"How can I prove anything now?" Carsharing client charged 1315 rubles

User's Story

— On January 6, I was driving home with my child from an event. I rented the nearest Anytime car. There was already a lot of snow then. When booking, I checked the existing damages via photos in the app, walked around the car a couple of times, and, not finding any new defects, decided not to re-photograph the already known ones, — Vitaly recalls.

The man claims he was calmly driving towards home: some streets were heavily covered in snow, road workers were active in some places, and in others, he had to drive at 10 km/h behind snow removal equipment.

— After ending the reservation, I always photograph the car. It was difficult to find a spot because it was late (around 11:00 PM), and all the right lanes were filled with snow lumps and drifts after cleaning. I parked, took photos, and went home.

The next day, Vitaly received a notification from the company's security service stating that defects were found on the front bumper after his trip, which were not present before. At the same time, according to the man, it is very difficult to see the damage to the lower bumper trim (skirt) in the photos.

— Given the road conditions then — the first snowfall and uncleared streets — I won't argue, I might have caught it on snow somewhere, — Vitaly admits. He recalls that after talking to the carsharing operator, he called the Ministry of Internal Affairs hotline and explained the situation. Traffic police officers inspected the car and drew up a report; the driver received a warning.

— On my day off, I went to inspect the car (it's not a problem to find it in the city by its number through the app). And I saw this picture: the car in a snowdrift, the lower skirt half missing (it is present in my photos).

I saw completely different damages, not related to my trip.

There are no such damages in my photos (from January 6), — Vitaly asserts.

Павялічыць

— I took pictures, called support, explained the situation. They transferred me to the security service, and there they said that the car was damaged by another user on January 9.

Now I don't know what to do or where to turn. On the one hand, I don't have photos from before the trip, and no one will provide them to me. On the other hand, the car already has other damages, completely unrelated to me, which are also being attributed to me. The app has already issued me a fine, but no assessment has been carried out for my case, and to this day the car continues to drive around the city, now with new damages.

Павялічыць

Vitaly clarifies that the company fined him 1000 rubles for causing an accident, and another 315 rubles for damage to the car's appearance.

— I have to ask, why wasn't the car inspected after my incident, and why did it continue to operate? My case, as I understood it, was not assessed in a timely manner. And there's no inspection report either. And how can I prove anything now, when the car already has completely different damage? — the man wonders.

Павялічыць

Anytime's Comment

"The fact of damage was established based on the chain of rentals (Vitaly's and the previous client's) and photo documentation. Before Vitaly's rental, the car was recorded by the previous client as undamaged. Vitaly began his rental without photo documentation of the car's condition, however, upon completing the rental, he independently took photos showing a crack on the bumper," Anytime told an Onlíner journalist.

— Additionally, during a conversation with a service employee, the user explained the possible circumstances of the damage (hitting snow piled up by road services during a maneuver). Thus, the damage was recorded during his rental period, and the client himself explained where and how this damage could have occurred.

— Does the invoice for bumper repair only relate to the damages from January 6? Are the new damages from January 9 not attributed to the user?

— Additional damage was sustained by the car on January 9, after all issues regarding the damage recorded during Vitaly's rental on January 6 were fully resolved.

Павялічыць

On January 8, with the participation of traffic police officers and the client himself, the car was inspected, the fact of the accident and the nature of the damage were confirmed, a report was drawn up, after which the разбирательства (proceedings) with user Vitaly were closed.

The damages sustained by the car on January 9 are a separate incident and have no connection to Vitaly – they were not included in the calculation of the fixed compensation amount for damages, nor in the repair cost charged to him.

The car inspection was carried out by traffic police officers, whom Vitaly himself called after talking to the service. The car inspection and damage recording were carried out in his presence, resulting in an official report confirming the fact of an accident and bumper damage.

An additional independent assessment was not appointed because the nature of the damage was obvious: one external element was damaged, hidden damages were excluded. In such cases, in accordance with the service agreement, a fixed amount of damage compensation for damage to one element (7 basic values, which corresponds to the market cost of repairing the element) is applied without conducting an in-depth expertise.

— How should clients act to avoid similar situations?

— Our key recommendation is to always document the condition of the car.

We strongly advise:

• always take photos of the car before starting the rental, even if at first glance it seems there is no damage;
• document the car's condition upon completing the rental;
• if in any doubt — if there was contact with an obstacle, a strange sound, hitting an object, or a feeling that the car might have been damaged — immediately contact customer support and clarify further actions, without ending the rental yourself.

It is important to understand that the service does not aim to punish clients. Our goal is for cars to be used carefully and remain in good condition for subsequent users. That is why we pay close attention to cases where company property may be damaged and cannot ignore them.

— How should a client act if they receive a notification about damage and debiting of funds, but they disagree with it?

— In such a case, it is necessary to promptly contact customer support. We always initiate a dialogue with the client before imposing any penalties, requesting explanations and reviewing the circumstances of the incident.

If the client communicates and provides arguments, the decision is made taking into account all available data.

However, if the user ignores the service's appeals, a fine may be issued based on the recorded facts and contract terms.

As for Vitaly, the service offered him to personally visit the company's office on January 12 to resolve the situation out of court and discuss all issues related to the claim. Unfortunately, the user did not come to the meeting and did not take advantage of the opportunity for an in-person discussion.

It is important to emphasize that in this case, the user:

• was in direct contact with the carsharing service;
• personally attended the car inspection and the drawing up of the traffic police report;
• was informed of the grounds for the compensation amounts charged.

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