Felixberlin

After they had decided to go ahead with their charges despite my first e-mail I sat down and produced a somewhat longer letter, mentioning that (a) I was sure I had not produced the damages and could produce a witness, (b) that they don't mention the obligation to check in either their AGB or Anmietbedingungen and (c) that they contacted me with such a delay that there was no way to check when the damage had occurred. Also referenced my 50 to 100 rentals over the last few years.

Not sure if it was any of these arguments or rather them seeing continued pushback, but they finally decided to drop the charges ^

Nonetheless, a quite disastrous experience and will revert to Europcar unless it is signficantly more expensive.

ryan754

I just exchanged a Mercedes at TXL last night, as there was a tire leak. I was told that I damaged something on the front. I told the guy I did not. Anyway upon going to the desk for the exchange, he thought I was exchanging it because I "Crashed the car" No explanation at all, I had to exchange for an X5 with no winter tires, and terrible mileage.. I am just hoping that they don't randomly charge my credit card!

Daviddave

I picked up a SIXT car in Germany, returned it in Rome and then received an email from SIXT in France saying that I had damaged the car with a scratch on the door. Firstly, this was total garbage, the car was perfect and I tried to get an inspection upon return to be sure that I would't get scammed but nobody was available on the day. Secondly, the email from France clearly shows that the car had been rented, most likely multiple times over the last few weeks.

Either
SIXT is totally incompetent and fails to inspect cars after rentals and genuinely has no idea of who caused damage. (Extremely unlikely) How would they run a business.

Or SIXT deliberately tries to scam it's customers by charging for non existent damage or damage not caused by them.

Either of these possibilities is a disaster for the customer. We are left out of pocket either due to incompetence or deceit. my guess is that it is the latter due to the sheer numbers of people who are in this position.

SIXT claim that it can take several weeks to assess damages??? I guess that is why they drove my rental car to another country to assess. Give me a break.

In response to this, I have cancelled my credit card to try and stop where SIXT is going with this at huge inconvenience to myself. I spoke to my bank and they thought that given the time period and the fact that the car had moved countries since my rental that it may constitute fraud if they go for my credit card on this. No amount of PR from SIXT employees can justify or adequately explain this practise. Be careful, fellow travellers.... My advice is to walk...

sixtisbest

or you could have just answered that it wasnt you and most likely the case would have been closed

NeverUseSIXT

but it doesn't - I've had to send this 3 times SO FAR - I just had the same issue with "miraculous" damage, and yes I too had asked for someone to take a look BEFORE I left the facility. Now mind you even according to them and their documentation there was no paint damage AT ALL!!!!

When I got the vehicle and was leaving the parking garage I stopped and asked both attendance people ( one male one female) to look at the car they said there was no need, we (my daughter and I) were good to go. I drove to my destination, did not hit anything along the way or on the way back. I did not park up against anything either. When I returned the car the young lady decided that she needed to take a look around and somehow found a small (according your "manager-on-duty" she had come take a look, the size of a dime, on the UNDERSIDE of the front spoiler (NOT FRONT BUMPER), that you had to get on your knees to see under the car, with no paint damage either). He stuck his thumb up against some spot under there and said, �anything under a dime size they won�t do anything about�. I couldn�t see what he was even talking about. The young lady asked for the paperwork I got when I left the garage and I told her I did not receive any. I then asked for the same paperwork that showed me signing off on the car before leaving the garage that would have shown any damage before leaving but no one could come up with that because no one looked at it and I hadn�t signed anything.

(No. 2) email explaining the damage and what needs to be done

Now I get this in the mail (no. 3), where now the �dime� size dent, with no paint damage, on the underside of the front spoiler (NOT THE BUMPER), that you had to get on your knees to see under the car, that �they won�t do anything about�, has turned into an almost 4� inch mark ON the bumper, still no paint damage. Until you can come up with ANY paperwork signed by me that shows that the car I drove off the lot did not have this damage previously, please quit harassing me about it.

Up until this point I had really enjoyed my one experience with SIXT, it was fast getting in and out, and the price was great, but I now get the feeling that you are out for something else. If you seriously have to get on your hands and knees to look under the car I�m pretty sure you can find just about anything you want as far as damage claims. And I thought I found a new car rental place in Atlanta� not so much.

So because this sounds like standand operation procedure for SIXT, sending out random "YOU DID THIS SO PAY UP" letters to the previous renters, I would expect to get an apology from them when they realize that:
1) there was no damage
2) if you get on your hands and knees and look under ANY car you will see all kinds of dents and dings regardless of who was driving or what type of car it is
3) when there is NO paint transfer, no chip or missing original paint how in the hell do you call that DAMAGE?

Gary Coughlan

Please provide details of any outstanding damage disputes in a private message to me. I will do what I can to help take care of them.

Thank you, Gary

djvuan

I have been arguing with Sixt for several weeks now. I rented a car in in June and received a damage claim a few weeks later. Luckily I took lots of photos. The damage claim was asking for nearly a thousand dollars, for damage I did not cause (which I could prove).

I sent this to Sixt:

We received a letter in the mail today, 25.08.2015, demanding payment for damage we did not cause. I responded to your request for information about the damage previously on 22.06.2015.

I’ve included the pictures again, where I took pictures inside the garage and immediately outside for visibility, to make it explicitly clear that the crack was already there, and not caused by us. The damage was not our fault, and was present prior to us renting the vehicle.

The pictures were taken at approximately 12pm UTC which is 2pm in Frankfurt’s time zone. The coordinates were Latitude: 50� 3' 4.27” N, Longitude: 8� 33' 53.478” E. These coordinates match the coordinates of the rental car garage for Sixt at Frankfurt’s Airport, proving that the photos were taken prior to us embarking on our trip.


We would like you to not only drop the charges against us because they are unfounded, but also we would like you to drop the claim entirely. We would like it in writing that you have formally removed the claim.

Pictures: http://imgur.com/a/UIovw

seawolf

Next time I would suggest going back to the counter and have them document the damage before driving off to avoid issues like this.

djvuan

I did, I reported the damage to a Sixt employee before we left and they assured me that it would be noted and we would not be charged.

StevenSeagalFan

Someone else feel free to chime in, but if the first part of the thread is true and Sixt makes this standard procedure, it seems like they're opening up themselves for a possible class action lawsuit involving unfair business practices among other things.

djvuan, I would also consult an attorney regarding your case and specifically the demand letter sent by Sixt. Most attorney's provide free consultations. It may be worth your time.

SixtCustomerServices

Please private message me your Sixt reservation details and I will do what I can to assist you.

Best Regards

Pete - Customer Services Team

djvuan

Thanks Pete. I just returned to the thread today to report back with my status update.

My emails were being replied to with requests for payment even when I would ask them to specifically reference my photographs and ask them to specifically mention them in their reply. I was very cordial to them, and they were very polite in return which I appreciated.

Two days ago, I decided to call Sixt USA, because I felt like my emails were getting me nowhere. The Sixt USA representative was very polite and said I should call back in the morning when the Germany office was open, and Sixt USA would call Sixt Germany with me.

Today I did exactly that. Sixt USA and I called Sixt Germany and I gave them my damage number and explained what I had been explaining in my emails. Within 5 minutes I received an email stating they had dropped the damage claim.

Just wanted to update so anyone reading this thread years from now will know how it went (since I updated this thread after years of inactivity).

Thank you Pete for the help, but it looks like everything should be resolved.