Be careful when renting vehicles from BLUU car rental.

I rented a vehicle from BLUU car rental in March 2023

My experience was as follows.

I landed in Cape town with my family and I went on to collect the key from the rental office and I was given the damage check sheet to sign, which was completed beforehand by one of the representatives, Obviously I signed it, as the sheet stated it was checked on the day of collection and there where no damages.

We made our way to the vehicle and as we got to the vehicle there were no one present to check the vehicle with me for any damages, So with singing the sheet in the office I dint bother to check the vehicle myself.

On my return to the rental office, the person checking in the vehicles noticed a small chip on the bonnet, I told him that there were no incidents whatsoever, and that the chip was probably there when I collected the vehicle, That's when he asked me for the check sheet, which I presented to him, but also stating that no one was present to inspect the vehicle with me.

Now I received an invoice to repair a small chip on the bonnet, which amounts to R3949.09. When I queried this, the only reply I got was, 2 very low quality photos of the vehicle, stating you can clearly see that there were no chip on the bonnet, and there were no timestamp on the photos, so how would I know when prior to me renting the vehicle it was taken.

And a screen shot of the following, it is the renters ONUS to check the vehicle themselves, they cant afford for staff to walk 200 customers to their vehicles everyday.

Nowhere was it mentioned, please if no one is outside to assist you, check the vehicle yourself, or call someone to assist. This was not mentioned to me once, had it been mentioned beforehand, I would have taken the time to thoroughly check the vehicle myself for any damages.

Now I am liable for damages that may have been present on the vehicle before I collected it. A very painfull lesson.

I feel it is very unfair and very convenient for BLUU car rental.

I will never rent another vehicle from them, and I will encourage everyone I know not to rent from them.