Take a picture of your rental vehicle — your car rental company is

carNext time you rent a car, take a picture of it. No, seriously. Whip out your digital camera and take a snapshot.

Your car rental company might be.

Hertz said yesterday it plans to introduce a new photographic inspection system to take pictures of its cars before and after they’re rented. Such applications have been available for years, but they haven’t been adopted on this scale until now.

The company says it loses $170 million in damage payments a year, which may be true. But it’s also true that many car renters lose hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of dollars at a time when car rental companies like Hertz falsely accuse them of damaging their cars.

This could ensure that innocent drives don’t have to pay for the mistakes of others, and will probably save Hertz a lot of money, too.

“There will be no discussion because the document would clearly show any incremental damage,” Hertz chief executive Mark Frissora told Bloomberg News. “This keeps customers from being placed in a confrontational position and saves time.”

So why take a picture of your rental car? Because even cameras can lie.

If damage is discovered, Hertz will be the only party with a photographic record. I’m not saying a car rental company would manipulate the image (that’s not the Hertz way) but wouldn’t it be better to have your own record — just in case?

Go on. Your rental car is ready for its close-up.

(Hat tip to Michael and thanks to Josh Bancroft/Flickr Creative Commons, for the image)

  • Erik Johnson

    Wish I would have thought of that and had my camera along last week. I had a Hertz rental in Milwaukee. Car had to be among the worst I’ve ever rented. Massive hail damage. Stains all over the seats. 30,000+ miles. And I’m a #1 Gold Five Star member. Can’t imagine what kinds of cars they’re dumping on the occasional renter these days.

  • http://www.alaskatravelgram.com Scott McMurren

    I asked my friend at Avis in Kodiak, AK to take a picture of the knife marks on the hood of his $33,000 car after folks practiced their fish-filleting skills. UNBELIEVABLE.

  • Bill

    I do take pictures, but I’m glad they plan to also. It’ll make things a lot easier.

  • SirWired

    I am so glad my corporate contract (which I can use for personal travel) includes the LDW. As long as I hand them the keys, it doesn’t matter if the smashed remains had to be towed in… It’s saved me a lot of hassle about scratches and dings.

  • Alan Fiermonte

    I think someone should just invent the “Trustworthy Traveler High-Def Supplier-Oversight Belt Camera” to record the entire travel and hospitality experience from soup to nuts. The trust but verify, mutually assured accusations regime has come to travel. Travelers can wear plastic button that disclose: “My travel experience is being videotaped for training and quality assurance.” We (the travelers) can put up a collaborative web site called TripAccuser.com (or TravelShaft.com or Sh*ttyTravelSupplierTube.com). And then let the supplier chips fall where they may. Makes perfect sense to me.

  • Marvellous Marv

    It would make better sense to take at least four pictures – front, rear, and each side. One photo just won’t do the job. And if you notice some damage, be it a dent, scratches, or whatever, before leaving, take a few close-ups of that damage. If you use your digital camera, be sure to have the date and time recording feature turned on.

  • Josh

    I think this is a good thing in general — shift some of the burden of proof onto the rental company. Show me a photo of damage after compared against none before and it’s much easier to believe that I’m responsible.

    I do think that everyone (including the rental companies) needs to properly define damage responsibility, however. Abandoning a car to flood, maybe, but I still contend that a hailstorm that would have done just the same damage to the car if unrented on the lot not only isn’t reasonable to charge for, but a little dimpling probably doesn’t need to be fixed at all (especially when it takes special lighting to see it). Same with incidental door dings that come from other cars in a parking lot; that’s just normal wear and tear. Save the charges for *real* damage to the car.

  • http://www.best-car-rental-tips.com Paula

    I agree with Marv “It would make better sense to take at least four pictures – front, rear, and each side. One photo just won’t do the job. And if you notice some damage, be it a dent, scratches, or whatever, before leaving, take a few close-ups of that damage. If you use your digital camera, be sure to have the date and time recording feature turned on.” … A must do!

    I think that photos from both the customers and the car rental companies is a great idea.. keeps both sides accountable!

  • KathyJ

    @Josh: were you involved in or know of a situation where a rental company charged the customer for hail damage or other weather-related damage? That sounds like an interesting story.

