Advice on Hertz rental car dilemma

I hired a Ford Focus from Hertz in Belgium this weekend. Today, I accidently scraped my car whilst trying to park. There are three tiny scratches where the paint has completely peeled off on the front bodywork - each scratch is about 2cm long. There are no dents at all.

I stupidly declined the CDW excess charge for the duration of my rental. Normally I tend to pay this for peace of mind. Not this time. The excess is 600EUR. I've never damaged a rental car in the past so as this is the first time I need some urgent advice. What can I do? Should I take it to a garage to get it fixed (assuming it's a quick job) before I have to return it back to Hertz on Monday evening? Help

[preiffer]

Nope - NEVER have any work done on a rental car without authorisation from the rental company.

Sucks though it may, I'm afraid the best course of action is to take it to them and have the discussion (if they notice...)

[Darren Wheeler]

Absolutly not!!

Guy at work did that. Not only did he pay out, but the company said the work wasn't up to scratch (no pun intended) and he had to pay a second time. When he complained, they just pointed to the T&C's.

You could try some coloured car polish, got rid of a couple of nasty looking scratches on my car.

That is as much as I would do though....

Grebo

Thanks for the advice guys. I guess I'll just leave it then. I can't believe I've been a such fool. Bollocks.

How about a bit of dust or mud up the bumper? Try and hide it that way?

Originally posted by AlanA
How about a bit of dust or mud up the bumper? Try and hide it that way?

That's what my friend suggested last night. I told him I thought it's not really a good idea and he came up with the suggestion of buying some paint and just covering it up.

Well, I returned the car back this afternoon. On arrival at the Hertz drop-off I strategically parked the car so that the nearside front bumper (where the scratch marks are) was positioned next to a pillar - so that anyone inspecting the car would have to walk round it. The guy who checked my car did not spot the scratches so I did not own up. I think Preiffer's advice worked best for me. I feel kinda guilty but I hope Hertz won't contact me about this anytime soon. Fingers crossed.

[preiffer]

Good luck [y]


(Console yourself with the fact that they've paid for the scratch repair MANY times over through inflated petrol tank fill-up charges )

[Decker]

Well if it makes you feel any better... driving to airport hotel at EWR and stopped at lights. Rear ended by a large van. Driver exits and assures me that the scratched rear bumper is fine. As it is a hire car I'm having none of it and get details. Point out damage to check in guy and explain we have details. "Do you REALLY want all of the paperwork that YOU AND I will have to do if you report this to me?".... "ermmmm - no?" ... "looks fine to me"...

[preiffer]

Originally posted by Decker
"Do you REALLY want all of the paperwork that YOU AND I will have to do if you report this to me?".... "ermmmm - no?" ... "looks fine to me"...

A mate of mine had something VERY similar happen with a policeman when a prostitute nicked his wallet.


Oooops. [:?]

A £1 touch up stick can work wonders,as can colour magic wax.

fingers crossed they dont get in contact, i wouldnt think they would, im sure they could fork it out of there profits anyway...[}:)]

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by preiffer

Originally posted by Decker
"Do you REALLY want all of the paperwork that YOU AND I will have to do if you report this to me?".... "ermmmm - no?" ... "looks fine to me"...

A mate of mine had something VERY similar happen with a policeman when a prostitute nicked his wallet.


Oooops. [:?]

Why is it every time I hear a story like this from someone it is always a friend [:w]

The one time I did decide to take CDW insurance (ok the woman made me take it) I was lucky enough to park the car, go to a meeting, come out to find most of the front bumper ripped off and no sign of the offending driver (go figure), walked into the agency, dropped the keys off, thanked the nice lady for making me take the insurance, then laughed when she said "why?"

[Bazz]

Yeah Dave, suspicious that

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by Bazz
Yeah Dave, suspicious that

Well it is Paul we are talking about here

SM, have you heard anything from Hertz?

No, I haven't heard anything from Hertz yet thank goodness! Next time I'll make sure I take out the Super Cover. Too much worry over a few tiny scratches.

My friends father is VP of Hertz-Europe. Which rental station did you say you droppped it off at?
Only kidding, he is VP, but I also kept on filling a punctured tyre up with air in Switzerland recently so that I didn`t have to sort out paying for the repair. I am 99% sure it had the puncture when I picked it up but as I was in a rush, I just thought that the steering pulling to one side was the tracking. Also got a bill from Hertz yesterday for 30 Euros for passing my info to the local police as I had been flashed by one of their speeding cameras. I remember it as well, 62 in a 60Kph!

Got the fine today from the local Swiss Police. £16.50! Seems that as long as you are within a range of 5 Kmph over the limit, the fine is only £16.50( at current exchange rates). 30 days to pay and then they forget it. Luckily, we have German speaking staff at work who can decifer the bill and call the number to pay. It is also interesting that they have a sliding scale for the fine if you are just over the limit. The documentation specifically displayed the fact that I had kept within what they termed the "safety zone". They even displayed what they called an "allowance for the speedometer error".
Respect the to the Swiss Police[oo]

[Scrooge]

Mental note..must stop speeding in Europe....lucky I give a false credit card and drivers license.

[preiffer]

Originally posted by Scrooge
Mental note..must stop speeding in Europe....lucky I give a false credit card and drivers license.

Dude - you do that in North America! [:0]