Car hire scam – anyone recognise this car?

I rented rented a Megane estate from Sixt in Pisa. No problems with the car. When I dropped it off I asked the lady to check it but she said it wasn’t necessary. I said I’d prefer it if she did. She refused. I had a plane to catch so gave her the key and left.
Now I’ve been sent a bill for 400 euros for damage. They’ve said that I put the key in the out of hours drop box.
I’ve asked for photos and one of them is below. The others are of plain panels with no features apart from a panel gap that doesn’t seem to match up. I have checked it against photos of the Megane and I believe it’s a different car.
Does anyone have any idea what car this might be of?
Photo here[/url]

Looks to be a megane, ask to see cctv of you with the woman problem solved (hopefully)

Call the office in question to see what their version of events are? Someone is not telling the truth, I would just ignore it unless the office tell you that it was damaged.

Similar experience with Hertz in Sardinia, I took it back, had filled it only about 1km away from drop off point, so I know it was FULL.

Got charged £150 on my card statement the next month, they claim I hadn’t filled it up!

Anyhow, got a refund from the credit card provider, bitch to them, they will sort it out. Apparently this is a common scam.

Can you not prove the time it was handed back with the flight times?
Besides if it was out of hours the damage could have happened at their depot.

You think it’s a Megane? Front or rear corner?
Megane front[/url]
Megane rear[/url]

The drop off time is correct. They’re just saying I put the key in the box, whereas I actually went to the counter.

Where’s the damage on that panel?

I got stung for fuel a few years back
I now take photos of everything when I park it up at the airport

Honestly, don’t waste your time with the hire company, I spent weeks emailing back and to, 5 mins on the phone to CC company and it was sorted.

I now always take pictures of hire cars when I return them now and get them to sign and confirm it has fuel/no damage.

Where’s the damage? Well that’s another thing. The photos show some dirty marks at worst.
They also charged me for the child seat which I’d already paid for in advance. Got that refunded but still E360 down.
Not sure why or how my CC company can help but I’ll ask.

Tell them how it is, you left the car undamaged, ask them to get proof from the hire company. They will refund you.

My work partner had a similar experience in Sardinia only with ‘claimed’ damage this time, he also got a refund, although he did take pictures.

Had this with our last lease car we returned, they sent out a letter 6 weeks after it went back about damage and asking for around £500. Told them to send me evidence of the marks done before collection. I was emailed some photos of scratches with polish trapped in, you know that wouldn’t show if you buffed the polish back out and a supposed door crease that I could not see and knew wasn’t there.

I emailed them back asking for a copy of the inspection sheet before the car was taken away. I waited, and waited, emailed them, phone calls, emails and after 2 months they came back saying very sorry but they had no sheet and the bill would be passed on to the transport company who collected it.

I then got one for £62 for excess mileage about 4 months later, they’ve agreed that in fact we were 3,500 below the allowance but still sent a reminder out. That one is still going on.

Ironic thing is other cars went back with damage that I pointed out and heard nothing.

Has watchdog done anything about car hire companies?

Seems common and fraudulent.

I once hired a car in Sardinia. Absolutely trashed the thing. Drove it into a wall, radiator fan fell off, ruined hub caps, seriously offroaded the thing. When I took it back filthy they gave me a 150 euro refund because when asked if I had taken out “super insurance” I said no.

Corsas are great offroad. They can climb BFO sand dunes. I was young at the time.

I have a dear friend who I was with when he returned a vehicle to a hire company who claimed that he had damaged it (small bumper scratch) regardless of the fact it was noted on the inspection sheet and tried to charge him 3000gbp excess.

His rather excellent response was to pick the keys back up and tell the manager that he was going to ‘get his 3000gbp’s worth then’ by driving it in to as many cars on the forecourt as he could. They relented quite quickly…

car hire firm are refunding in full 😀