A picture is worth a thousand words — if you’re renting a car, make that $1,444.61

This is Kathyria Padilla’s rental car. When she returned it to Avis last April, she took a few snapshots of the vehicle, just in case.

Good thing she did.

Almost one year later, she got a letter from Avis:

They are claiming that I caused $1,444.61 in damages to the rental.

I have pictures of the rental and there are no damages to the vehicle. I took pictures before I droped off the car in case anything like this ever arose.

I was told the car was OK when I droped it off and someone inspected it. I signed the car out and I’ve never heard from Avis until yesterday when I received the claim notice in the mail.

Trouble is, Padilla no longer had the rental agreement. Even though she still had photos (and in case you were wondering, the other side of the car looked equally pristine) she thought she might have to pay Avis.

Most rental claims are still filed by paper through the U.S. Mail, and it’s difficult to send email evidence to dispute a bill. What’s more, many car rental companies outsource their damage claims to a third party, which means you’re not even dealing with the company you rented from.

Before I get to the resolution, let me say that Padilla did the right thing when she rented from Avis. As a precautionary measure, she took pictures. Those images have a timestamp (Exif data) that prove she returned the car undamaged. Some cameras put a date stamp on the actual photo, too.

I have a few more brief tips here.

Simply put, there was no easy way for Padilla to fight this late claim with her digital photos. So I contacted the car rental company on her behalf. A few days later, I got the following note from her:

I received a call from Avis yesterday afternoon. They notified me that this claim was an error and that they will send me a letter in writing for my records. I just wanted to thank you for your assistance with this matter.

You’re welcome. And thanks to Avis, too, for dropping its claim in the face of this conclusive evidence.

I’m puzzled by the 11-month lag time for a damage claim. What were they thinking? Normally, a claim like this needs to be filed within weeks of the apparent damage. Pursuing a customer almost a year later shouldn’t be part of any car rental company’s practices.

What’s the longest you’ve waited for a damage claim?

  • Angela

    Not entirely relevant, but I just rented a car from Enterprise, and they informed me that I owed some taxes (~$200) from a rental 4 years ago from the airport location, which State Farm didn’t cover all of (no wonder, since they said the taxes were ~33% and State Farm only covers 15%). 4 years!!!! I rented from that same office last Aug and it didn’t come up then. Seriously?

    Who should I go after first – State Farm for not paying or Enterprise for not being upfront when I gave them my State Farm claim number for auto pay?

  • http://www.angrymarks.com/ Kevin Fields

    @Chris: I would like to hear what Avis’ side of this story was, as to how this happened.

    @Angela: I’d think you go after State Farm. They should have notified you that they wouldn’t be covering it all. It could be that the reason you were not notified by Enterprise is because Enterprise was still trying to collect from State Farm.

  • rich

    One YEAR later, a claim from an outsourced company. If that’s not a scam, then nothing is. It may be similar to companies that sell ancient debts for pennies on the dollar to collection agencies. If they find a car does have damage these rental firms probably sell the details and a list of everyone who’s driven it in the past 12 months to a firm which tries to collect from all of them.

  • Tim

    I’m glad this turned out well, but the time stamp within the Exif data does not prove anything. I manipulate Exif data all the time when my elderly father sends me photos that have time stamps of 1996 because he doesn’t know how to set the date on his camera.

  • Thomas Brenneman

    @Tim

    I agree. You can change the setting in the camera to show any date. A better way it that days newspaper. It can’t be faked!

  • Frances Evans

    I have a rental nightmare from Cozumel Mex. we rented an open air jeep that was a rusted hunk to begin with. we had it it for 3 days it was used 3 or 4 times to go to town for shopping otherwise it stayed in parking lot at closed resort we were staying at, we rented it at resort and returned at same resort, the plastic tail light was cracked and broken and it was all rusted inside the agency charged us for the cracked lens 300.00 you could see by the rust in side of lens that it had been broken long before we had rented it my advice is to go over every inch of the car you are renting and mark every ding and every rust spot and every tear and stains inside and out take pictures at time of rental of any damage before and make sure it is noted on both copies of rental your copy and thier copy pitures are Worth a 1000 wordsl

  • John

    I always recommend that you take the pictures on their lot and then a picture of their sign (Before and after the rental). Much harder for them to claim that you wrecked the vehicle with that set. In her case, they could have claimed that she damaged after she took the picture above.

