Ask Honest John

Honest John Ask Honest John » Rental car damage - am I liable?
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

Rental car damage - am I liable?

I recently hired a Citroen C1 for three days. When I returned the car to the hire car depot the rep was there to receive the keys but did not invite me to look round the car with her which I had parked in the yard.

A couple of hours later I received a phone call to say the car had a scratch on the back of it. To the best of my knowledge I did not scratch the car whilst it was in my use. I have told the hire car company that she did not check the car over with me present but they are still holding me responsible for the damage.

My son was with me when I handed the keys to the representative therefore he is a witness that she did not check the car with me. How do I know where that car went after I left the car?

Asked on 10 March 2016 by Margaret

Answered by Honest John
They'll have your credit or debit card number and you will have signed something that makes you responsible for damage so all you can do is threaten to sue them in the Small Claims track of the County Court for the return of whatever they deduct.
Similar questions
I hired a van from a rental company today to move some office equipment around. I paid a £200 deposit upfront, the charge for hiring the vehicle for the day plus £12.50 to reduce the excess charge from...
Holiday in Iceland's winter! We have a choice of 4 cars as there are 6 of us plus luggage. Obviously the weather will be snow/ice, which, living in the UK I'm not used to driving in very often. Our options...
We were due to go to Spain for a week last August until travel restrictions forced us to postpone to the end of June/start of July this year. When booking our car last August we had booked a mini class...