever hear of any of it.

[Dhelihiker]

take a dump in the glove box, they'll never notice the tail light

[Tippster]

This. Lots of people get hit with damage claims long after they've returned the car, when nothing was said upon return. Best thing to do is take lots of pictures of any damage when you pick up the car (which won't do much good if the damage is underneath), and make sure to get a signed statement from the agent when you return. Or better yet, drive over to a new car lot, find your model car in the same color and take pictures of it, minus the price sticker and plates, of course.

We were driving on a rainy day in St. Lo in Normandy, come around a corner and there is a car stopped in the road, no lights on, I slid into it and caused minor damage. Drunk postman gets out, looks at the damage, says "small problem". He drives us over to the local branch of the rental company where he talks to his buddies, none of which we understood of course. They give us some papers, in French of course, and postman tells us to drive to Caen, where we are given a new car. When we return the car at the airport a week later we can't find the rental return and find ourselves driving out of the airport back on to the freeway and becoming totally lost. Just before the exit from the airport we see the garage of the rental company--not the return place, no paper work to fill out or turn in. We just ditch the car there and someone drives us back to the terminal, where we realize we still have the keys, which I leave at the rental desk in the terminal. And that's the last we ever hear of any of it.

Heh - vive la France!

[old goat]

Heh - vive la France!

Arranged for a rental car in France from the States. When we go to pick it up in Paris we're handed a piece of paper with a lot of French and a lot of numbers, neither of which looked familiar. The clerk didn't speak English so she gets the manager, guy must be 18, 5'6, 120# dripping wet, but extremely dignified. I ask "Is this in dollars or francs (it was a while ago)? Him--"It is in francs. You are in France, monsieur." Wish I could capture the tone of voice.

Driving some POS Renault at 130 kmh on the highway and suddenly you see a huge sign, red with white lettering, none of which you understand, and a huge slash through the whole thing. Makes you want to learn French.

[uglymoney]

Arranged for a rental car in France from the States. When we go to pick it up in Paris we're handed a piece of paper with a lot of French and a lot of numbers, neither of which looked familiar. The clerk didn't speak English so she gets the manager, guy must be 18, 5'6, 120# dripping wet, but extremely dignified. I ask "Is this in dollars or francs (it was a while ago)? Him--"It is in francs. You are in France, monsieur." Wish I could capture the tone of voice.

Ha! Almost exactly my experience when I went to France and right off the plane signed some papers for my bus ticket. I questioned something that seemed odd and she told me in a very French and condescending way 'Well, you're not in America anymore sir.' Put me in my place so after that I didn't question the French ways which served me well. Can't believe I haven't been back.

[swerve]

Don't sign anything when you return the car. I used to deal with credit card chargebacks for a rental/property management company. Unless the renters acknowledged the damage and signed something to that effect, we would lose every time someone disputed the charge for damages. At some point we started requiring damage insurance on most properties.
If they do charge your card for any damages fight it and you'll get your money back.

[Bobby Finstock]

[assman]

Wore case scenario, request to see the vehicle records. Chances are somewhere in there the damage was noted.

Regarding body damage, a friend owns a body shop. He does rental repairs for several companies. They pay a substantially reduced hourly rate for those repairs and then jack the price up and attempt to collect the inflated figure from the schmuck that did the damage

Again, request to see the vehicle records and ask who is doing their repairs.

I live in rentals and make sure I note every chip and ding on the shitbox before removing it from their premises.

[XXX-er]

Wore case scenario, request to see the vehicle records. Chances are somewhere in there the damage was noted.

Regarding body damage, a friend owns a body shop. He does rental repairs for several companies. They pay a substantially reduced hourly rate for those repairs and then jack the price up and attempt to collect the inflated figure from the schmuck that did the damage

Again, request to see the vehicle records and ask who is doing their repairs.

I live in rentals and make sure I note every chip and ding on the shitbox before removing it from their premises.

This^^ was a scam in Vancover, the car rental company also owned the body shop so they could charge for the jacked repair cost in-house.

[couloirman]

Returned it and it wasn't mentioned (although they didn't inspect the car upon return when I was present), no excess charges so far. Now I monitor my credit card and play the waiting game........