  • Josh

    @KathyJ: Not personally, but such has been reported here on Christopher’s site — and in at least one case, there had been no hailstorm in the area during the rental time, and the so-called “damage” was only found by careful checking under a lighted tent (so it was obviously prior “damage”).

    My experience so far (knock on wood) has been the opposite — agents are very careful to walk the car at rental time (while trying to convince me to buy the insurance because look how closely they inspect), but at return I’ve never had an issue. I’m pretty careful with other peoples’ things, though (but I wouldn’t be able to avoid hail or a parking lot ding).

  • Les Wilder

    An excellent idea. Digital images can be kept for a few weeks or months and deleted at no cost when no longer needed. However, one suggestion:
    Since date stamps in cameras can be manipulated (and a contentious rental company will know this) it would be helpful to have the front page of the current day’s newspaper visible in each photo. It’s an old, low-tech system, simple and effective.

    The worst looking rental I ever had was in Jerusalem. The poor thing was battered on every panel. I took it happily – after all, if there was new damage who would notice?

  • Don

    Rented in Las Vegas – cars are in a darkened garage – you take your pick – couldn’t find one without damage of some sort or severe smoke odor; finally accepted a vehicle, attendant gave us a damage report form in the darkened garage to complete – I insisted on the car being moved into a lighted area and a flashlight to examine it – found several areas of damage not noticeable in the darkened garage; took pics with my camera phone (date data cannot be changed), and upon leaving the lot asked the gate attendant to go over the vehicle with me again – he noticed more damage and just chuckled “good catch fella”. Upon return car was meticulously gone over by agent and several damage areas were noted – until I showed her my pictures and additional notations on the form by the gate agent. She commented she could get fired for not finding enough damage on returned vehicles.

  • Nancy Miller

    as Les above points out – here’s the potential problem – you take a picture showing a big old dent in the left side of the car at pickup and show that to Hertz (or whoever) saying ‘it was like this when i picked it up’ – and even a newspaper in the photo doesn’t really prove the date that the photo was taken (it only would prove it wasn’t taken any EARLIER than the paper’s publication date)
    (and for that matter, how would we know that the rental company’s date stamps are 100% accurate? they could also take a photo of the undamaged vehicle at any time and claim that was its condition when the renter picked it up)

    the only real defense is to have the agent sign/initial the rental agreement with any damage seen at the time of pickup

    I know that Enterprise is very very picky about anything, and so I’m very careful to note even a smudge on their cars and to make sure the agent agrees it was there when I picked it up – they usually give you their business cards anyway so at least you have a witness from their side

  • Pam Brissette

    I have done this for years, and before I had a digital camera, I used to walk around the car and note any damage. I would then point that out before I drove off the lot and made sure it was marked on our paperwork.
    None of this helped me on our 2007 trip to South Africa however. We rented a car from the airport with National. When we returned the car we were informed that the spare tire(located under the trunk which I never thought to check) was missing. Our car was in a secure garage at my friend’s home the entire time so I know we weren’t robbed. Also it was locked and there was no signs of forced entry. Obviously I concluded the tire had never been there to begin with and refused to pay the $350 bill for it. I spoke to the store manager and obtained all the paperwork they had on file. As soon as I returned to the States, I contacted National and sent them all the information I had. They reversed the charges immediately and apologized.
    It made me wonder though how often this happens to customers and how many just pay up without fighting. I will never rent another car without double checking the equipment, an error I almost paid for.

  • ed

    Even better…most phones now adays have cameras. So if you have a smartphone, download an app called Shozu, configure it to upload pics to one of the social photograph sites…flikr, Photobucket, or many of the others…This way, you can take pictures of your rental car and immediately upload them to a remote site incase something happens to your phone, or you accidentally delete the photos…
    Ed

  • Alice

    I had a problem with an Avis rental in Germany. We left the car before a 6 am flight, before the Avis counter was open, so no one could check it out with us. Our credit card bill charged us for damage–when we complained, the first photos Avis sent us showed no damage that we could tell, and when we refused to pay the credit card charge, they sent us a bunch of papers in German showing what appeared to be a scratch underneath the car next to the wheel–a place where we certainly would not have looked before or after the rental–and certainly not worth the $1100 they tried to charge us…
    My son-in-law had a similar problem with Dollar in Las Vegas–his credit card was charged for damage on a rental, but fortunately a Dollar employee had signed off on it–unlike us, he did not leave the car without being sure that someone checked it over with him.
    I am sure photos help, but one should be sure to check with an employee before and after (remember this in case of early flights!!)–and it seems as though we have to check under the car too!!
    Of course, there is always LDW…the present experience of myself and others highlights that it may be necessary. Even if we have car rental insurance on our own auto policy, we would face a problem with increased insurance costs it the rental companies keep charging us for dings (whether we did them or not…)

  • P.Anderson.