  • Monica

    After a year, who can really be sure any damage was from her? How many people have rented the car during that time frame? That’s ridiculous. Not to mention many companies write off the loss after a certain amount of time, depending on when the item was lost/damaged/repaired/claimed/etc. I know my company does. At some point, the paperwork process and time/effort costs more than they money they’d be getting back.

    I’m also curious is the rental company had dated photos of this apparent damage to support their claim.

  • Dang

    Hello Chris,
    I hear a lot of scams and stunst like that from your site, and other sites.
    I have an impression they tried these stunt more on women than men.
    May be we begin to keep some statistics to figure out some pattern :
    - Car-rent compagnies
    - Area – Location
    - of course, gender of the renter
    - may be age come in to consideration too.
    - frequency of rent by the renter.
    That will help which segment of victims they target.

  • Tim@OKC

    Fortunately this case turned out well for the renter, with an assist from Chris. UNfortunately we have seen, and will continue to see this SCAM proliferate through the ranks of car rental companies. AVIS ( insert any other major car rental company name here) is looking for ANY way to make up for lost revenue, and this scam is a money maker for them. Most people will negotiate/settle for an amount, versus taking the time and effort to fight with a rental company or 3rd party. Especially when threatened with damage to your credit repot.

    I too would like to hear from AVIS on how the “error” occurred, 11 months AFTER the fact, but all we’ll hear from them is SILENCE…. (they got caught and they’re trying to avoid the continued glare of the spotlight on them)

    And as others have repeatedly said in previous posts, when renting a car in this day / age, document, document, document the vehicle, before you leave the rental lot. I’ve had 2 occurrences of this scam being attempted to be pulled on me in last 2 years, and my pictures and notes of pre-existing damage have saved me in both cases. It takes a few minutes of your time, but that’s better than the aggrevation and worry later.

  • John

    So, what is the bottom line? Don’t rent from Avis, Enterprise or other small companies? Perhaps a study to see which companies tend to hook people may be worthwhile so people can avoid them. If car company has a claim, it should be noted on the spot before customer leaves the premise or any further claim should be invalidated.

  • Jesse

    I received a claim from Avis this past summer about 2 months after a rental for about $500 in damages. I did not see any damage on the car when I rented and returned it, and it was also inspected upon return. In addition to the $500 in damages, Avis was trying to assess an “administrative fee” and also a “lost utilization fee” totally about an additional $150.

    I should have fought it – but I just faxed it over to Amex (I have the basic rental car coverage that comes with every American Express card). The folks over at Amex were fantastic – they paid the damage portion of the claim almost immediately. They refused to pay the utilization and administrative fees unless Avis would provide them with a fleet utilization log and also a “justification” of the administrative fees. After a little back and forth, Avis backed down and closed the claim with only the damage paid.

    The whole experience left me with much appreciation and respect for American Express.

  • Jason

    After a month’s rental of a new Critroën at London’s Gatwick Airport, I first went to the BP station about 1/2 mile from the return depot and filled the tank to the brim with regular gas (petrol as they say). I then took my movie camera and went over the entire car – front to rear, inside outside and a close up of the odometer indicating 2,848 miles (we drove exactly 2,840 miles as the car had 8 miles on the odometer a pickup). Since it was a nice, sunny day, the pix came out perfectly! No dents, no scratches, no nothing (but a film of dirt from rain, etc.). I had the attendant go over the car with a fine-tooth comb and give me a ‘clean bill of health’, so to say.
    I have had trouble in the past in Europe for supposed dings, dents, scratches, etc. and I have now gone to taking no risks! I haven’t heard yet from AVIS (egads!), but, if I do, I have all the documentation including the signed document of the car’s condition at return. No guarantees, but I am locked and loaded if they try any shenanigans!

