Charged for a scratch after returning the car? The question is simple: was it already there when you picked it up? Photograph the vehicle at pick-up, do it again at return: Sealway keeps dated, verifiable evidence of both states, alongside the contradictory condition sheet the French DGCCRF recommends insisting on. Sealway does not decide who is liable; it fixes what was visible, and when.
Built for
You pick up a rental car in an airport car park. The agency hands you a sheet listing two existing defects. Walking around the vehicle, you also notice a scratch on a wheel rim and a light dent on the bumper, neither of which is on the document. Three days later, you return the car. An invoice for that scratch follows.
The real question becomes: what material shows that this damage was already visible before you drove off? The condition sheet, if the damage was added to it. Photographs, if they show the wheel, are dated and have not been altered. And the return inspection report, if you were able to get one.
The reverse situation exists too: the car is returned with no visible damage, the agency was closed, and an amount is charged later. You then need to show what condition the vehicle was in when you left it. In both cases, what matters is the same: two documented states, at pick-up and at return, before the situation can change.
The DGCCRF, the French consumer authority, puts it plainly: it is essential to check the vehicle before taking possession of it and to have the damage found written on every copy of the contract or on the condition sheet, failing which liability for it will be borne at return. Sealway does not replace that sheet. If you find damage at pick-up:
The condition sheet, built into the contract or drawn up separately, establishes the condition of the vehicle both at pick-up and at return; both parties sign it at each of those moments. It is the reference document, and it protects both sides. Its limit is visual: “scratch, front bumper” says neither the size, nor the exact spot, nor what was right next to it.
Photographs and video sharpen the description. What remains is their context: weeks later, it must be possible to establish when they were taken, that they have not been retouched and that they do show this vehicle. That is what Sealway brings.
Sealway complements the normal procedure, it does not bypass it: damage is reported to the rental company, then documented.
The DGCCRF’s practical sheet on vehicle rental and three articles of the French Code civil on leases are enough to understand what is at stake at pick-up and at return. A rental abroad follows the law of the contract; the method is the same.
Before renting, the DGCCRF advises comparing the rental, insurance and excess-waiver conditions, and insisting that every defect of the vehicle (dent, scratch and so on) be precisely noted on the sheet before taking the vehicle over. If the vehicle shows damage, it is essential to check it before taking possession and to have the damage noted on the contract or the condition sheet, failing which liability for it will be borne at return.
At return, the DGCCRF strongly recommends returning the vehicle on the agreed date, with the same amount of fuel as at pick-up (missing fuel is often charged above filling-station prices), and carrying out an inspection of the returned vehicle in the rental company’s presence. When the agency’s offices are closed, the renter remains liable until the keys and papers are handed over in person; a vehicle left in the car park leaves it to the rental company to assess the mileage driven and the missing fuel. Some companies forbid leaving the car in the agency car park.
The lessee must return the thing as received according to the condition report, except for what perished or deteriorated through wear and tear or force majeure; without a report, the lessee is presumed to have received it in good condition, unless proven otherwise. The lessee answers for damage occurring during their use, unless they prove it happened without their fault. The DGCCRF sums it up: at return, the vehicle must be in the condition in which it was entrusted, except for what has deteriorated through wear and tear or force majeure.
Cour de cassation · 1st civil chamber · 5 May 1998
Appeal dismissed · decision under appeal: tribunal d’instance d’Orléans, 7 March 1995
A second-hand car is rented out. The renter stops paying the rent, claiming the vehicle was not roadworthy; the owner claims the rent and the cost of repairs. The court makes the renter bear half of the repairs, for want of proof that he was not at fault. The Cour de cassation dismisses the appeal.
Article 1732 of the Code civil requires the lessee to prove the absence of fault on their part.
What Sealway takes from it
Under French law, during the rental, damage is presumed to be the renter’s to bear, unless proven otherwise. Everything therefore turns on what already existed at pick-up, and on what can be shown of it.
In a well-lit area, far enough back for the vehicle and the area photographed to be identifiable. One general view per side, then the wheels, then each defect in context.
Front, rear, driver’s side, passenger side, from a distance. These views place everything that follows.
One photograph per wheel, steering turned if needed to see the whole rim. The tyre sidewall appears in the same shot; the photograph is no substitute for a mechanical check.
Front right side, then front right wheel, then close-up of the scratch. An isolated close-up, without context, is hard to tie to a vehicle and to a spot.
The windscreen against the light to reveal a chip; the seats and dashboard if the vehicle warrants it.
Dashboard on, mileage and level legible. The photograph documents the display; it does not certify the physical accuracy of the gauge.
Photograph the condition sheet and the contract, or attach them as PDFs. A proof holds up to 10 files: an “Exterior” proof for the sides, wheels and defects, an “Interior, odometer, documents” proof for the rest, in a collection named after the rental.
Two documented states beat one isolated photograph. And Sealway strengthens the proof of the file; it cannot make visible a defect that is absent from the photograph: a dark or blurred image remains poor documentation, however perfectly timestamped.
Early flight, offices closed, vehicle left in the designated car park, keys dropped in the box. You will not attend the final inspection: documenting the vehicle at the moment of return takes on particular importance.
