Videoing outside of rental car before you take ownership of it.
I have gotten in the habbit of taking out my blackberry and taking a 3 minute video of the whole outside of the car before I leave the lot just in case the car rental place decides to say the car was damaged before I have taken posession of it. Anyone else do this? Is this going overboard or is this just a good idea to have a record in case something does happen?
You should hope that the car-rental company claims that the car was damaged before you took possession of it. Then, you won't be responsible for the damage.
The bigger risk is that the company will claim that damage they discover after you have returned the car occurred while it was in your possession. So if you're going to do any videotaping, you should do it as soon as you return the car.
(If you discover any damage to a car you are picking up, fill out a pre-existing damage form before you drive the car away.)
Programs: MR PremPlat, DL DM, AA Plat, Avis First, Hertz PC
Posts: 87
Slightly off-topic...but if I get a car with less than full gas, I usually take a picture of the fuel gauge and mileage to server as proof that my tank was not full at the time of pickup.
In general, how picky is Hertz about minor scratches and scuff marks? I've rented many many cars from National, some with decent scratches and scuffs (even one or two with small dents) and have never had any issues when returning. It seems like they only look for more significant damage.
In general, how picky is Hertz about minor scratches and scuff marks? I've rented many many cars from National, some with decent scratches and scuffs (even one or two with small dents) and have never had any issues when returning. It seems like they only look for more significant damage.
Hertz is the least picky of all rental firms. They use to not even go around your car, now they do a quick once around your car. Very quick.
Programs: Pure AS MVP Gold75K, AS BR lapsed, Maika`i Card, AGR, HH Gold, Hertz 5*, Marriott Gold, SPG, CO, 7H
Posts: 27,519
Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.694 Mobile Safari/534.11+)
Quote:
Originally Posted by CalItalian
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drathen
In general, how picky is Hertz about minor scratches and scuff marks? I've rented many many cars from National, some with decent scratches and scuffs (even one or two with small dents) and have never had any issues when returning. It seems like they only look for more significant damage.
Hertz is the least picky of all rental firms. They use to not even go around your car, now they do a quick once around your car. Very quick.
Noticed they are taking an extra 30 seconds when leaving. Still Hertz Gold or 5* is pretty quick
In general, how picky is Hertz about minor scratches and scuff marks? I've rented many many cars from National, some with decent scratches and scuffs (even one or two with small dents) and have never had any issues when returning. It seems like they only look for more significant damage.
In my so far one experience with them, they aren't picky at all. Indeed, I didn't even get a damage form on my rental receipt. Entirely polar experience compared to when I have accompanied others to Enterprise. There they do some kind of show when you pick up the car calling your insurance company and another one inspecting on pickup and return.
My brother takes a video while walking around the car at pick up. Once he picked up a one-way from ALB to a neighborhood store. Upon return, the HLE person claimed to find a small crack on the bottom of the bumper, not noted on the pre-existing damage sheet. My brother showed him the video, which, even in the dimly lit airport parking garage, showed the bumper crack was already there.
When I pick up a car, I take pictures of all 4 sides, the roof, interior, and trunk. I then zoom in on any scratches or other issues I see. Most of my rentals are cross-country one-ways. Therefore, I especially want to make sure the receiving facility, having never seen the car before, does not automatically blame me for anything they might find.
My brother takes a video while walking around the car at pick up. Once he picked up a one-way from ALB to a neighborhood store. Upon return, the HLE person claimed to find a small crack on the bottom of the bumper, not noted on the pre-existing damage sheet. My brother showed him the video, which, even in the dimly lit airport parking garage, showed the bumper crack was already there.
When I pick up a car, I take pictures of all 4 sides, the roof, interior, and trunk. I then zoom in on any scratches or other issues I see. Most of my rentals are cross-country one-ways. Therefore, I especially want to make sure the receiving facility, having never seen the car before, does not automatically blame me for anything they might find.
I am with you. I think it is a good idea, and if it only ONCE saves you from paying for pre-existing damages, it is worthwhile. Last time I rented from Enterprise, they made me sign that the vehicle was undamaged before giving me the keys. I protested, was told that was the way it was, and to come back if I found any damage. I took lots of photos, but didn't see any damage.
