Rental car agreement checklist: what to check before you sign

Start with the vehicle and authorised drivers

Read the renter name, additional drivers and vehicle details before the price. Compare the registration with the car outside, including any letters or numbers that look alike. A booking for a vehicle category does not identify the particular car eventually supplied. If the desk substitutes a vehicle, ask for the agreement and condition record to match it.

SIXT's agreement guidance describes the document as the record of the particular vehicle, rental period, charges and existing damage. Use that as a useful reading order rather than assuming every company's layout is identical. Check every page or screen that forms part of what you are accepting.

Read the return date, time and exact branch

A return date alone is not enough. Check the time, branch address and approved handover method, especially where an airport has several terminals or a separate return compound. Ask what happens if a flight delay or other change makes the planned time impractical.

Write down any clarification while staff are available and request the changed details in the agreement or confirmation. For example, an afternoon return agreed verbally is worth resolving immediately if the document still says 09:00. Do not assume a conversation automatically updates the booking system.

Compare the payable total with your booking

Separate money already paid from money payable at collection. Look at the rental rate, number of chargeable days, taxes, location fees and optional items. A small daily extra can become a much larger total over a long trip. Ask whether an offered upgrade changes any of those figures.

Check the deposit separately from the price and damage excess. Also establish whether protection is supplied by the rental company or bought from a separate insurer. Read the relevant exclusions and reporting steps in your own documents; a description such as 'full cover' does not explain all of them.

• Vehicle registration and named drivers match.
• Pickup and return dates, times and branches are correct.
• Prepayment is credited and optional extras reflect your choices.
• Deposit, excess and protection provider are identified.
• Fuel or charge policy, mileage allowance and permitted travel fit your plan.

Take the agreement out to the car

Before moving the vehicle, compare its condition with the supplied damage record. A diagram may be a summary, so ask how to see the accompanying notes or images. Photograph an existing mark with enough surrounding bodywork to identify its location, then take a closer view.

Use your PickupLens collection record for the condition evidence and report missing damage to the rental company through its approved channel. Recording a mark yourself is useful, but it does not tell the branch about it. Keep the company's acknowledgement alongside your copy of the agreement.

Save the car rental contract you actually accepted

If something is corrected, check the replacement document rather than relying on a promise that the office will fix it later. Confirm that an emailed attachment opens and contains the right rental, not simply a booking voucher or payment receipt.

Keep the original and corrected versions if the change happens after signing, together with the explanation. That small paper trail can distinguish an agreed change from an unexplained later charge. Store documents securely and avoid sending full card or licence details when a rental number will identify the booking.