I think this could be pretty hopeless unless you can prove that the damage occured before / after.

With most rental you should check the car at the time when you take it over and usually better to stay with them until they do the same review. If you failed to do so, you are liable.

What you could pershaps look at is if you have a menage / civil liability insurance aleady concluded, whether this would cover driving 3rd party cars. If it does, your cost might be covered partially at least. Call the insurance co ASAP and they will even take over the admin part for you.

Anyhow, why dont you share the name of the rental company, maybe someone also had some similar experience with them. You never know.

I did hear some weird stories from Patrick Location like for a tiny sctatch they charged 2K CHF on some vans that was also in a bad shape before rental but this was years ago.

Hi,

as Reka said checking before and after the car when renting is always a good thing to do, which I guess you did as you said that you have rent many cars.

Unless you have a legal protection insurance (which should have been done before the done) you may contact them and they will take car of the issue with you. If not, depending of the amount requested by rental Cie you may wish to find a lawyer or legal permanence to assist you but it will in any case cost you more for less service than if you had a legal protection insurance. (By the Way, Glocals members benefit of 15% discounts on legal protection insurances)

Concerning what Reka said about the insurance cover that you may have from your household insurance (liability), 3rd part's car driving, this will have no effect at all for rental car issues.

3rd part's car driving cover in the liability insurance, only covers you if you borrow someone's car (for free) and it will pay for the damages done to the car (if no comprehensive insurance) or it will pay for the deductible and if your friend looses his bonus, it will pay his insurance premium increases.

Cheers

Aymeric

Glocals insurance representative @Allianz

Suck it up and move on. Be more careful next time. 

thanks for clarifying this as I was informed slightly differently.

Aleks, if you pay the rental with your personal Visa card, you may have some extra insurance there.

Everytime I rent a car, I film or take a picture of every dent/scratch and I do that before leaving the parking lot of the rental company. Once, I received an invoice from Thrifty after I returned the car to GVA airport, I sent them the pictures to prove that the scratch was already there and they voided the invoice. I also do that when I rent a boat or an apartment to make sure I have a dated record of any existing damage.