False accusation about car damages

Hi,

I hired a car with Europcar in December 2024 and returned in the state i took it as, it was inspected by the Europcar employee, and I was refunded my deposit as a result. A week or 2 later, they later claimed I damaged the car. I sent the below email to Europcar, of which they did not respond to it, instead referred the query to their attorney.

Good Day

Your below email of the 28th instant refers.

This email serves as a formal dispute regarding the alleged damages claim that has been recently assessed and charged to me.

It is imperative to note from the onset that I returned the vehicle on the 30 of December 2024, same was inspected by your employee who assured me there were no new damages where present. Subsequent thereto, my damage deposit in the amount of R5000 was refunded back into my account the following day being the 31st of December 2024. To the best of my knowledge, the vehicle had no further damages other than the ones that were present at the time of collection and initial inspection. Taking into consideration the location the of the alleged damage, it is impossible that same would have been “missed”. Further, your attached documentation indicates that the incident report was not signed and same was missed on termination. Please elaborate with an explanation as to how that happened. It is my assertion that the alleged damage was not of my doing. Further, had I returned the car in a damaged state, my deposit would not have been returned.

No one responded. instead they continue to send emails and sms referring to their attorney.

I would like for this issue to be addressed by Europcar as I did not return the car with new damages.

Kind Regards Zoliswa