I went on group trip over the weekend. One of my friends, Jimmy rents a car with a debit card, declines rental insurance, and didnt inspect car at pick up. During the course of the trip, he allows another friend Greg to drive the car. They were the only two drivers. Upon rental return, the staff noticed the car has damages on the side. Jimmy protests it wasn’t him and that it probably was Greg. Greg only drove the car once and the one time he drove, I was the passenger so as a witness, I didn’t see or recall Greg hitting anything. Greg also doesn’t recall he hit anything.
My stance is because jimmy rented the car without insurance and willingly allowed Greg to drive, he’s ultimately responsible. If there was clear conclusive evidence that Greg actually did do the damage I would think differently. When I told jimmy this he got upset at my conclusion and thinks I’m a shitty friend.
He handed the keys to someone not on the agreement and skipped insurance. That’s two Ls he took all by himself
Yup. Jimmy’s card, Jimmy’s risk. Best not to let others use it if you’ll be on the hook.
Also Jimmy should have taken photos of the car at pickup if no one remembers damaging it, sometimes staff pick up some items from a previous renter.
NTA
Jimmy is dumb for allowing another person to drive, and almost certainly did the damage himself. And if he really didn’t could be that someone dinged it while it was parked, there was damage there before and he didn’t make sure there wasn’t any before he drove off, but whatever it was he’s the one whose at fault.
Now if Greg actually hit something then he should pay, but he said he didn’t and since Jimmy doesn’t have proof otherwise he can’t force anyone else to pay for his mistakes.
Unless someone’s asking you to pay and you didn’t mention it, this is a conflict between Jimmy and Greg.
100% Jimmy knows he hit something which is why he let Greg drive to later blame it on him
NTA. Jimmy made every critical error you could when renting a car. No card with extra insurance, didn’t pay for extra insurance, no pre-rental inspection, and let a non-insured driver use the car. Jimmy set himself up to get screwed quickly.
Yup, every error possible.
seriously, it’s wild how badly he handled the whole situation. total rookie mistakes
I ***ALWAYS*** take photos all the way around a rental car before I drive off and then again once it’s returned, and I keep them forever. One time, months after I returned a car, I had a rental car company send me a bill for close to $1,000 for body damage. I printed and sent them the photos and told them to contact my attorney. Never heard from them again. Jimmy should have done this on the off chance the damage was there before he rented the car, but giving keys to an unauthorized driver means you are 100% responsible for any damage because unless that other driver was on the rental agreement, the renter is responsible no matter what.
Jimmy wants someone else to blame because the bill’s gonna hurt. But the contract has his name on it, not Greg’s. End of story
This is all Jimmy.
He rented it, didn’t get the insurance or a good inspection, and allowed Greg to drive it. All decisions made by Jimmy.
Why is the first response to either deny responsibility or blame it on someone else? Doesn’t anyone ever fess up that they fucked up? It would be a refreshing change and show some actual maturity. NTA
NTA.
Given that Jimmy didn’t notice any damage when Greg returned the keys to him, I am assuming the damage is extremely minor.
Knowing the stunts that some car rental companies pull to fleece money from their customers, it’s entirely possible that Jimmy is telling the truth when he says he didn’t do it. I can well believe the damage was there already when Jimmy picked the car up, and so minor that it wasn’t noticeable unless you’re looking very closely.
Be that as it may, **Jimmy was foolish and/or plain wrong** on at least three and possibly four counts:
\* If Jimmy hired the car without a very thorough visual inspection, complete with photos and/or video of all sides plus the underneath of the car, he was foolish. If he had done this, he could have proved the damage was already there when he picked the car up.
\* He was foolish to refuse at least SOME level of insurance, if not directly from the hire car company, then from some other insurance company. Basically, driving around in a totally uninsured car, whether your own or someone else’s, is madness. If something happens to the car, not necessarily even your fault – e.g. the car gets stolen – you could find yourself up for the cost of the entire car.
\* He was foolish to allow Greg to drive the car. If Greg is not listed as a driver on the hire agreement, then any damage is Jimmy’s legal responsibility.
\* He was wrong to blame Greg without any evidence. Greg may well be telling the truth too, especially because you were a witness.
You are not a “shitty friend”. You are simply reporting truthfully what you witnessed, and I agree with your conclusion: it is Jimmy’s legal and moral responsibility. He took a very foolish gamble, and he lost.
Jimmy took all the risk and had no way to protect himself. This is his fault.