How many days past rental can the company claim rental car damage?
Did a car rental, scratched the bumper (noticeable scratch larger than 2-3 inches). When we returned the car rental at detroit airport, the agent did what seemed like a thorough walkthrough (checking tires, windshield etc) but did NOT notice the scratch for whatever reason, gave us a receipt and off we went. (I am sure they didn't see the scratch because I was closely tracking their walkthrough eye movement, ready to get an incidence report/supporting docs etc in case they do notice it to claim it off my credit card insurance).
This was about a week ago. We haven't heard of any extra charges / pending extra charges on our credit card etc.
It has been 10 days already, and while I doubt they'll notice it now given that its a busy airport rental location - what is the "statute of limitations" of sorts on this? What I don't want is getting a charge after many months have passed since our credit card won't cover it unless the claim is done within a month of original rental. So what is a reasonable timeframe for them to claim I made the scratch during the car rental and it wasn't damaged after we had returned the car and gotten a walkthrough with a receipt and all?
Any first-hand experiences of the company coming after you after many weeks would be appreciated, and how you proceeded (did you dispute with them saying hey it has been many weeks so are you sure its me).