Vehicle parked where the contract says. An overall view places the spot.
Four sides, four wheels, windscreen, interior, from the same angles.
Mileage and fuel or charge level, legible.
Created from the app, before leaving the car park.
As instructed by the rental company. Receipt or return confirmation kept, if there is one.
This proof fixes the visible condition of the vehicle immediately before you left. It does not transfer liability to the rental company at that instant: according to the DGCCRF, the renter remains liable until the keys and papers are handed over in person, and the contract may provide that liability continues until a given step of the return.
Parking place, key drop, hours: the contract prevails. Some rental companies forbid leaving the car in the agency car park; others provide an out-of-hours return procedure.
The full walk-around, the wheels, the mileage, the fuel gauge or charge level, and the parking spot where relevant. Then the proof, from the app, before dropping the keys.
Return confirmation, email, photograph of the key box at the moment of the drop: they date your action; the proof dates the condition of the vehicle.
The moment your liability ends is set by the contract, and the DGCCRF recalls that a vehicle left in the car park leaves you liable for the damage it suffers. Sealway does not move that moment; it documents what was visible when you left.
The rule is the DGCCRF’s: damage not noted on the sheet or the contract will be borne at return. The photograph does not dispense with having it noted.
On the spot, before driving off. If the agency is closed or the desk remote, through the channel the rental company provides: app, email, phone with written confirmation.
The damage must appear on the condition sheet or the contract or, failing that, in something written by the rental company. Keep that exchange.
General view, intermediate view, close-up, and the exchange with the agency as a screenshot or a PDF: all of it in the “Pick-up” proof.
Sealway does not decide whether the invoice is justified. It helps document the chronology.
Contract, condition sheet at pick-up, photographs and “Pick-up” proof, return report, photographs and “Return” proof, exchanges with the rental company, the damage invoice, any supporting documents.
The DGCCRF advises an amicable approach to the rental company’s customer service first, keeping a copy of the complaint. Describe the facts, attach the dated material.
Failing agreement, consumer mediation and the consumer associations of your département can help reach an amicable settlement, before going to court.
Two series of photographs, from the same angles, each dated by a qualified third party and verifiable without Sealway. They do not settle the dispute; they show the visible condition of the area before and after the rental.
Deep scratch on the front right rim, not on the sheet. The driver tells the agency, asks for it to be recorded, photographs the right side, the front right wheel and the scratch. “Pick-up” proof created.
Same photographs: vehicle, wheel, rim, plus mileage and gauge. “Return” proof created in the car park.
The rental company bills the repair of the rim. The driver produces the two proofs, the contract, the condition sheet and the exchange with the agency of 3 July.
This material does not automatically determine the outcome of the dispute: the contract, the sheet, the rental company’s damage matrix and, where it comes to that, the assessment of a mediator or a court do. It does document the visible condition of the rim before and after the rental, on dates the driver did not set himself.
Four approaches that do not exclude one another. None dispenses with the condition sheet.
| Approach | What it brings | Its limits |
|---|---|---|
| Condition sheet alone | The contradictory description of the damage recorded, signed by both parties at pick-up and at return. The reference document. | A description sometimes thin on the visual side: neither the size nor the exact spot of a scratch. |
| Photographs alone | Visual documentation that sharpens the sheet. | Their date and context may have to be weighed against the other material in the file; the date rests on metadata. |
| Condition sheet + photographs + Sealway | The contradictory report, the visual documentation, integrity and a date a third party can verify, at pick-up as at return. €1.99 per proof. | Built by the renter alone; qualifies neither wear nor liability; shows only what was photographed. |
| Bailiff’s report (constat de commissaire de justice) | The personal findings of a public officer, in certain disputes or particular situations. | A formal, costly step, rarely practicable at the moment of a pick-up or a return. |
Sealway is not the equivalent of a commissaire de justice’s report, and the contradictory condition sheet remains the central document in every case.
The rental company, the mediator and, where it comes to that, the court assess the material. A Sealway proof is one item of it: the one that establishes the date and integrity of the files.
When a vehicle is returned, the photographs are placed in a Sealway proof. Weeks later, it is possible to verify that the files presented are the ones bound to the timestamp created at the return. When the proof is created, the fingerprint of each file is bound to a qualified electronic timestamp issued by a qualified trust service provider.
What drivers ask at the desk, in the car park and after the invoice.
Texts, official documents and the decision cited on this page (in French).
Sealway does not provide legal advice. These references are given for information; the rental, insurance and return conditions depend on your contract, and the weight of the material produced is for the rental company, the mediator and, where it comes to that, the court to assess. The French official sources are in French.
A rented home, goods received, a loss to document: the logic is the same, a dated state at each end.
Complete the move-in and move-out état des lieux with photographs whose date and integrity can be verified.
Learn more →Crushed parcel, damaged pallet, broken product: document the condition of the goods at receipt, alongside the reservations on the delivery note.
Learn more →Water damage, fire, burglary: fix the state of the premises and the damage before clean-up, moving or repair.
Learn more →The walk-around at pick-up, the same at return: SHA-512 fingerprint, qualified electronic timestamp under eIDAS, evidence file verifiable by a third party. Join the waitlist to be notified at launch.
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