Fortunately I had remembered a TripAdvisor tip about rental car returns being a block away from the train station even though my rental agreement said to return it at the station. I’m also glad the tip included the location of the garage otherwise we would have been circling around the busiest part of town.
Returning the car was also a new experience. In the USA, the agent gets the mileage and fuel level and prints your receipt. This time my rental agent brought out a strong flashlight and began to check over each tire, and looked for scratches on the car. With some of the narrow highways we travelled I had to dive into the brambles and kissed bushes a few times so that the other bus/truck/car could pass. Also when I first started driving on the opposite side I had trouble gauging the left side of the car and kissed a few curbs (but didn’t scratch the wheel)
The agent noted a few deep scratches of the lower part of the left door and that the left front tire had a cut in the sidewall. Fortunately, I had been nice and chatty with the agent when I first arrived and so when I explained how the rental agreement already noted a left front wheel scratch (which was probably not related to the sidewall cut) and shared my story about the original agent not concerned about scratches less than 1cm as he was super busy I didn’t sound defensive or that I making excuses so he let us go without charging us extra.
Next time I rent in Europe I will probably just get the full coverage to minimize the stress of the rental car return damage inspection. I will also get the diesel option (a free upgrade this time for being nice to the original agent) as the trip computer showed that we almost averaged 50 mpg for the 2000 miles driven. I’m also a fan of the 5 door hatchback. We were able to get all of our luggage and a few days groceries for our family of 5 and it was easy to load and a little shorter than the wagons I usually try to get.
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