Do These Two Things Every Time You Rent a Car
Many of us are desperate to hit the road and see something – anything – other than the inside of our house this spring. Combine that desperation with a nationwide rental car shortage , and you might be so relieved that you actually win a car that you jump into the driver’s seat and drive before someone else grabs what is rightfully yours. But before you break out of the party, there are two things you must do so that in the future you do not pay for damage that you did not cause, or receive a fine for something that you should not be responsible for.
To start (and end) with Reddit user u/rvtsazap reminding us to document every scratch and dent on a car as soon as you receive it, and again right before you return it:
Take some photos from all angles to prove you returned it in the same condition you rented it in and keep them for at least a few weeks. Before renting, make sure that there are no chips on the windshield. Some unscrupulous companies tend to charge customers for pre-existing scratches and dents.
Edit: According to the car rental technician who wrote below, they drive over 200 cars per day. Thus including human error on the part of car rental agencies.
Another thing you want to check right now? The registration of your rental car is up to date. As Reddit user u/Bac_Guai writes :
It sounds silly, but until 2 years ago I never looked at the license plates of rented cars. Rented over 100 in my life. Until I drove across the country and got pulled over for expired tags. Of course, when I went out to look, they expired 2 months. The rental company says they updated them, but because the car was in a different branch in another state, they were unable to put the sticker on. Save your ticket, check the sign.
Of course, not all states still use license plate stickers to easily communicate vehicle registration status—my home state of Pennsylvania, for example, phased them out in late 2016 (instead, law enforcement has access to a database that checks registration status). vehicle). Registration). Check the license plate first, and if the license plate sticker has expired, ask for additional proof of registration before driving off. In some cases, the vehicle registration certificate may indeed be updated, but the tags are still in the office.