  • http://www.discovernortherncalifornia.com Suzi

    My husband and I have rented many, many vehicles over the years (from Avis and from most of the others as well) – luckily we’ve never had such an experience as this one! Because of our good fortune and lack of negative experiences, it has never once occurred to us to take pictures . . .

    You can bet that will change after reading this article. Thanx so much for the tip-off!! :-)

  • jayne52

    I had a not so great experience with AMEX. My husband and I rented a Jeep Cherokee in Hartford Ct. from National. We drove straight to a Howard Johnsons to spend the night, planning to start our driving early the next morning. Our vehicle was stolen from the parking lot at the hotel while we slept. AMEX would not cover us because the vehicle was a JEEP product. Read the fine print on the credit card agreement coverage for rentals. It also requires that you file with your own auto insurance as well as the car rental- offered coverage before they will step in. Read the coverage if you plan on using a credit card insurance plan for back up.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    I am not a big fan of government regulations but I think that it is time for Congress to pass regulations for the car rental companies in regards to these situations.

  • Noah

    While I hardly trust car rental companies, isn’t one possibility that it was a real life, actual mistake? Those do happen. For example, maybe the collection company accidentally assigned the damages to the wrong customer number. I’m sure that many incorrect damage bills are scams, but some must also be errors. Companies make billing errors all the time.

  • Jerry Mandel

    Everyone says, “I will never rent from (name here) again.” When will people learn that the car rental firms have very little control over their franchisees? It is the franchisees that are cheating the customers, not the national firm.

  • Carver

    @Jerry

    @Chris

    I rent about 30 times a year. Should I be taking pictures at every rental. How prevalent is this issue of people being erroneously/fraudulently billed. I’ve never had such an experience in the past 10 years of regularly renting cars.

    @Arizona

    I’d be with you on this one, except I don’t know how much of a problem this is. Is it commonplace or just the one off occassion?

    @Jerry

    How do you know its the franchises?

  • Christie H

    Chris,
    We rented a car from Avis to go on a long distance trip during the winter. I tossed my coat on the back seat. When we stopped a while later I got my coat and saw it was covered in dog /cat hair. I called Avis to complain and they offered a new vehicle but since we were now 2 hours away from the Avis location I just asked them to note it. Also when we turned the car in 2 days later we again noted the hair and got a copy with the notation on it.. a month later they sent us a cleaning bill for $250. I called the number on the letter and left 17 messages over a 2 week period with no response. So finally I called a corporate number got a nice l

  • Christie H

    OOPS lady who told me to fax her the copy of the agreement with the noted condition of the rental and she’d take care of it. And to my surprise she did!

  • Dave

    Photos are good advice. However, it’s pretty easy to change EXIF data on a digital image were one inclined to be dishonest.

  • Chris in NC

    Here’s my take on the issue:
    - As Jayne mentioned, most credit cards are SECONDARY protection, which means that you have to file with your auto insurance first. The only card that I am aware of (and this may have changed lately) that is PRIMARY protection is Diners (which is now a MC product issued by Citibank).
    - There are many exclusions with credit cards. In general CC’s don’t cover specialty cars (and each one’s definition of specialty car varies), long term rentals and others. It is good advice to read the policies carefully before you rent.
    - Most auto policies cover rental cars. Even with the deductable and potential insurance rate increase, it is often a better value than buying the insurance
    - In the past when travelling on a corporate account, insurance was often negotiated into the rate

    When picking up a car, I always go through carefully, no matter how late or tired I am. I insist that everything be documented even though employees will say, “oh, don’t worry about it.” I still make them write it down. I use my digital camera and take photos in front of the employee. It is my belief that if I show care in documentation, they won’t try and pull a fast one later.

    When I return a car, I go through it with the check-in person. To minimize the chaos of returning a rental car, I often drive in, check in my luggage, THEN go back and return the rental car. Thus, I don’t have to worry about getting check-in luggage onto the shuttle and know that I go straight to the gate. I photograph and document the return process.

