Always be aware and read the fine print.
When you hire a car always pay the extras knowing you are covered for anything and everything. I always tick all the boxes leaving no room for doubt and if you have any type of accident you have no worries. This car in particular was a Mercedes Sports and hard to believe was the cheapest option which it was as who wants a convertible in winter.
These are the photographs I received in an email yesterday showing some damage to the hire car I was using. This was not caused by myself as I would have known if I had bumped the front. The sensors let you know how close or how far away you are and I would think this damage was done by the pick up driver. When he collected the car he took a good 40 minutes double checking when doing the hand over. There was no damage and he was more concerned about the spare wheel. My guess it was underneath the boot floor as I had never even checked if there was one and maybe I should have. With the hand over concentrating on a spare wheel I was wondering if there was a scam in progress, but then again I was covered.
When the pick up driver was collecting the vehicle I had to show him how the gears worked and wondered if the vehicle would make it back in one piece. This accident damage report does not affect me in any way financially because I never used credit card and used a debit card which has already been refunded the all risk 200 GBP deposit.
What this looks like is the collection driver bumped the car and is now covering himself trying to swing the blame. These photos are 7 days after I had already handed the car back and if there was a problem you would have expected the very next day or within 24 hours.
This will not be going any further as I have rejected their claims and at the time was fully covered. If they want to submit for insurance purposes they can do what they want so this does not involve myself. If I had not been fully insured then I would be paying for this damage through the extra 2000 GBP they take as an extra which they refund you as their risk cover.
I am sure most use credit cards to hire vehicles and by now they would have checked they cannot milk me and this case is now closed. This is another reason to use a debit card when hiring vehicles as you would be paying far less if you did damage the vehicle.
The car hire company in Faro was a Skoda and not a Mercedes sports and the hand over was really basic checking the fuel gauge and taking the keys back. When you are hiring a vehicle all you want is simplicity and I will use that company again unlike the UK company who have lost my trust and confidence.