Be cautious when renting from Europecar, insist on a vehicle check before leaving the airport!

Received an invoice for damages to the side steps of a 4x4 Toyota Doublecab I rented for work in Cape Town end of November, although I did not cause any damages, used the vehicle for city driving, about 140km's and rented it because no other vehicles were available at the time. No Europcar attendant performed pre and post vehicle checks at collection or return, so there is no way to prove this was an existing damage, there was no obvious damage to the vehicle, so I presume the damage must be under the steps, easily could have been missed since I performed a visual inspection of the vehicle at the time of collection and did not observe any damage. Very dissapointed no feedback received on my emails sent, Europecar does not follow protocol, all other renting companies perform a check of te vehicle with me before departure...will not make use of Europecar again.