    I have to laugh when I read comments like, I will never use Avis, Hertz, Dollar, Budget, Payless, Alamo, etc again. Truth be told, I have had bad experiences with every company, except Hertz. Problem with Hertz is that their rates are consistantly higher than everyone else.

    @ Carver, Think you have a valid point about how widespread the problem really is. It would be interesting to find out.

    @ Chris (Elliott): This story is completely ridiculous. I too would love to hear someone from Avis explain how this occured. If you look at it from face value, it does appear to be fishy.

    RE: exif data. Yes it can be edited, and so can a date stamp. The best way is to get a picture in the lot with a newspaper, receipt or some other external time reference.

    Chris

  • Josh

    I’m also not generally in favor of over-regulation, but this cries out for it — any damage claim from a rental company should have to include *their* timestamped images, before and after, taken within a short time of rental and return, and sent with the initial damage claim (also with a short time limit; say a week or two). No evidence, no claim. This places very little burden on the rental company, and avoids a LOT of these kinds of disputes (unless, of course, their intention is to have some people pay even when they don’t owe)

    Customers can still take photos, and can use them to rebut the company’s evidence, but it’s utterly ridiculous that in this day and age of cheap digital cameras that this isn’t required.

    I think it’s Joe Farrell who’s given us the script when someone calls with a bogus claim — something like “I dispute that I owe anything and will not pay; please mail your evidence of claim”.

  • Robert

    A few years ago, I rented a car from Avis in Pittsburgh. I had the car for three days and most of the time it was parked in a secure garage. I returned the car, an employee inspected it, and we both signed off on the paperwork.

    Three months later I got a bill for close to $3000 for damage to the rear bumper; the billing agency suggested that I contact my insurance company which I did. My insurance company told me that when damage occurs to a vehicle, third party collection agencies just send the same exact letter to the last dozen or so people who rented the car in hopes that one of them will be scared enough to turn in the claim.

    On the advice of my insurance company, I wrote a strongly worded letter to the collection agency denying that I had anything to do with the damage, invoking the name of my insurance companies attorneys. Of course, within a week I received a letter from the collection agency apologizing for the “mistake.”

  • http://raymurray99@hotmail.com Ray

    I have a related but slightly different issue. I was recently overcharged for gas by National. I had rented at Orlando airport and dropped off the same day at the Dolphin Hotel, where there is a National franchise. Since it was after hours, I dropped it off (as instructed) at the valet. The valet noted the mileage on a return slip and that the tank was 3/4 full.

    The next day I received an email receipt showing a charge of $38 for gas and that I had driven the car over 550 miles.. I emailed the receipt to customer service and explained that I had only driven the car 70 miles, that the tank was over 3/4 full upon return, and that I had clearly been overcharged (unless they charge $10/gallon for refueling, which I know they do not). After some less than stellar responses and some back an forth, they finally credited me about $20 after I sent a copy of the valet’s return slip. They said that they had originally billed me for 10 gallons of gas and that the records show that the tank was 1/2 full upon return.

    All is well that ends well, but I can’t help but wonder if it was an honest mistake or part of a bigger effort to increase revenues (possibly just by that site)? I’m guessing most people won’t go through the effort to dispute a $20 over charge, especially if it is a business rental.

  • Lee Feinswog

    When I return a car, I video it as the rental person checks it out. Sometimes they ask why I’m doing it and I explain it’s to cover my butt. Never had a problem.

  • http://www.colwick.com Gregory Stewart

    As a corporate travel management company, we deal with this issue all the time. In fact I recently experienced this issue myself when traveling to Mexico with my wife. When we returned our rental car (which had a fair number of dings on it when we rented it…most noted on the rental agreement), they said there were new dings. The specific damage they were talking about wasn’t noted on OUR agreement (because there was probably too much to note!), so I asked that they provide me the previous 5 reports on the car showing the damage when rented and returned. I wanted to see if the damage had been noted on any prior rentals. The manager pulled the reports, looked at them, and advised me that I was in the clear because the damage had already been noted.

