Sixt - Sixt Claims Damage, I didn't do any

Rented a car from Sixt last weekend. I definitely did not do any damage to the car, and it looked fine when I returned it. Return location was closed when I returned the car, so there was nobody to do an inspection.

Now got a letter saying there was a damage, "Rear bumper Passengerside scratch down to metal", and "Rear Bumper middle scratch down to metal".

They ask me by giving my statement and filling in a form. But what should I say? I didn't bump the car against anything, I didn't see any damage when I left the car.

I have got insurance through my LH SEN Visa. Anybody knows how to claim?

SmilingBoy.

When that happened to me on past rentals in germany, I always did the following:

- Don't fill in the form
- Write a letter stating that the damage was not taken during me using the car, not do I know of the car being damaged while it was parked. Thus I assumed that the damage was already there when I rented the car and that I did not notice when picking it up or that it took place after the rental

I've never had to pay for any damages so far...seems to match the Sixt procedure to write these damage notice letters to the last couple of renters. Looks like they just try to see which renter is going to admit having possibly caused the damage.

Try to stay hard :-)
You can always invoke the Visa insurance at a later stage...

Cheers
Natcho

Thanks a lot, and welcome to FT, natcho!

SmilingBoy.

I rented a VW Passat from Sixt in FRA a couple years ago. The scratch was already there and I checked the paper inside the car which also stated that the damage was already there.

That didn't stop them from sending me a letter saying I was responsible for the damage a month later. I called them right away, and they apologized and said it was a mistake. No problem.

To make a long story short and to cover as many cases as possible, as long as there is no damage control on return, state just that and that you have no idea what can have happened to the car after you returned it. All renters try but Sixt is very agressive at it. Just say NO.