Q uestion : I rented a car from National for a family trip to Houston. The rental was uneventful. But a month later, I received a letter saying that the car had been returned with about $2,000 worth of damage, which included needing to replace a front bumper and a headlight.
I m certain this damage didn t happen while I was renting the car. My wife and three kids were with me. We were getting in and out of all the doors repeatedly. We would have noticed any damage. When I returned the car, the agent did a quick walk-around, and the car was fine.
I followed up by calling the claim representative at National. She checked, and in a follow-up call told me that she was recommending closing the claim. Then I got a phone call from National saying that they had figured out what happened, and it wasn t my fault, and they were closing the claim. So it all seemed fine until another month went by, and I got a letter saying that they had decided to pursue the claim after all.
I m insured, and the loss is covered, but I d rather use my insurance for when I actually have an accident! I d always assumed that when you ve returned a car and they have signed hotels in rota spain off and handed you a bill, then you aren t responsible for the vehicle any longer. Apparently that s not true.
My insurance company is contesting the claim, but they also say that the only real protection against a rental car company making this kind of claim is to take 8 to 10 time-stamped pictures of the car from different angles every time you return a rental car. This seems crazy to me. But is it something we should all start doing? Timothy Taylor , Minneapolis
Answer : Yes. Take pictures of your car before and after your rental and keep them at least six months. The systems used to determine who damaged a rental are far from perfect. At least one company, Hertz, has pledged to begin photographing all of its cars before they leave the lot. The rest have less scientific ways of determining hotels in rota spain who is responsible for the dings, dents and scratches. If I didn t know any better, I d say they try to guess who might have done it.
Here s what should have happened: When you returned your vehicle, a National employee should have walked hotels in rota spain around the car with you, noting any damage. If you spotted a fender-bender, you could have begun the claims process immediately. Contacting you weeks later doesn t make National s claim any more credible. Offering hotels in rota spain to let it go and then making a U -turn makes it lose all credibility, in my opinion.
Not only would an appeal to someone higher up at National or its owner, Enterprise, make sense (you can find them on my customer hotels in rota spain service wiki, On Your Side , but you should also copy the Texas Department of Insurance. I m sure it would be interested in this questionable claim.
Even if National had persisted, you could have asked for documentation that the car had been damaged while you were renting it. I seriously doubt the company could have furnished you with that proof.
I contacted National on your behalf. A representative called you and said that the damage was done to the car before you rented it. You d think they d notice something like that before you picked up the car, don t you?
If this was the true case, why wasn t the damage noted when it was rented? hotels in rota spain Surely it would have been visible. It sounds more like it was something that happened after it was returned and when National was challenged on the claim, came up with this lame excuse.
Even though they have agreed to drop it, I would still suggest sending a letter to the State Insurance Department explaining the situation. Could still be a case of attempted insurance fraud. If anything, it would be documentation with the department for anyone else having problems with National in the future.
While we can all give out the usual spiel about how rental companies shouldn t even be able to make such claims long after a car is returned, it is also well past time that a pusher to a higher authority be made.
It s a scam. Why say the damage was done to the car before you rented after the protest and Chris intervention. National tried to cash in at least 2 claims. Who know that National don t pull the same trick on other customers.
It s a scam. Why say the damage was done to the car before you rented after the protest and Chris intervention. National tried to cash in at least 2 claims. Who know that National don t pull the same trick on other customers.
It s a scam. Why say the damage hotels in rota spain was done to the car before you rented after the protest and Chris intervention. National tried to cash in at least 2 claims. Who know that National don t pull the same trick on other customers.
hotels in rota spain It s a scam. Why say the damage was done to the car before you rented after the protest and Chris intervention. National tried to cash in at least 2 claims. Who know that National don t pull the same trick on other customers.
It s a scam. Why say the damage was done to the car before hotels in rota spain you rented after the protest and Chris intervention. National tried to cash in at least 2 claims. Who know that National don t pull the same trick on other customers.
hotels in rota spain It s a scam. Why say the damage was done to the car before you rented after the protest hotels in rota spain and Chris intervention. National tried to cash in at least 2 claims. Who know that National don t pull the same trick on other customers.
