I've posted recently about the Santa Fe I ended up with on the holiday in Canada.
It was picked up in central Vancouver, at the Pan Pacific Hotel at the cruise terminal. Paperwork at the desk in the Lobby, pick-up 5 floors down the underlying multi-storey. *
It was like finding the proverbial black-cat in a coal hole down there. The despatcher (who was allocating vehicles) read my paperwork via the light of his laptop screen, and I ended up with a black Santa Fe parked some way away (which I found by using the remote to open it, and following the indicators).
At best, I could check that it seemed to have all body panels, and was acceptably, but not completely, clean inside. Since the car-park disgorges straight into the central Vancouver traffic, there was no opportunity to check it over before getting to our hotel to pick up luggage.
It had two stone chips (paintwork, not dings) on the drivers door; the door edges showed signs of the doors having been opened against walls, and there were notable paintwork scratches on the OSF wing and rear bumper (cosmetic really, but scratches on black cars always seem to show white under coat through). The interior definitely could have been cleaner (it might have seen a photograph of a vacuum cleaner between hires, but that's as close as it got).
The vehicle was but months old (2020 model) and 13000km.
I did give it a bit of a wipe over inside, and discovered that all the little gleaming slivers I could see weren't sugar off a child's sweets, but glass shards (my finger ends picked a couple up). Oddly enough, though it was odds-on it had had glass replacement, all the glass was still OE Hyundai marked. I suspect the scratch on the wing might have been associated with the replacement.
On return in Calgary, I rather go the impression that as long as all the body-panels were still attached, and they didn't have to actually disinfect the interior, everything would be acceptable.
I must admit that, however, on the basis of attack being the best form of defence, I'd mention the glass early on (bits were still finding their way out of the folds and cracks of the dash). I genuinely think the guy booking it back in thought I was going to get litigious when I showed him the still remaining pin-pricks in my finger ends. Once I made it clear I was only informing, not overtly complaining, there was a visible relaxation, and it was all smooth from there.
*The guy doing the paperwork at the desk informed me I would have to be downsized from an intermediate SUV to a standard one, as that was all they had. (I stated that the agent I'd booked through would be chasing the rental difference, but accepted). The despatcher downstairs looked at the paperwork, was about to give me a standard SUV and then noticed it was one-way to Calgary. He then upgraded me to a large SUV (the Santa Fe), one higher than my original group, largely because it was an Alberta car he could send home. I also ended up with a $30 rebate as it wasn't quite full of fuel - about $10s worth short.
I did enjoy that car.
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