    On a recent trip to Hungary I hired a car from Buchbinder at Vienna.
    When I returned the car (Hyudai 110) I was told (in German) that there was a scratch on the wing mirror, which I tried to explain was mearly a black rubber mark that could be easily removed with a damp cloth. Not conversent in German I assumed that the matter was sorted.
    Weeks later when I recieved my credit card bill I dicovered that a deduction of over 400Euros had been made. After many phone calls and e-mails I managed to get a bill from Buchbinder for the ficticious repairs. It came as an e-mail on unheaded note paper and I can only say that the person who wrote it had a vivid imagination. I was charged for a new mirror, spraying of the mirror and refitting. A total of over 600Euros. My payment was for the excess on the agreement. What I found more amazing was that the repair was made on the same day as the car was returned, not bad considering the car was returned in the afternoon.
    It appears that without the help of an expensive lawyer I have no hope of getting my money back.Cheap rentals are not always what they seem.

  • Josh

    Kodiak alaska AVIS claims that Providence Hospital Vechile loaned for employment was returned damaged with quarter tank of gas remaining and only used within 48 hrs. Mileage was 28 miles and apparently car was damaged beyond belief when returned. BEWARE AVIS LIES for KODIAK HOSPITAL they are all friends and out for money. IF you come in for work related stuff stop now! THANK GOD for pictures etc to protect me. I was set up and want to warn others. Take pictures people! People lie and need money these days. We have to be ahead of the game. Can’t believe people lie and try to destroy people for money. What ever happened to society. Its so sad.

  • Mekhong Kurt

    Good article, the sort of item that practically begs
    periodic reposting. @ed (August 22, 2009 at 5:11 am) makes the
    excellent point to upload your pictures of your photos to some site
    such as Flickr (there are numerous free ones), a point I thought of
    while reading the article. Since such a site has a record of the
    time and date the photos were uploaded, someone renting a car has
    an indpendent — and, importantly, entirely unilvoved and
    disinterested — back-up. If a person’s camera or cellphone doesn’t
    have an immediate upload capability, a person can, and should
    (IMHO) get to a computer ASAP to get the pics online. No one
    mentioned taking at least one photo of the car’s roof. I would do
    that, and also take shots of the interior, engine compartment,
    glove box (or any other enclosed storage space in the passenger
    cab), and trunk (if there is one). And a close-up pf the odometer.
    I also feel a *video* is useful — especially if you can record the
    agent agreeeing, “Yeah, that’s one heckuva ding from a hailstone”
    or some such. And upload *it,* too. As others have noted, getting
    an agent’s signed comments, or at least signature on yours, is
    good. So is having a witness of your own (though that’s not always
    possible or practical, true). Finally, while I might not go as far
    as the person who yearns to record his travel experience start to
    finish, I see nothing wrong with doing all this with hotel rooms,
    other vehicle rentals (boats, dune buggys, private airplanes,
    bicycles, motorcycles, etc. etc. etc.).

  • Jennifer

    For the last couple of years, I always take photos of my rental car before leaving the lot. Being able to prove the timing of the photo, that’s always been a question in my mind. Typically I try to make sure I get a photo of the damage with some angles showing that it was taken in the rental lot, not the return lane. At a lot of places you can’t drive back into the rental lot, the only option being to leave the car in the return area where employees are waiting (at least during normal business hours.) I’ve also tried to get a couple of employees in the background as well. Will employee presence prove time/date? It would be a long shot, but if the rental company is honest, I figure they could look at timecards to confirm that the people in the photo were there the day/time I rented the car.

    But I like the last poster’s idea to take video of the car’s damage. Starting and ending the video with a shot of the odometer would be pretty solid proof.