Sixt van rental. Historic claim of damages

[CasMullac]

In April 2016 I hired a 7.5t van from a company online.

They did not deliver on the stated day and didn't tell me it would come the next.

 

 

A driver from this company was waiting in a Sixt 7.5t van angry that I wasn't in when he arrived, made me sign the document threw the keys in the cab and drove off.

 

I arrived at my destination (a few 100miles) and 2 days later 2 Sixt reps turned up to collect.

They noticed old wear and cracking on one of the tires,

they were very unhappy with the depot/yard in the south allowing it to be out on the road.

The damage was photographed and noted as being old wear.

 

 

They then saw the rear bumper was very slightly pushed in but the damage was rusted and old,

photos taken and notes put on their handheld/mobile that it was not my fault.

 

 

I asked them to ring their head office just to confirm,

they understood why and did so to explain and then allowed me to talk to them.

 

 

All was fine, notes were put against the account and it was agreed the vehicle should not have been released and they would take it up with the southern depot.

 

Almost 12 months later 28/03/2017 I receive a call from Sixt solicitors regarding outstanding debt for the above damages.

They have the wrong name but correct surname, the wrong address (old one), no email and only my mobile.

I have no documents from the time and only remember signing their handheld/mobile and found out they have had a head office change since.

 

I don't know what I need to ask for or what proof they need or if there is a precedent to void their claim as it has been almost 12 months.

 

Please help.

[BankFodder]

You should send an SAR immediately to get all the data they hold on you. Hopefully this will provide full records of everything that happened.

 

Write to the solicitors involved and deny that you are at all responsible for any damage and explain very carefully exactly what has happened and all the details that you have explained here.

 

12 the Fed proposed take any further action on the matter that you will make sure all the relevant documents and photographs are produced in court and that if they are unable to produce them, that you will ask the court to draw its own conclusions

[CasMullac]

Thank you for the speedy reply this is really nerve wracking to just come out of the blue like this.

 

The solicitor called and I denied the damages and explained the circumstances and she ended the call saying she needed to review the information she had. She said she would call next week if it was to go further and that if I didn't hear from her not to worry, although I asked her to call even then just to confirm.

 

So far I have no registration of the vehicle, no idea of the 3rd party it was hired through and no reference/account number to request.

I will stay poised to send the SAR once I have these details. I also have a letter to send as a formal complaint and have researched that they are a member of BVRLA which has a conciliation service and are a registered alternative dispute resolution body.

 

My worry is if I give them my address and email etc they can then just try to bully the proceedings through. As it stands they have nothing except a name and number, although I suppose there are ways to get addresses.

 

I am sorry but I am not quite sure what the last paragraph meant. Is that something I need to add to a letter somewhere if they do suggest it goes to court? Also what is "12 the fed"? It is probably me just being a bit foggy headed this has all made me quite anxious.

[CasMullac]

Or should I just bite the bullet and call the solicitors back to get the info I require? I'll have to ask for Colins file not Callums.