Rental car photos

1. Before you leave the lot

Walk round the car with your phone before loading the bags: all four sides, the roof if you can reach it, the wheels and the windscreen. Then close up every scratch, dent or mark. Inside: seats, dashboard, the mileage and the fuel level.

2. Get it on the form

If you spot damage that is not on the check-out form, go back to the desk and ask them to note it before you drive off. Your photo helps; damage written down and signed by the company helps more.

3. The same photos at return

Repeat the walk-round in the same order, with the mileage and fuel in shot. If you return the car out of hours or nobody inspects it with you, those photos are the only thing that shows how you left it. If you can, ask for a return receipt.

4. Keep them for two months

Damage charges do not always arrive straight away. US consumer journalist Clark Howard says surprise claims tend to show up around four weeks later, six at most, and that he keeps his photos for two months. Do not delete them when you get home.

5. What the seal proves, and what it does not

Sealing the photos records that they existed on that date and have not been changed since. On its own it does not prove who caused a dent, and the company may have its own photos or a scanner at the exit. What it does is show, with a date, what you saw at pick-up and at return. To seal them, add one room per part of the car (front, sides, back, inside).

6. If a charge arrives later

Reply in writing, calmly, with the pick-up and return photos of the part in question, and ask for the photos and the report the charge is based on. You can adapt this message:

Hello. I have received a charge for [damage] on rental [booking number]. This is how the car looked when I picked it up on [date] and how I returned it on [date]: [link]. Please send me the photos and the report the charge is based on. Thank you.