How to Challenge Rental Car Damage

Posted by Nick on March 15, 2010

If you are renting a car on your travels and not taking the costly insurance you may end up having to challenge rental car damage.

You may have seen some horror stories of people getting charged for dents and scratches that were already on the car as well as “loss of use” charges where the rental company wants to charge you for the potential money they would have made renting the car while it was (supposedly) out of commission getting repaired. And those loss of use charges are never discounted. And really - who pays full price for rentals these days?

Anyways, if you do not want to pay for the hassle insurance the rental agency offers there are some steps that you can take to protect your interests in the event that you need to challenge some rental car damage.

Before you leave the rental car agency lot with your car do that thorough walk around and mark EVERYTHING on the little damage sheet they give you. Have someone video you doing this as well as video the car up close to show all the existing damage. Also take photos of the car. Do not forget about the interior!

These things are all great evidence for challenging rental car damage.