It s a scam. Why say the damage was done to the car before you rented after the protest and Chris intervention. National tried to cash in at least 2 claims. hotels in rota spain Who know that National don t pull the same trick on other customers.
It s a scam. Why say the damage was done to the car before you rented after the protest and Chris intervention. National tried to cash in at least 2 claims. Who know that National don t pull the same trick on other customers.
It s a scam. Why say the damage was done to the car before you rented after the protest and Chris intervention. National tried to cash in at least 2 claims. Who know that National don t pull the same trick on other customers.
It s a scam. Why say the damage was done to the car before you rented after the protest and Chris intervention. National tried to cash in at least 2 claims. Who know that National don t pull the same trick on other customers.
Oh crud, it s in the media. Time to spin the Wheel Of Excuses, boys and girls! Wheel of Excuses, turn, turn, turn; tell us the excuse that we must learn. Oh, look! The car magically travelled hotels in rota spain back in time and sustained $2000 worth of damage before the customer rented it! WOO HOO! Oh yeah, uh, sorry we tried to nail your insurance carrier for $2000.
Oh crud, it s in the media. Time to spin the Wheel Of Excuses, boys and girls! Wheel of Excuses, turn, turn, turn; tell us the excuse that we must learn. Oh, look! The car magically travelled back in time and sustained $2000 worth of damage before the customer rented it! WOO HOO! Oh yeah, uh, sorry we tried to nail your insurance carrier for $2000.
Ridiculous while the customer should definitely take photos before and after (I always do now, even if that means holding up the works in the rental or return area), it s the rental company who should have to provide their own timestamped photos from before and after the rental, clearly showing the alleged damage, before even being allowed to pursue a claim. That may have been unreasonable 20 years ago, but digital cameras are dirt cheap now with no per-photo hotels in rota spain cost as with film.
I m not a lawyer, but there has to be some legal concept that applies here. Just like you have a duty to mitigate your damages (if someone breaks your house window, and you don t bother hotels in rota spain to cover it for weeks, hotels in rota spain letting rain and snow damage the house further, they may not be responsible for that), if the car s owner has a way to clearly hotels in rota spain prove damage, but chooses not to do so, the presumption has to be in favor of the word of the one saying they didn t do the damage. But maybe that s why I m not a lawyer
Ditto both Josh and LarryB hotels in rota spain if the agency wants to claim that you damaged their car, the burden is legally on them to prove it! They not only have to prove that damage was done; they have to be able to show that it was YOU who did it. If they want you to pay up, but can t document that the car was fine before you rented it, and that it was damaged when you returned it invite them to discuss the matter in front of a judge.
Just be sure that when the judge rules in your favor (which of COURSE hotels in rota spain he will), he notes in writing on his judgment that he awards you court-costs as well. These huge rental companies won t suffer a bit if they have to pay them to you, but it s the principle hotels in rota spain of the thing: you shouldn t be out one thin dime, and these thieves shouldn t come out even.
I recently received your claim for damage to a rental vehicle for my client hotels in rota spain XXX. Your claim fails to meet any reasonable standards for acceptable claims. You have failed to timely present a claim; all claims for damages need to be made within 30 days of close out of the rental agreement according to my client s rules. Your claim does not meet that time deadline and is hereby hotels in rota spain rejected.
Next, you fail to produce any evidence of the reduction in value of the vehicle, the original purchase price, proof that you went with the lowest cost bidder for repairs, no photographs before and after that are dated providing proof of damage by me during hotels in rota spain the rental, a rental hotels in rota spain history supporting a loss of use claim, a facility rental history detailing the days you could have rented hotels in rota spain the vehicle due to damage, nor is there any evidence that XXX rented the vehicle at the time the damage was done to the vehicle.
My letterhead [and yours, Carver, I suspect] has less and less effect every year I fear. Companies hotels in rota spain just don t care anymore about lawyers, they got em, you got em everybody has them. . . . I speak with companies via letterhead and or email which clearly identifies me as a lawyer and they just care less and less -
Damaged before it was rented. So the inspection did not re
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