I hired a car from Avis at Geneva airport this weekend. Having been immersed in The Sunday Times car rental clean-up campaign for the past three weeks, I intended not to join the hundreds of readers who have written to us citing stories of unfair charges and practice… But even with my fleece-o-meter at full alert, I ended up with an old banger.

When picking up the keys I used a free upgrade voucher and was handed a contract featuring a schematic of four-wheel drive Nissan, apparently unmarked. Heading down to the car park I briefed my travelling companions on our bulging “car rental hell” mailbag and warned we should check every inch of the car before leaving the garage.

There was no need for close inspection – we saw the first bump at ten yards away. A long scratch along the driver and passenger doors led to a dent in the rear panel, and there was a half-inch gap between the bumper and the body of the car. Moving round the car, we found dents and scratches on every panel. We returned to the Avis desk to find it closed for the night, so we took photos of the damage, confirmed it with the woman manning the Hertz desk, and drove off, accompanied by a grating rasp on every right turn and when moving off.

One of the passenger doors wouldn’t open owing to a dent, and the rasping noises didn’t abate during our three hour trips to and from our destination.

Avis acknowledged the damage over the phone the next day, and on returning the car a few days later, but at no point were they apologetic. I left a letter with them addressed to customer services, and my complaint is “being processed”.

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