Hire car dispute

I recently had my car in an insurance repair centre for a couple of days. It needed a new bumper following a minor collision involving a van's towbar being reversed through it.

Anyhow, whilst my car was in the garage, I was given a brand new Focus to drive around in. Happy days. 1.5 Diesel, pulled like a train and smooth as you like.

I recieved an email today to the effect that the car was damaged when it was inspected. It is very vague and says further details will follow, which I shall await. However they do state that they will expect the excess of £500 or my own policy excess (whichever is lower, mine is £250 so it'll be that) to be paid. The damage mentioned is a scrape/mark to a wing mirror, 4-10inch long. Nowhere near £250 worth!

Now, I took a few photos of the car prior to handing the keys back (knowing full well that it wouldn't be inspected by both parties together) for my peace of mind, but one of the photos seems to show a slight white mark to the extreme edge of a wing mirror. I mean, blink and you'd miss it. I missed it until I zoomed in on the photo this morning when I got the email!

When I collected the car, it had the inspection paperwork inside, having been signed by their rep, but I never signed it. I also never signed for returning the car. I left it parked on the roadside outside the repair centre. My point being, technically their paperwork is not in order and they do not have an audit trail of the condition the car was both delivered, and returned in, signed by me. Nobody accompanied me on either occasion to inspect the car.

Have they a leg to stand on if I use this as my get-out? I am going to insist the damage must have occurred once I left the car and relinquished responsibility for the car by handing the keys back to the receptionist at the garage. They can't prove otherwise.

I have yet to thoroughly read through the main terms and conditions which I digitally signed online.

I'm not normally one to get out of what I owe, but this is an utter rip off and IMO unenforceable since I never signed for the condition of the car on collection or return. Also, money is tight too at the moment, with having two mortgages etc to pay.

I'd tell them to do one. It was either like that when you got it, or not like that when you returned it.

you dispute that the vehicle was damaged in your care and would put them to strict proof if decided to take the matter further.

sounds like you know you did it though

The man doth protesteth too much I think.

PS How big are the wing mirrors if the mark is 4"-10" long???? And is it 4" or 10"? Quite a difference in distance!

conny, I honestly had no knowledge of this damage until I got the email yesterday. You make a good point which is why I will ask for scaled photos if not already supplied when I submit my defence. Something is telling me the damage is more like 4 inch than 10 inch. And that like most scuffs it'll Polish out.

Only on very close inspection can I see anything on my photos that may even resemble damage. The photo is of the entire side of the car.

If they continue to pursue this once my existing defence is exhausted I will ask them to provide their quote for repairs and pay that. I find it very unfair that they want me to pay £250 for damage that 1. Won't cost anywhere near that to fix, 2. Probably won't be fixed until they flog the car in a years time and 3. I had no knowledge of until I got a snooty email from them.

I'd offer £50 take it or see you in court. This is how they make the profit on their hire cars, by billing everyone for the same old scuff mark. Be more careful in future with the paperwork. Do you want to name the company? Was it an Accident Management Company?

Steve said:

Now, I took a few photos of the car prior to handing the keys back (knowing full well that it wouldn't be inspected by both parties together) for my peace of mind,.

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That's the mistake am afraid, always get them to inspect it with you present when you hand it back so you can sort anything out immediately. As they didn't do this when they lent you the car either, I'd say fight them as they can't prove anything either way. It's not unheard of companies trying their luck (nor customers either but the lenders should've done their job properly).

DaveHerns said:

Was it an Accident Management Company?

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Yes. Named after the inputs on the back of a stereo. My insurer referred me to them.

Phono? Aux ? You've lost me on that one! The market is flooded with companies like this and they're out for what they can get. You may get away with calling their bluff but it depends if you want the hassle. I paid a Parking Eye "fine" simply because £40 was less than the stress of dealing with their threats.

DaveHerns said:

Phono? Aux ? You've lost me on that one! The market is flooded with companies like this and they're out for what they can get. You may get away with calling their bluff but it depends if you want the hassle. I paid a Parking Eye "fine" simply because £40 was less than the stress of dealing with their threats.

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Aux.... £250 is worth significantly more hassle than £40 in anybody's book.

Too late now but the advantages of taking out Collision Damage Waiver are well worth the extra few pounds it costs.

I have an annual policy through http://www.insurance4carhire.com/ which covers me for any hire cars either here or abroad on holiday and means I never have to worry about the excess nor do I have to pay the extra charges. It's well worth taking a policy out if you ever have a hire car. It works out significantly cheaper than the car companies own policies.

Of course if you could produce a photo of the exact same colour/make of car showing no damage, that'd be your proof wouldn't it? A trip to a local dealer to see if they've got a suitable car in stock might be useful? Of course technically it'd probably be called fraud. If you got caught/

colinM50 said:

Of course if you could produce a photo of the exact same colour/make of car showing no damage, that'd be your proof wouldn't it? A trip to a local dealer to see if they've got a suitable car in stock might be useful? Of course technically it'd probably be called fraud. If you got caught/

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The point of my real photos would be the meta data attached to them showing the time and date. The metadata on the fake photos would show up my dishonesty.

You ask what to do. I told you. You need to do nothing more. If they intend to sue you for the damage, then they will need to prove their case. You at this stage simply dispute that the damage was done while the vehicle was in your care.

that is the end of the matter - you don't need to start proving anything.

EXIF data is worthless it can be faked.

On a side note, unless the ts and cs have a liquidated damages clause which can stand the test of not being a penalty, then your maximum exposure is the cost of repair up to any agreed excess. They can't charge you more than the cost.