    In this case, if Avis took 11 months to bill the client, I would think that they rented the car AFTER your client’s rental. I would want to see at least the prior report and the report for the rental after your clients’ rental to verify that the damage didn’t exist before and did exist after. Since those reports are verified by a 3rd party (the renters’ involved in those rentals), they should be fairly reliable. Of course if the rental company told me they would not provide that information, then I would tell them where they can file the claim!

  • CH

    Rented a car from Avis/Budget at Toronto Airport in AM in Feb 2009. There was poor lightng in the garage, no employees on the lot and an automated exit gate. Returned the car that afternoon to catch my flight, and the person checking in said there was a big scatch on the side. This is while I am at the counter getting receipt since there was again no employee to check me in. They make me complete an incident report where I claimed no damage and noted all conditions. Used my best chicken scratch for contact info to make it that much harder. Fast forward to Nov 2009. I get a letter from them claiming $1300 in damages, backed up by photos date stamped the day after my rental. I immediately called the contact person on the letter and left him a voicemail. Never spoke to anyone as I did not get a return call. I then get a letter in Jan 2010 saying that the matter had been cleared up and that I did not owe anything. Nice try. I guess you have to throw some bait in the water if you want to catch some suckers. Seems to be a trend with Avis/Budget from above stories.

  • Steven

    Be careful of the Hertz franchisee at Duluth MN airport. They tried a similar “stunt” with me, claiming scratches on the rental car bumper that were not there previously. This on a car with over 20,000 rental miles on it (there are ALWAYS some scratches on rentals from people taking luggage in/out of the trunk). When I returned the car, it was snowing. You return it to the main parking lot, so there is no one to look over the car with you unless you drag the one person at their counter out, wipe off the snow (on the whole car!), etc. About 6 weeks later I get a phone call and then packet in the mail from a third-party claim agency in Salt Lake City claiming I had scratched the bumper and owed them over $1,000 for the damage. Photos sent along were fuzzy at best. A chunk of the cost was “lost days” (5 rental days)… although it would take 5 days to paint a bumper. Normally, as a GOLD Hertz member I wouldn’t have to worry about small scratches, etc. like this but the rules are different for a franchisee which is not a company owned location.

    My guess on this: they were hoping I’d pay up since I was more than a 1,000 miles away, didn’t have the “proof” this woman had in photographs, etc. I just turned it over to my company’s “loss management” department to handle since it was a work-related rental.

    Wonder how many people just pay up (or settle)? What a scam!

  • SeaJimm

    I have had something similar happen to me with National at the Dusseldorf Germany airport. I was on a work trip for 4 months and was flying in and out a lot. So I have a lot of rentals. A few months later I received a claim for over €500 for damage to a car. I was shocked. I contacted my Corporate Travel group who contacted National Corporate. When the car is checked out and back in, you get a damage report of the vehicale. Also, one of the benefits on our Corporate contract was full insurance coverage included in the rental price. My AMEX was charged by National Dusseldorf but then I was later reimbursed by Corporate. So I then rented again from National Dusseldorf and got the same thing for €140 this time. Luckily I had taken pictures of the car as a precaution. I also had the completed damage reports. I asked to see the manager on my next trip through the airport and asked him to show me the damage on the car as compared to the photos and damage report. Of course the car was not available. They did back down and refund the credit. That same day when picking up another car, I received a damage report that said no damage at all. I went out to the car and it was covered with scratches, a cracked windshield and two dents. I again asked for the manager and asked him to explain how all this damage was no damage. He changed the report and said someone working in th garage was not completing the reports correctly. I just thought scam and then rented from Hertz at least at that location.

    Also, on a different note, I rented from National Paris CDG in April 2009. Of course I returned the vehicle full. There is a Total petrol station just outside the airport. A few weeks later I was charged just under €36 for fuel. Of course I had pictures of the car and fuel gage (I learned that lesson in Milan). It is me or are the rental companies trying to take advantage of international customers with bogus charges? I think in the case of National Dusseldorf they passed on the charges and then figured I would never be back in the airport again. Surprise.

