HI TO ALL.
Recently rented a car from ASAP rentals. Normal procedure at front desk, gave the car a once over and checked the fuel gauge, all ok. After leaving the airport and driving a few Klms I noticed a very small stone chip in the front windscreen. At that stage was not to concerned, however, on the return however, things took a change. We dropped the car back with full fuel tank and no damage. The ASAP member inspected the car and gave the green light, he did not mark the sheet with any damage and circled the fuel tab as full and then I asked him to sign the document, which he did, only after I prompted him. He did not offer a copy at that stage. The plot thickens, after about 15 mins my wife gets a phone call from ASAP rentals asking if we had insurance for the hire car as there was damage to the front windscreen. Luckily we had not check in for our flight, and headed back to the rental desk. The young girl get asking for insurance to cover the damage, I told her the we do have insurancs, however would not be paying as the paper had been signed off by the staff as all good. I asked for a copy of the return sheet and then showed her the car was cleared of any defects. She was not impressed that I challenged her. I told her I was happy to call my lawyer to talk to her, she declined and said ok you can go. The excess money was retured to my card 2 days later.
This was a borderline scam, as the guy checking the car was hoping that I would just accept his word that all was good walk away, then when it was too late in the day and we had flown out, they would find damage somewhere and try to scam you out of money. I think the guy was trying to cover up his mistake.
1. Check every square inch of the car.
2.Take pictures of the car defects before driving off.
3. Make sure the return slip is signed off and you get a hard or digital copy.
Good luck.