Scratched Hirecar- advice?

10 comments

1. hirecar means you rented this? Then i would not start trying to repair it myself. If it goes wrong you are in even more trouble.

2. Your rental contract will most probably obligate you to report the damage to the rental company. I would not recommend you to go to a bodyshop yourself.

3. My advice is to bring it back like it is, own up to it, accept the consequences and take our insurance next time. 

   It‘s not your property so it‘s not your place to do any repairs on it. 

4. Definitely (!!!!) don’t repair it youself. It’s not your property. Return the car as is and tell them. Either you have insurance that covers it, or your deposit will cover it.
   Sometimes, depending on the make and model, and the age of the car, and of course on the rental company, and on the mood of the agent you talk to, so sometimes, when all stars are aligned, they don’t even make a big fuzz.

5. Well, someone damaged your rented car. Maybe call the police (“Fahrerflucht”). IMO this is better to than returning it empty handed or repair it yourself.

6. You can try a touch-up/paint pen/lackstift and if youre Lucky the guy at the rental place doesnt bother to look too hard. Do not take it to a repair shop.

7. That seems to be a really deep scratch, even through the base-coat of the paint. Nothing you can fix yourself or even with smart repair probably.

   Not sure what car that is, but i’d expect a bill for having to repaint the entire door, which will be probably somewhere in the region of 1000-2000euros, depending on the type of car, the age and the type of paint (seems to be some basic white. metallic and other fancy paints get more complicated to re-do for just a part of the car).

   With just collision insurance this bill will be yours to pay.

   My advice : before you drop off the car again go to a car garage doing this kind of repairs (Autolackierer, Smart-Repair) and ask them for a quote. So you can later argue if they try to charge a lot more.

   Note : the bill from the car rental place will also include things like loss of business for a day the car was out to be fixed and possibly some handling costs. So it will be more than just the cost to fix it.

   Double check if there are already any other scratches on that door stated in your contract. Then you could argue that there was already previous damages and you won’t be responsible alone for fixing everything.

   Also check if you maybe have insurance for something like this yourself. In Germany car insurance (your personal car), or liability insurance (personal liability) sometimes includes additional insurance for rental cars. Some credit cards or travel insurance also might cover this on your end.

   You should additionally report the damage to the police, it’s not tiny and whoever did it noticed it and left anyway. I doubt they will be able to catch someone, but maybe you are lucky and it was in an area with camera on the parking.

8. Call the police. They will file a report for hit-and-run against an unknown party. The rental car company will likely require this as well.
   Usually, the rental contract includes a clause about a deductible. It could be anywhere between €50 and €500.
   Under no circumstances should you try to repair anything yourself.
   Which rental company was it

9. For rentals the conditions are clear, if you did the damage yourself, call them, tell them what happened and what they want you to do (probably just continue your trip and you will settle it on return). If you didn’t do the damage yourself you have to call the police. And the most important, don’t do anything so stupid as repair (or try to) the damages yourself.

10. Trying to repair it yourself is the worst idea you could have. Call the police and the car company and be honest.

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