Thank you so much codfishcandy for the reply again! And I would like to continue elaborating based on your reply, as it seems not only useful (perhaps it's not to some, to me it is) but interesting topic to discuss, and I reckon it's naturally pleasant to exchange points of view with you!
Originally Posted by
codfishcandy
The reviews will by and large be partial because the average person writing a review is more interested in relaying an emotion than what an experience to expect, the average reviewer is not a journalist writing an impartial piece on the topic, and vice versa, even if an average journalist would write a review of their rental experience, it would likely not be impartial.
By extension as well, the reviews typically represent one side of the story, which makes it very difficult to assess what actually went on, when something went wrong.
I totally agree with you, but that doesn't make the reviews less true, right? I mean, I've given good and bad reviews on hotels/services, etc; and I trust my own partiality when it comes to describe what happened. For example, I left a great review on a hotel I usually visit, where service is excellent, and that's what I said. But also, I went to a restaurant where pasta was raw, and the quality was extremely bad, the sauce was extremely sour and overall experience was terrible; so I explained that in detail; that doesn't make it true?
Of course , you could argue "well, the cook was having a bad day because he's been involved in several family problems, etc etc" but that is not really for me to understand as someone who sits down and pays for food to be served as advertised / charged, which implies food is good.
Being partial doesn't mean we're not objective. Being partial means only one side of the story, but doesn't make that side necessarily not true.
There are a lot of stories out there about fraudulent damage claims, excessive fuel charges, etc. but it's very tricky to correlate these to company practice, it may just be bad employees, or bad decision making, or an unfortunate sequence of events.
Again, agreeing with you, but would like to add. Bad employees, bad decision making from the side of the company, or an unfortunate sequence of events not being compensated by the company as customer care (whenever possible), doesn't that correlate to company practise ?
I work for a company that caters customers, and if an employee acts disorderly, that means that the company is failing in filtering employees that act in such manner, and if the company fails in that, it takes responsibility for such employee and compensates the customer for such failure to being QoS.
So then, it's best to just protect yourself from these kinds of things insofar as you can. As I mentioned before, you can eliminate mostly any damage claims by making a careful record of the way you receive the car, and ensuring any prior damage you notice is listed on the sheet. So at least take the time to do a walk around and check for the obvious spots of damage + document them (pictures/video). A good indicator (I find) is if the damage sheet reports damage that you do not see straight away yourself - sure it means they take a careful look at the vehicle when you return it, but it also means they will not neglect mentioning/hide damage to claim you caused it. Do the walk around again when you return the vehicle, and document that (to be certain), alternatively, get someone from the rental agency to go over the car with you and ask for a copy of their findings (not sure if you can, actually).
Will definitely do that, and also print some accounts from online forums by customers who had the same issue, should any problems arise (crossing fingers they don't!)
A second part is insurance coverage. In Europe, renting through a European Sixt site, I think when you rent a vehicle you typically get a full covered rental (liability and collision damage insurance), this should be noted on the rental form (reservation and/or receipt). I think for an additional cost you can get your own liability to damage to the vehicle reduced to 0. In addition Sixt offers supplemental insurance to also cover flat tires or replacements thereof, under their roadside assistance package. All of this should reduce any impact a mishap may have. At a cost. Not necessarily advocating it, but it's there, and because of European laws (as far as I understand) you already get a quite good base coverage.
I will be getting insurance by Mastercard Gold, which they instructed me to decline any CDW or LDW (sorry if I spelled that wrong) and inform I am insured by my credit card.
It surprises me to hear you can't get Mercedes Frankfurt to return your e-mail or call. Are you inquiring with them about renting a vehicle? I'm not sure they do, they would probably offer you a test drive free of charge, though. Depending on the dealer this can mean you get the vehicle for (a portion of) a day, to get your own impressions.
My idea was to rent an A Klasse as well as a test drive before purchasing one in my home country. I contacted Mercedes Benz Hannover, they said it was totally possible. Then I realised my flight landed on Frankfurt, so I contacted them, and that's when the ordeal started, I contacted them via facebook, they said totally possible (they even have a website mieten punkt mercedes-benz punkt de) which if my scarce German doesn't fail me, that's rental. I emailed them , no response, Icalled them, no response, I email Mercedes Deutschland, no response ,I speak to the chatbot AND I GET HELP, haha, their chatbot sent my inquiry to an email where I was greatly assisted. But going back and forth emails and calls to Germany, Frankfurt kept giving different and clashing accounts as to me being able to rent a car from them.
After more than 3 weeks, they finally told me "you have to be a german citizen in order to get insured", which I wasn't very convinced, but I decided to give up due to this taking a lot of energy from me.
But oh well, I will go for Sixt or Europcar and see what I can do.
Again, thanks a lot for the nice message, and hope you have a nice weekend!
/iPod.