I've read about this situation in a few threads on this site so I thought I would would start my own thread to see if anyone has advice on what to do when getting a letter from Viking Billing Service for supposedly damaging a Hertz rental car.

I rented a car from Hertz back in March from the Phoenix airport. After I drove the car off the airport grounds, I noticed a rattle that seemed to be coming from the car. I was driving city streets so it was hard to pinpoint if the noise was from the car I was driving or was a sound I was hearing from somewhere else.

I pulled over and looked for what could be making the sound. At one point I thought it was the driver's side rear view mirror. Looking under the car, I noticed there was some piece of plastic hanging down from the car. I drove the car back to the rental agency - taking city streets as I was afraid to drive on the highway. I reported the issue to a clerk at Hertz who filled out a Vehicle Incident Report in which he listed under the section entitled Driver/Customer Statement "Air Dam Came Loose." He then issued me another car.

The letter I've now received from Viking Billing Service states that the car was involved in an accident, or the vehicle was returned with damages. They are asking me to pay $173 for damage I did not inflict on the car.

I've left phone messages for the folks at Hertz - figured I would start with them instead of Viking as the letters seems sort of suspect. I have not heard back from Hertz.

Can anyone help me with ideas of how I might go about resolving this?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.