damage scam

I recently rented a car from Sixt in London. After missing my connecting flight I arrived 18 hours late - I notified them by email about the delay but when I got there they still charged me for and additional day despite the rental periold being a day shorter! The logic for that was not apparent I was too tired to fight. It was after 1am when I was checked out and ready to leave. It was dark under the canopy so I checked the car for any obvious damage with difficulty and didn't find any. What I didn't check was the hubcaps of the vehicle. When I returned the car four days later the russian man checking me in pointed to what looked like a chalk mark on the wall of the tire and said it was nothing but he'd take a photo anyway. I looked at it and asked to be sent the photo. He reasurred me that it was nothing and that the photo would be sent via email - I did get an email but the picture format was unreadable. Three months later I got a bill from Sixt for 83 pounds for damage to the right front tire. I requrested the photo again and this time I was sent a picture that showed a deep scratch on the hubcap. What was interesting was that the damage was on the LEFT front wheel and the car in the photo was facing in opposite direction to when I had returned it.

Customer service was less than helpful saying it was all my responsibility so I siimply paid the bill but I learned an important lesson: check EVERYTHING on the vehicle and if they 'find' damage on the return take your own photos so you have your own evidence to refute their claims. I decided to post this review to warn others to be very cautious when dealing with this company -  I assumed they were a legimate company and therefore walked right into it. Now that I'm looking on the online reviews I've found lots of other people who had very similar experiences with this company which is troubling. Good thing that the car rental market has so many vendors, although I think from now on I'll take the train.