Hiya, just very quickly, my car has been in for repair and whilst it has been in, a hire car company - booked by my insurer - gave me an absolute warship of a car its place (mine is a Volvo V40, the borrowed car is a luxury sedan - think BMW 7 series / Audi A8 size) so it’s been a bit overwhelming to drive and I’ve not got used to the dimensions at all.
I’m due to take it back tomorrow but have just noticed some very minor but noticeable scratches on three of the alloy spokes - each one of which is smaller than a 50p piece. I’m 99% sure I didn’t do it as it’s literally been driven from my house to work, then back again a couple of times and that’s it - but it’s also possible that I did and with the car being so soundproofed etc it’s possible it happened and I didn’t notice.
I was wondering what the best course of action is. Just take it back and feign ignorance, tell them “look, I’m sure I didn’t do this but in the interests of openness I found these scratches” or should I pick up a wheel scratch repair kit and try and buff it out before tomorrow? Should I stop worrying?
I wasn’t given an option of a damage waiver like I would have been with a hire car so a bit paranoid about what they might do if they get narky about it.
Any help would be super welcome. Cheers.
I’m due to take it back tomorrow but have just noticed some very minor but noticeable scratches on three of the alloy spokes - each one of which is smaller than a 50p piece. I’m 99% sure I didn’t do it as it’s literally been driven from my house to work, then back again a couple of times and that’s it - but it’s also possible that I did and with the car being so soundproofed etc it’s possible it happened and I didn’t notice.
I was wondering what the best course of action is. Just take it back and feign ignorance, tell them “look, I’m sure I didn’t do this but in the interests of openness I found these scratches” or should I pick up a wheel scratch repair kit and try and buff it out before tomorrow? Should I stop worrying?
I wasn’t given an option of a damage waiver like I would have been with a hire car so a bit paranoid about what they might do if they get narky about it.
Any help would be super welcome. Cheers.
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23 Comments
sorted byIf they do say anything say it was there when you had it. Marks you are making out are within wear and tear tolerances anyway from BVRLA.
You can go back in and say nothing and they'd probably not see the scratches, they don't often go over the car with a fine tooth comb, and you'd go on your merry way.
You can also go in a feign ignorance and say the scratches were there when you got them but didn't see or report it. They'd probably take your word for it as it's not worth he hassle to argue over a small alloy scuff. Then you'll go on your merry way.
Finally, you can go in and be honest and say the car was a bit big and overwhelming and you accidentally scuff a tiny bit of the alloy. They'd probably see you're being honest and not charge you and you'd be on your merry way.
It's very unlikely they would charge you if it's not major damage Imo... However, it's at the discretion of the lease company.
On the flip side, being a hire car and a 7 series, i would assume it has diamond wheels, which are expensive to repair/ cut... and also, hire car places definitely check the wheels for damage. However, again if there's no damage sheet they wont have much to stand on.
Annoyingly the wheels have circular micro grooves on them (a bit like grooves in a vinyl record) and they also have a clear veneer over the top of them (maybe this is what you mean by diamond cut but I am an absolute moron when it comes to cars), so I think they’d be almost impossible to repair myself. Just wish I’d refused the car when I got it but they said it was the only one available
I find it's always best to be honest, however if you aren't certain you caused it in this case it might be worth not mentioning it?
We recently received a courtesy car that had a few issues - my wife pointing them out and they stated that they knew about them already... That time they messed us about as we needed a minimum of 6 seats and they gave us a 5 seater (running on fumes too!)
Was a slog though.
On a serious note, I doubt you did all three without noticing.
Absolutely do not admit liability.
I pointed out a nasty scratch as they handed the car over to me and they countered 'it's under x cm's'. And that was that. The damage wasn't logged handing the car over to me and the damage wasn't logged handing it back*. Because it was below the size they cared about.
*in fact - they didn't even look at the car when they took it back (edited)