  • Dennis Doland

    My brother and his wife had the exact same kind of experience as Padilla at an Avis here in Anchorage, Alaska. Rented a compact car for a couple days. Brought it back at night. Nobody was there to check it in so a lot attendant just told them to drop the keys in the drop box and all would be well. Six or eight months later (I forget the exact details now) they got a bill for $1300 with photos showing two large dents in the hood. My brother (who lives in another AK city but had free flight privileges) flew up here and confronted the Avis manager face to face. The manager said he’d get back to my brother in a day or two but never did. My brother flew up again and walked right into the guys office and said “I’m sitting here until we get this squared away.” (My brother is 6’4″ and about 250 lbs, if you get the picture). The Avis manager hemmed and hawed and finally “decided” he would drop the charges. I think these guys find damage and just start going back through the rental history sending out claim letters until they find someone who buckles and pays the bill. What a scam!

  • Carol

    I had a similar problem with ALAMO/ERAC. In tough economic times the rental car agencies are going to make money any way they can.
    Do not tolerate the calls and threatening emails from their collection agencies. Attempting to “negotiate” with them is pointless. They are paid on commission. Go straight to the top and contact the President of the company. All it took was a well written letter and they were bending over backwards to accomodate me. Hoovers has the emails and phone numbers to all the top car rental executives. I even used Chris’ own interview to contact ERAC’s North American GM.

  • Jay Getty

    Years ago a rental company pulled that stunt on me. They go thru their files and if you do not buy their insurance, they try and shake you down 10 months later. Fraud and conspiracy to defraud…The same thing is probably happening with lease cars.

  • Lillian

    We will be renting a car in Florida next week. Thanks to all for your timely advice for both pick-up and return, and also should anything occur after the fact.

  • David

    I had the same exact thing happen to me with Enterprise Rent A Car . They contacted me and told me I had to pay 1,200.00 for damages. They called me 4 weeks later. I told them I was not paying for what they where looking for , and I said if you expect to get any money out of me i said to them you will have to sue me in court. I told them since I live in new york and this happened in Florida you come to New York and file a claim and see me in court. They decieded not to do so and drop the whole matter. They where looking to place the blame on me 4 weeks later and I was not going to give in and I didnt and I won.

    These companies try anything to make a customer pay for there mistakes.
    I have rented from Enterprise again after this and never had a problem again.

  • Nobody

    What do these rental companies do? Send you a bill asking for your signature to bill your credit card, even allow you to easily charge to another. They hope you don’t care or assume they are right and don’t fight it.
    The one time Dollar Rent a Car tried this on me, I said show me the evidence. They sent me photographs of the wrong side of the rear end, but enough of the claimed side that showed no damage anywhere. They also did not have my signature agreeing to the damage report (there was none) upon return. End of story except Dollar name show up in this blog.

    Dollar was fast
    on claim of wrongful hurt
    Nobody called the bluff
    Dollar face down in the dirt

    RIP
    Nobaody was faster

  • Stu

    Has two rental car scams attempted in the past 6 months.

    Enterprise claimed I dented a rear door. First they claimed it was a new dent, but I had the condition report prior to rental that listed the dent. They told me I made the dent bigger. My insurance company told them to take a hike, and they did.

    Last week I rented a car from Hertz. After I get my credit card bill there is an $11 fee from “platepass.com”. $1 for a toll in Florida and a $10 service charge. No bill or explanation, just a mystery charge on my credit card. I have my own toll-tag for Florida, and can prove that the toll they were charging me for, with a 1000% service fee, was billed to my own electronic tag. What a scam!!

  • dave

    In other words, when you travel go to a notary public when you rent a car and drop it off to sign affidavit that you did not damage the car and then have your lawyer with you when you board an airplane saying it violates the fourth amendment for unwarranted searches on americans. notice how chertoff, is in business with the company that sells those x ray machines to the airports.