Damage
Who Pays for Damage to a Rental Car in Lahore?
Scratches, kerbed rims, a cracked windscreen, a stained seat. Who owns each one, and why no deposit means no argument.
Damage arising from the driving is ours, because our driver is the one driving. Damage caused deliberately by a passenger, or through something like smoking or spillage that goes beyond normal use, is chargeable at the actual repair or cleaning cost with the invoice shown to you. We hold no deposit, so nothing can be taken from you unilaterally and any charge has to be agreed rather than deducted.
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One line, and then the detail
If it came from the driving, it is ours. If it came from a passenger doing something to the car, it is chargeable at cost with the invoice shown. Nothing else is charged, and nothing is ever deducted, because we are not holding anything of yours.
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No deposit means no unilateral deduction
Almost every damage dispute in car rental, anywhere in the world, is really a deposit dispute. The company is holding money. It decides a charge applies. It takes it. The customer is left arguing backwards, from a weaker position, about money that has already moved.
We hold nothing. No cash, no cheque, no original CNIC, no card. A photograph of your ID is taken at booking and that is the whole of it. If we believe something is chargeable, we have to show you the invoice and agree it with you, because we have no other way to collect it.
That constraint is deliberate. It is the difference between a policy you can rely on and a policy that depends on us behaving well.
The clause to look for elsewhere
Published Lahore terms include a fee for cleaning the interior for excessive stains or dirt with no figure attached, a PKR 1,000 charge for smoking, and depreciation charges payable by the client at a specific percentage after an accident, also with no figure. A charge with no number is a charge decided after the event, by the party holding your deposit.
How to protect yourself anywhere, including here
- Photograph the car when it arrives. Four corners and the dashboard, thirty seconds, on your own phone. This is good practice with any operator and we will never object to it.
- Note the fuel level and the odometer. On our hires the fuel is billed at cost, so this is simply a record. With a full to full policy it is essential.
- Point out anything you notice to the driver at the start. Not at the end. A mark identified on arrival is a fact; the same mark identified on return is an argument.
- Ask what is chargeable before you book. Any operator can tell you. The ones that cannot are the ones to be careful with.
- Keep the WhatsApp thread. Everything we quote you is in writing in it, including the rate, the terms and anything agreed during the hire.
Questions
Asked before booking
Will I be charged for a scratch?
Not for one that happened while our driver was driving. Lahore traffic marks cars and that is a cost of running a fleet, not a cost of being our customer.
What about a kerbed rim or a puncture?
Ours. Punctures are a fact of the roads here and the driver deals with them. If a puncture delays you materially we will not charge the overtime that delay created either.
What would you actually charge me for?
Damage that a passenger caused on purpose, or something outside normal use such as a burn, a spillage that needs professional cleaning, or a broken fitting. In every case we show you the repair or cleaning invoice and charge what it says.
Can you take money from my deposit?
There is no deposit. That is the point. Nothing can be deducted from a customer who has not lodged anything, which means any charge has to be justified to you rather than discovered by you afterwards.
Is there a smoking fee?
We do not publish a tariff for it. Please do not smoke in the car. If a vehicle needs professional cleaning afterwards, we would show you what it cost rather than apply a standard penalty.
More on risk and liability