first of all, credibility: I am well known as an ex avis manager around here, and avis and budget are different divisions of the same company.

second: small dings aren't really that big. If its really tiny, they get ignored, but they still get documented. "size" if the ding is important. If its less than a silver dollar, it just gets documented and moved on. Greater than a silver dollar, it will go to paintless dent removal before it gets returned, a standard process, and goes on, after bieng documented.

If the damage is great enough to warrant repair, usually when it eclipses the 250 dollar level, they do not automatically charge your card, they will send you a bill, so no worries watching your credit card.

If you get a letter from budget, call your credit card and call your insurance company. explain to them what happened and go from there. to qualify why I wouldn't worry too much about it, I figure that the dent has already been reported in some fashion. If they were such nazi's to catch something that small, they probably already have it documented by a previous renter, which means no letter.