Found damage after leaving the hire branch? Record when you noticed it

Document what you found and when

Take a vehicle or panel overview and a close view of the mark. Note your location, the discovery time and the relevant circumstances, such as a dark or wet pickup. If you have driven or parked elsewhere since collection, keep that part of the timeline accurate.

A useful explanation might be: ‘Collected in a covered bay at 21:00. I noticed this line below the rear-door handle at the hotel at 08:30 the next morning.’ That is a factual chronology, not a claim to have photographed the mark at 21:00.

Check collection photos for pre-existing damage

Review the original collection images, any video and the condition record supplied by the branch. The mark may be visible in a wider image even if you did not identify it at the time. Retain the full original and use a separate pointer or explanation to help someone locate it.

If the earlier angle does not show the area clearly, say so. A dark reflection or cropped panel is not reliable evidence that the mark was absent, and a similar mark on a different panel is not a match.

Use the company's specific process

Check the current instructions attached to your booking and act promptly. Providers use different routes and timing rules. SIXT's UK help page, for example, separates early pickup reporting from later documentation of damage believed to be pre-existing; Europcar publishes its own collection-discrepancy process.

There is no single ‘24-hour rule’ that this guide can apply to every rental. If the instructions are unclear, ask the company how to document the discovery and keep the response. A safety-affecting concern needs immediate assistance rather than waiting for an ordinary evidence query.

• Actual discovery time and location.
• Clear current photos.
• Relevant original collection files.
• Current provider instructions followed.
• A record of any message, upload or response.

Do not turn a later photo into an earlier one

Keep the file's original information and explain any device-clock issue separately. Do not change its date to the pickup date, return to the branch to stage a collection scene or add a caption that implies the photo was taken earlier.

If you amend a report, make clear that the note was added later and why. PickupLens's earlier finalised record should remain the historical record it was; a later observation does not rewrite the original event.

Keep the final handback clear too

At return, photograph the current condition and refer to the earlier discovery through the company's process. Preserve any acknowledgement and use the same precise panel description so the records can be connected.

The aim is a transparent account of what you saw and did. PickupLens helps organise condition evidence, but neither a later photo nor an app-generated observation can determine when the damage first occurred.