I love reading threads like these. No matter how careful I am, there is always something more I can learn from others to protect myself.
My own additions would be
- no matter how far from the desk your car is, at least phone and report damage before you drive away. Walk back if there is no company representative attending the pickup zone and get it marked/noted and initialled. Take notes about lack of light, darkness, wet car etc and state and ask for signature that you have been unable to inspect the car fully due to these factors. if the desk had closed by the time you reached your car and found the damage before driving away then call promptly at opening time the following day and have the pre-existing damage noted.
- check the interior of the car too. Cigarette burns on seats are a favorite. Also check if the interior smells of smoke if you are a nonsmoker. check basic things like the parcel shelf are not missing.
- be aware that annual excess coverage policies often do not cover damage to the roof, the interior, and sometimes even glass and tyres. Avoid those. Sometimes these things are excluded from excess waiver bought from the hire company too.
- even if you read the rate composition, and conditions of contract with a fine toothcomb when you booked, no matter how late it is when you get to the desk to pick up the car, READ AGAIN WHAT THEY ASK YOU TO SIGN. READ BOTH SIDES. Watch out for boxes ticked taking extra insurances etc., even when you specifically declined them when you booked. Don't feel sorry for the person on the desk who waited for your flight. Check it anyway. As happened to me at Hertz Geneva, that person may well have ticked expensive things you already said you didn't want. If you sign it you agree it, even if it's completely different to what you booked.
Oh, and that was the car that had what appeared to be perfect round bulletholes in the headlights. And it was apparently the last car left, parked really far away in a dark corner of the garage.
- check what extra equipment should be in the car. This may include the car manual, a spare tyre, a jack, a reflective vest, the car documents or a copy of them etc, or not, depending on the country and which hire company. For example never take a hire car without a reflective vest in Italy or France and you may need one for every occupant in some countries. If it's not there and the hire company says it's there or should be, insist on having the missing item noted and initialled before you leave if you are prepared to take the car away without it.
- I never mind ostentatiously taking photographs of the car in front of staff if necessary.
- Always enquire about possible tolls on routes you are planning to drive. Sometimes these are machine assessed and sometimes they can only be paid in advance on a website (like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco) if you are not a local with a pass. There may be no toll booth. By the time any fine or penalty filters through the rental co. back to you, it will have been multiplied many times. Same for speed limits, check them with the hire company before you leave.
- Enquire when you pick up the car about which petrol stations are nearest the airport on the way back in the direction you'll be coming back from. Keep all your petrol receipts especially the last one.
- when you drop the car always have it checked there and then by a member of staff and the good condition of the car signed for and the rental "closed". Leaving a car and putting the documents/key through the letterbox the company provides makes it much more likely a variety of scams will be tried. For this reason, schedule not to drop cars when the office is closed if you possibly can.
- when you drop the car check the rate again that you are being charged on the document that you sign. Earlier this summer Hertz at Toulouse airport decided to apply rules from a completely different rate code to my rental meaning they tried to charge me about 750 euros when I dropped the car instead of about 90. Luckily I had screenshotted the entire contract and read it with a fine toothcomb when I booked. The manager of the Hertz office extended the 'discussion' clearly hoping I would have a flight to make. I refused to sign the documentation, ostentatiously photographed the car from every angle in front of staff (to indicate to them not to try any further frauds) and phoned Hertz corporate as soon as I got to the lounge. They sorted it immediately.
- IME some branches are just worse than others of the same company. And in some countries you need to be more wary overall, than in some others.
- being a return customer at the same branch does help. It might take 3 or 4 rentals before they recognise you but then you will mostly get cars with fewer problems. Even if they recognise me returning, if there's been a gap for a while since I've been to that branch then I am more cautious about checking the car they give me.
- IME being a Gold customer (Hertz) does help if there are any problems although it's not a guarantee.
- And reading this thread I won't be hiring from Hertz Sydney anytime soon