ancestry
Trees Without Roots Fall Over
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2009
- Messages
- 5,008
I am sitting at the Orlando airport waiting for our flight home. I did something fairly stupid and wanted to post about it to make sure that no one else does the same thing.
We rarely get a rental car. In fact I think this is perhaps only the 2nd or maybe the 3rd time I have ever had a rental car in my entire life.
We rented from Alamo. When we arrived on Saturday afternoon we checked in at the kiosk and went out to the garage to pick-up our car. We had rented a mid-sized car and there were very few of them in the garage. Most of the mid-sized car section was empty so our selection was limited to 2 or 3 vehicles.
We went to a black Chevy HHR. We glanced at the car on the sides and the back but did not do a very careful detailed inspection of it. The front of the car was parked up against a pole in the garage so we couldn't walk around the front of it. Plus the garage was dark and the car was black and our eyes hadn't adjusted to the low light after being out in the sunlight while walking to the rental car section.
We got in the car and left. Easy peasy.
Well.....we stopped at the grocery store on the way to the hotel. At the grocery store in the bright sunlight there were scuff marks all over the front bumper.
No dents or scratches but pretty heavy duty scuff marks. There was also a scratch in the passenger rear door that was not noticeable at all in the garage in the low level light.
Of course when we returned the rental car today the lady who checked the car back in made a deal of the scuff marks on the bumper and on the back passenger door. We explained to her that it was like that when we got the car. She asked if it was noted on our rental agreement. We explained that it was not because we had gotten our rental agreement from the kiosk before picking out the car. The lady at the gate didn't give us any additional paperwork other than a map when we exited. Plus the scratches were not noticeable in the dark garage and the front of the car was parked up against the pole so there was no way that we could have inspected the bumper where the car was parked. Well the car return lady said she didn't think it would be a problem but of course I am worried sick about this.
I'm really hoping that this minor damage was noted on the contract of the person who had that car previously so that it won't be attributed to us.
Moral of the story is -- always check your rental car for any damages in full BEFORE leaving the rental car garage, even if that means that you have to move the car to an area that has better lighting.
We rarely get a rental car. In fact I think this is perhaps only the 2nd or maybe the 3rd time I have ever had a rental car in my entire life.
We rented from Alamo. When we arrived on Saturday afternoon we checked in at the kiosk and went out to the garage to pick-up our car. We had rented a mid-sized car and there were very few of them in the garage. Most of the mid-sized car section was empty so our selection was limited to 2 or 3 vehicles.
We went to a black Chevy HHR. We glanced at the car on the sides and the back but did not do a very careful detailed inspection of it. The front of the car was parked up against a pole in the garage so we couldn't walk around the front of it. Plus the garage was dark and the car was black and our eyes hadn't adjusted to the low light after being out in the sunlight while walking to the rental car section.
We got in the car and left. Easy peasy.
Well.....we stopped at the grocery store on the way to the hotel. At the grocery store in the bright sunlight there were scuff marks all over the front bumper.
No dents or scratches but pretty heavy duty scuff marks. There was also a scratch in the passenger rear door that was not noticeable at all in the garage in the low level light.Of course when we returned the rental car today the lady who checked the car back in made a deal of the scuff marks on the bumper and on the back passenger door. We explained to her that it was like that when we got the car. She asked if it was noted on our rental agreement. We explained that it was not because we had gotten our rental agreement from the kiosk before picking out the car. The lady at the gate didn't give us any additional paperwork other than a map when we exited. Plus the scratches were not noticeable in the dark garage and the front of the car was parked up against the pole so there was no way that we could have inspected the bumper where the car was parked. Well the car return lady said she didn't think it would be a problem but of course I am worried sick about this.
I'm really hoping that this minor damage was noted on the contract of the person who had that car previously so that it won't be attributed to us.
Moral of the story is -- always check your rental car for any damages in full BEFORE leaving the rental car garage, even if that means that you have to move the car to an area that has better lighting.
