The case

The protagonist of this case is an Italian lady travelling with her friend. After landing at the airport in Germany, the two women go to pick up the car they rented to start their road trip. The lady noticed some scratches on the vehicle and complained about them. Despite the insistence of the customer, the car rental agent refused to signal the scratches on the delivery form, and calmed her down saying that no damages would be charged.

A wise choice

By no means convinced by such reassurance, the lady took a few photos of the car in order to avoid a possible future controversy. At the end of the rental, the same form was delivered without any evidence of damage to the vehicle.

An unpleasant surprise

Only a few weeks later, when the lady returned to Italy, her credit card was unexpectedly charged a large amount of money because of the damages.

The European Small Claims procedure

At that point, our consumer asked Adiconsum Verona for assistance: when the lawyer got a negative response to the complaints at the Italian headquarters of the rental company, he initiated the European Small Claims Procedure with the Justice of the Peace in Verona.

At first, the presence of scratches before the delivery of the vehicle was objected, but the circumstance was proven right by the photographic documentation with the exact date of the rental and the testimony of the travel companion.

A favourable sentence

After a few months, a favourable sentence was issued for the consumercondemning the foreign car rental company to repay the illegitimate charge, in addition to interests and legal expenses.

Published @ consumerchampion.eu