Careful with that car rental!

Return vehicle line at Sixt - Handy Entertainment

I had a fast car. Not.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zivgLfXJyYD4XiTPxKXrl9suBk8giIIg/view?usp=sharing (The video.)

How Sixt tried to pull a fast one

Sixt: A love story

I used to love Sixt. They didn’t know I had rented from them previously on many occasions because I had other people named as drivers and signatories.

Business Trip & Training

I recently rented a car from them for a business trip in Ft. Myers, FL through Autoslash (who I highly recommend).

Traveling for business with a team member, part of the trip was about showing him our processes and procedures.

This should never happen

The car was reserved, the agent was overly helpful, taking my phone to scan a document at one point. I explained to our guy that this should NEVER happen.

ALWAYS inspect your vehicle

We were so tired and hungry. When we finally received the vehicle, I showed him how I videotape the entire vehicle inside and out, while also commenting any on dirt or dings I see, and supplement it all with photos. That’s what this post is about: ALWAYS document your rental vehicles. You should also always inspect the tires, particularly the depth of the tread.

QR Codes for check out? No.

There were no physical documents I was given to note any discrepancies—just a QR code, which I disregarded for many reasons (first and foremost being security).

Upon returning the vehicle, I did the same routine, even though there was a line and a nice agent from Sixt who just wanted me to sign that I was returning it.

The email

Lo and behold about 5 days later (clutch those pearls tight, sweeties!) I received an email from Sixt noting the ‘damages—a deep scratch down to the metal’ that the vehicle had sustained while in my possession.

The evidence

They said if had anything to dispute the claim, I should send it all to them. I only sent them one video with the full walk-around inspection at pickup (linked at the top of this article), while commenting on the streak of dirt or little ‘dent’ in the back.

They dropped their claim a few weeks later.

How to mess up a relationship

How do you do business?

Who do you do business with?

Was this about politely informing the agent at check in that I wouldn’t need any damage and collision coverage? Was it because I politely requested she give me my phone back? Or was it because I’d said I didn’t want the zippy little sports car, just the subcompact I’d requested?

Who knows.

Will I do business with Sixt in the future? Given any choices, no.